Drive-thru coffee spot eyeing Naperville location, Naansense opens first suburban location
Between burgeoning plans for a new place to snag your morning brew, the opening of a long-awaited fast casual Indian restaurant and reimagined menu options at a local favorite, the business scene in and around Naperville is as busy as ever.
National coffee chain 7 Brew is looking to open a location in north Naperville, pending approval from the city.
It is requesting a pair of variances from the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission this week that would allow it to redevelop a former bank off Iroquois Avenue into a drive-through coffee shop.
7 Brew needs a variance from the municipal code for a bypass lane, which would eliminate the need for the usually required extra lane, and for its sign, which will be larger than city regulations normally permit.
If approved, 7 Brew’s Naperville shop would include two drive-through lanes, both for taking coffee orders. In an agenda report for Wednesday’s planning commission meeting, city staff say they support both requested variances.
Staff note that the property — a 0.58-acre site — is limited in lot area and width, constraining its physical capacity for commercial redevelopment. However, they said in their agenda report, “the proposed 7 Brew building has a small footprint and minimal parking requirements, allowing it to be accommodated on the site.”
Launched seven years ago in Rogers, Arkansas, 7 Brew now has more than 190 stores located across the country from Texas to New York, according to its website. There are seven in Illinois. Naperville’s would be the eighth.
Naansense open for business
Last month, Chicago-based Naansense, offering fast-casual Indian fare, opened its new spot in Naperville at 1211 E. Ogden Ave.
The local Naansense — the restaurant’s first outside of Chicago — has been in the works since before the COVID-19 pandemic, when founders Hiran Patel and Viral Patel started eyeing a suburban expansion to their business.
Jan. 23 marked their East Ogden location’s official opening. A second suburban spot in Oakbrook is slated to open in mid-March, according to Hiran Patel.
Naansense originated in Chicago’s Loop more than a decade ago. Specializing in flavorful Indian fillings wrapped up in warm naan or served on rice, the quick-service restaurant catered to hungry commuters in need of a fast lunch. But after eight years, Hiran and Viral decide to let their lease agreements run out in the Loop as the pandemic pummeled the restaurant business.
“As horrible as the pandemic was … one of the things you don’t ever get to do in the restaurant business is pause,” Hiran Patel said Tuesday. “And so, luckily, we were able to pause … and really look at the bigger picture.”
Hiran and Viral opened a new Loop location at 178 N. Franklin St. in May 2022 and plans to expand into the suburbs got underway.
Some two years later, Naansense’s suburban crawl is starting to take shape.
“For me, it feels like finally, right?” Patel said.
Naansense in Naperville boasts a bigger menu that its Loop counterpart and “more of an experience than Chicago,” he said.
“(The Loop restaurant) is more like a Chipotle, urban model, where you go down the line and order as you go,” he said. In Naperville, orders are still counter-service, but the East Ogden spot offers more “defined” quick service, he said.
The response so far, Patel said, has exceeded his expectations.
“It’s been overwhelming, but then you realize, oh my God, we really built something here. It’s really cool to expand to the suburbs,” he said.
Naansense in Naperville is open seven days a week for both lunch and dinner.
Schmaltz Deli unveils new breakfast menu
Schmaltz Deli, a longtime local staple, has launched a new breakfast menu to celebrate its 20th anniversary, according to a news release.
Introduced last week, the Ogden Avenue deli’s revamped menu features “Schmaltz”-ified versions of classic favorites — from breakfast tacos to eggs Benedict — as well as a unique flapjack plate inspired by an iconic Chicago restaurateur.
Chief among Schmaltz’s expanded breakfast offerings include Ina’s “Heavenly Hot” pancakes, a recipe the deli says is from none other than Chicago’s “Breakfast Queen,” Ina Pinkney. A decades-long public figure, Pinkney owned West Loop breakfast spot Ina’s for more than 30 years.
Schmaltz’s Pinkney-inspired dish is a “melt in your mouth” plate of sour cream pancakes served with a warm fruit compote, the deli says. According to Schmaltz, the last time this particular dish was served was by Pinkney herself at her Chicago restaurant in 2013.
As another tribute to Pinkney, who survived polio as an infant, Schmaltz has pledged to donate $1 from every order of its Heavenly Hots pancakes to the End Polio Now campaign by Rotary International.
For the rest of February, Schmaltz, which moved just over the border to Lisle after a 17-year stint in Naperville a few years ago, is offering a 20% discount on weekday breakfast orders for tableside dine-in customers.
