The Heron Bistro will bring upscale French cuisine to downtown Michigan City.
Heather Nath owns the historic Elks Building, a striking neoclassical building dating to 1927 at 522 Franklin St., and decided to open a restaurant there after a tenant moved out. She didn’t want to compete with existing Michigan City restaurants, such as all the Italian restaurants already in town, and so decided to open a French restaurant since there were none on the U.S. 12/20 corridor between Miller Beach and New Buffalo.
“It’s a foundational world cuisine,” she said. “But it’s also accessible as it’s informed a lot of what we eat today. Steak frites is just a steak with fries. Everyone’s had French onion soup.”
The Heron, named after the grand birds in the area and a James Audubon poster that will be displayed in the upscale restaurant, will offer an upscale dining experience and serve both French and French-inspired cuisine. The refined menu will include classic French dishes like escargot de bourgogne, beef bourguignon, foie gras pate, steak tartare, cassoulet and a roast half chicken with thyme, lemon and garlic. It also will have a curated wine list centered on French wines. While it will focus on classic, traditional French cuisine straight out of a Julia Child cookbook, Nath said this summer The Heron will roll out an expanded menu that includes more contemporary French-inspired entrees, including specials.
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Extensive renovations are nearly complete. The restaurant just got its order of tables and hopes to open in a few weeks. She hopes it will be a regional draw as one would have to go to Chicago for anything comparable.
For more information, find The Heron Bistro on Facebook.
The Heron also plans to open a separate event space next door at the nearly century-old Elks Building at 522 Franklin St.
It will be under The Heron name and have food catered by the restaurant, but operate as an independent venue for special events. It will be able to accommodate parties of up to 100 people for wedding receptions, showers, company parties and other events.
“There’s nothing of its size downtown,” owner Heather Nath said. “There was a need to fill.”
Nath said she was restoring the downtown Michigan City building with a classical pillared facade out of an interest in historic preservation. The next phase will include reopening a ballroom on an upper floor of the building once it’s been restored.
Returning soon
A beloved institution is returning to downtown Hebron.
Kimberly Martin, her husband Alex Reyes and his son Cristian Reyes are reopening the Country Kitchen at 120 N. Main St. as the Country Kitchen Pancake House. She’s a Hebron native who worked her first job there and saw it was for sale after the owners retired, so she decided to sign a lease. Her husband is a local chef who also cooked at Sophia’s. They had long worked in restaurants and wanted to strike out on their own.
“There are not even words for how much this place means to Hebron,” she said. “It was so sad when it went down. It has been there since 1930. My mom and sisters all worked there. It was my first job and I loved it. I’m going to try to bring back some of the waitresses but some of them are up there in years.”
The 100-seat diner was renovated by the landlord and looks more modern than it did. It will serve much of the old Country Kitchen menu, traditional diner fare that includes skillets, omelets, pancakes, wraps, burgers, hot turkey sandwiches and fresh juices. The goal is to open by mid-February and they plan to put out a sign soon to say it’s reopening to let people know, including out-of-towners from DeMotte who regularly pass through town.
“We’re really excited,” she said. “I love working for people in my old town. I loved the restaurant and was sad it closed. It was a legend in Hebron. Everybody loves it. It felt like home. You can sit and drink coffee there.”
Country Kitchen Pancake House will be open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week.
A speakeasy that requires a password for entry has opened in Michigan City.
The former Moose Lodge at 1108 Franklin St. was transformed into The Nightingale, which is for now only open for special events, mostly intimate jazz and blues concerts. The Nightingale has bowling, billiards and a bar with a retro-chic aesthetic straight out of “The Great Gatsby.” Owner Michael Conner said the hope was to open the establishment full-time once it gets a full-time liquor license. It currently has a caterer’s license that allows it to sell liquor for special events it sells tickets for.
“We turned it into a cool 1920s-style bar and bowling alley,” he said. “The whole concept is to create a vintage, cozy, lightly lit bar. For every event there’s a doorman who will slide open the door to get into the place, which harkens back to prohibition times. There’s a password to get in. The interior design was inspired and a lot of the decorations were inspired by the Prohibition era. It goes back to the classic bars of the 1920s or 1930s. It has an aesthetic with romantic music, 1930s jazz or blues music, and a setting that doesn’t exist at all around here. It’s a small, intimate, perfectly curated vintage American bar.”
Billing itself as “Michigan City’s hidden gem,” the Nightingale serves cocktails like old-fashioned and Manhattans. Once it’s open full-time it plans to offer a wider drink selection along with food.
Upcoming concerts include the R&B singer Lauren Dukes on Feb. 1 and a Valentine’s Dinner with Fred Cantu featuring the Fred Cantu Quartet, a modern crooner and jazz act, on Feb. 14.
For more information, visit thenightingalemc.com.
Coming soon
Fogo de Chão, the high-end Brazilian churrasco steakhouse that’s known as a carnivore’s paradise, is coming to south suburban Orland Park.
The Dallas-based steakhouse, where gaucho waiters wield butcher knives slice endless cuts of prime-grade meat off swords, plans to open 15 locations across the world this year, including at 154th Street and LaGrage Road in the former TGI Friday’s near the Orland Square Mall where many Northwest Indiana residents go to shop. Fogo de Chão offers a unique dining experience in which high-end meats are carved tableside.
It will be Orland Park’s second Brazilian steakhouse, joining Texas de Brazil.
“Over the past few years, we have laid a strong foundation to showcase the scalability of our authentic and differentiated brand across all major markets in the U.S. As we move forward, we will continue building our brand across the U.S. while driving capital-light franchise growth internationally,” said Barry McGowan, chief executive officer of Fogo de Chão. “As we enter 2025, Fogo is well-positioned for maintaining our year over year 15% growth, fueled by our unwavering commitment to exceptional hospitality and a distinctive culinary experience that welcomes every diet tribe. Our expansion strategy is designed to enhance our brand awareness, drive trial, and build on our growing guest frequency.”
The new 6,791 square-foot restaurant will include a 360-degree view of an open churrasco grill where diners can watch gaucho chefs cook meat over an open flame. It will have dry-age meat lockers to age meats like the 32 oz. long bone Tomahawk Ribeye that’s aged at least 42 days for rich flavor.
It also offers craft cocktails, bourbons, whiskeys and sides from a Market Table with superfoods, exotic fruits and seasonal salads as well as charcuterie.
The Brooks Family Corned Beef sandwich shop has closed in Michigan City.
The takeout-only restaurant at 301 U.S. 20 in Michigan City cooked its corned beef for eight to 10 hours after curing the brisket in brine for seven to 10 hours. It served a limited menu of corned beef and Reuben sandwiches and eggrolls, focusing on quality over quantity.
It catered to a to-go lunch crowd but also offered corned beef plates on special occasions like St. Patrick’s Day.
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