Several new restaurants opening in Rolling Meadows soon

Rolling Meadows officials who have been fielding complaints from residents that they want more restaurants and retail in their town say several new businesses are opening soon.

By fall, Pie Five, 1219 Golf Road, Nic's Organic Fast Foods, 2101 N. Plum Grove Road, and Comet, an ice cream shop at 3001 Kirchoff Road, should all be open, said Valerie Dehner, community development director.

Also coming soon is an expansion to Ramen House, 1939 S. Plum Grove Road, and the opening of MingHin Cuisine, a popular Chicago dim sum restaurant that recently applied for its liquor license for its new location at 1440 Golf Road. Dehner also highlighted Bull Dog Ale House, 1480 Golf Road, which opened in the former Chili's last month.

"We are hearing that restaurants and places to eat are very wanted in the city," Dehner said.

During two public meetings last week, residents spoke out against a plan to turn the 11-acre former Dominick's site on Kirchoff Road into a senior housing development. Many were concerned that the zoning change would mean losing the Rolling Meadows downtown, although experts say that the area can no longer support a major retail development due to decreased traffic counts and bustling retail elsewhere in suburbs such as Schaumburg and downtown Arlington Heights. The city council will take a final vote on the senior housing proposal from South Bay Partners at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

"I do believe there is untapped potential here. What space we do have is getting filled up," Dehner said. "We do have activity going on. Unfortunately, I don't see much of that activity in the downtown."

One of the new restaurants - Nic's Organic Fast Foods - will be the first of its kind, a certified organic, full menu, drive-through restaurant, said owner Ben Brittsan.

Brittsan said workers are starting a "full-gut" of the property that will turn the former Pizza Hut into a green-themed restaurant inside and out.

"It's going to be very pretty, very organic, very modern," he said.

Brittsan and his wife have an aggressive plan for their business. Once the Rolling Meadows restaurant opens, he said they hope to open five more locations in the area in the near future and expand to 50 restaurants nationwide in the next few years.

He said they can't wait to be part of the Rolling Meadows business community.

"It's been great. The community has been phenomenal. We are getting messages from people even from out of state who say they want to drive hours to come see us because we will be the first of its kind," he said. "We're super excited."