Sloopin's Top 10 Post for 2017

Instagram foodporn from the newly opened Half Sour

2017 is almost over and as is customary on this little digital website, we look back at our most popular post as judged by google analytics.  The methodology is a little biased as posts from earlier in the year have a chance to garner the most views, but still sheds light on what garnered the most interest.  One thing that's clear - you peeps are interested in restaurants opening and closing (we are too!).

We're going to countdown, so please commence the drumroll....

#10 - Signs Go Up for Bulldog Ale House at SE Corner of 9th/State - Feb 27

The suburban sports bar has been relatively well received for its affordable options and bringing a nice beer garden to a relatively bland stretch of South State street.

#9 - Taco Bell Cantina Coming to Old Colony Building (407 S. Dearborn St.) - Apr 27
Chicago has its fair share of taco places, but that didn't stop Taco Bell from trying out a new concept to compete with the more "trendy" local taco spots.  There is a Taco Bell Cantina in Wicker Park.  We haven't heard much about this planned South Loop location, but we'll see if it still opens in 2018.

#8 - Pazzo's Open at 825 S. State - Dec 4
News of Pazzo's taking over the former Jimmy Greens space on South State came fast and furious.  The Italian restaurant seemingly opened very quickly which makes sense since the restaurant was in pretty good shape.  We haven't tried it out yet, but are looking forward to it.

#7 - Is Grant Park the Proper Place for the Taste? - July 12
A South Loop resident penned an interesting perspective on whether or not the Taste of Chicago was still a good fit for Grant Park.  The writers perspective was no, but many others disagreed.

#6 - Poke & Role Restaurant Coming to Printer's Row - May 15

It seems like everywhere we went in Chicago a new Poke place was opening.  That trend finally came to the Sloop in 2017.

#5 - Ameritalia Apparently Closes at 1303 S. Michigan - Feb 20
Ameritalia had big shoes to fill taking over the space of the popular Panozzo's.  The food was solid, but never really took off with residents of the Sloop.

#4 - Swap-O-Rama Replaces CSI at 1725 S. Michigan - Apr 24
The one post that wasn't food related in our top 10 and frankly ended up not being a very exciting post.  Regardless, news of a Swap-O-Rama sign showing up on the building at 1725 S. Michigan garnered some intrigued.

#3 - Belly Up Smokehouse & Saloon Closed? - July 19
A pretty surprising post was the news that Belly Up Smokehouse and Saloon closed after a relatively short existence.  The BBQ restaurant was relatively unique for the neighborhood and seemingly would have been a big hit.  One additional factor was that the scaffolding for the 1140 S. Wabash apartment building essentially hid the restaurant from sight.  Regardless, news of Lowcountry - a popular seafood boil spot in Lincoln Park - is taking over the space.

#2 - Old Hackney's to Be Re-Branded "Hax" and Supposedly Opening This Month - May 15
Not surprising that the new Hax garnered a lot of interest in 2017.  We had a number of posts on the topic and they all received a lot of views.  It was a bittersweet development for the neighborhood.  Many cherished the old Hackney's restaurant and wondered why the owners felt the urge to re-concept.  A nice bonus for this was that Gordo's Ice Cream bars opened in the space next to Hax.  Both restaurants opened towards the back half of 2017, so we will be curious to see how they do after a full year in service.  We've been a couple times to both and generally have been pleased with our experience. 

#1 - Half Sour Looks to be Moving Into Former Blackie's Space (755 S. Clark) - Sept 25
News of a new restaurant coming to the former Blackie's space was our number 1 story of 2017!  Similar to the Hax post, we've posted about this topic a variety of times and they all garnered significant views.  Half Sour officially opened on December 16th, so is still a newbie in the Sloop.  Regardless, it appears there is some serious interest here.  Best of luck to them!