Brenden Moore
The State Journal-Register
The owners of Obed & Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery plan to open a new barbecue restaurant in the former Free Press Coffee building at the southeast corner of MacArthur Boulevard and South Grand Avenue.
Officials with Conn’s Hospitality Group, which operates the popular downtown microbrewery along with The Inn at 835 and Wm. Van’s Coffee, confirmed the new concept Wednesday afternoon in an interview with The State Journal-Register.
The restaurant will be named Lil’ Willy’s Smokehouse BBQ. It will offer a menu of smoked meats, barbecue and traditional sides. And, in continuing with the site’s recent neighborhood coffeehouse tradition, the restaurant will serve Wm. Van’s coffee during the morning hours.
Casey Conn, chief operations officer for the eponymous hospitality group, said they hope to have the restaurant open this fall.
The new development comes just weeks after Free Press Coffee permanently closed after more than two years at the location. Free Press owner Jane Ann Petty said the decision was driven by a desire to focus on her location in Pittsfield, where she lives.
Conn said the group bought the business, including the name and all the contents inside the building, from Petty. The group is leasing the 1,286-square foot space from the current property owner.
There will be indoor seating for about 25 to 30 people along with picnic tables set up outside. Conn said they also expect to do significant carryout business at the location.
The new restaurant represents an even further-expanded presence for Conn’s at MacArthur and South Grand Avenue.
Earlier this year, the group announced the purchase of the former Paris Cleaners building, 910 South Grand Ave. W., with plans to convert it to a neighborhood “snug” pub.
That 855-square foot space will include a bar with seating along with a small lounge area. There also will be a small outdoor seating area. The bar is not expected to open until 2021.
Conn said they were initially planning to do a barbecue concept at another location, but the opportunity for the “snug pub” — which will be known as Store 7 — and restaurant “to complement each other” was too great to pass up.
There are currently no plans to offer alcohol at the restaurant, but Conn said customers would be welcome to take their food over to the pub, which is only separated from the restaurant by a small alley, once it opens.
Between the barbecue joint and the snug pub, the group said its aim is to offer the type of establishments that have recently been lacking along the MacArthur Boulevard corridor.
Ever since the closure of Ross Isaac’s in 2014, “there’s really nothing like a pub or like just a small restaurant, a place to go to hang out to bring the neighborhood together,” Conn said.
Before Free Press moved in, a service station operated at the corner from the early 1930s to the 2000 closing of Selinger Amoco, according to archives at The State Journal-Register. An Illinois Title Loan office closed there in 2016.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said the announcement was “outstanding news for MacArthur Boulevard as it demonstrates the success of Free Press at that location and the opportunity the Conn’s see there for the future.”
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 