Another New Restaurant Coming Downtown: Dotombori Japanese Restaurant

According to this week's City Council Agenda, the former Subway at Miner & Pearson in the 1900 C.W.M. Brown building, is set to be replaced by Dotombori Japanese Restaurant, specializing in Sushi and Bento, operated by Dae Hee Yoo. (Bento is basically a quick Japanese lunch box.) Dotombori is seeking a H-1 liquor license for consumption of beer and wine on premises. You might recall that not long ago an Indian karaoke bar wanted to open in this space, but was vetoed by the neighbors due to noise concerns. I don't anticipate those objections will arise here; not that it's reasonable to expect quiet when you move into a downtown. This also presents an excellent opportunity to utilize the Facade Rehabilitation Program to restore this downtown landmark to its former beauty, or at least something better than the striped aggregate that is there now.

Downtown is quickly becoming a center for quality restaurants of every stripe; Red Sauce Italian (Oliveti, Leona's), Upscale Italian (Via Roma!), Vietnamese (Dung Gia), Thai (Thai Square), Diner (Choo Choo), Breakfast/American (Sugar Bowl), Chain American (Cheeseburger in Paradise), Bakery/Sandwiches (Panera, Potbelly, Sweet Remembrance), Authentic Mexican (Mexico Restaurant), Gourmet Mexican (Lalo's), and whatever combination of Italian, Indian, and American Brasserie is supposed to be.

There's still a few niches to fill, but it seems like downtown Des Plaines is evolving into a real culinary attraction, probably due to all the condominium residents around. Just imagine how well these restaurants would do if the Des Plaines Theatre and Masonic Temple were restored to full function as cultural, film, and arts centers: all those hungry patrons looking for somewhere to eat and something to do. It's great to have restaurants as an attraction, but they need an engine, an anchor to sustain them.