London welcomes back the Chicago Rib Shack

Iconic London restaurant Chicago Rib Shack is to be relaunched this spring, nearly a decade after it closed.

The American-style eaterie is being brought back by Jon Yantan and Adrian Hartley, directors of CRS Leisure, who have bought its intellectual property rights and plan to reopen it in May.

Chicago Rib Shack, which launched in 1982 in Knightsbridge, was owned and operated by My Kinda Town, which sold the restaurant to Capital Radio in 1996. It closed when its lease expired in December 1999.

The new restaurant will be housed in a site just a stone's throw from the original venue. It will be a 400-cover outlet, including a 230-seat dining room and a bar. Interiors will feature exposed brick walls and leather banquettes and booths.

The kitchen will be overseen by former Chicago Rib Shack head chef Sly, who will make use of the restaurant's original recipes, with the menu offering dishes such as onion loaf, barbecued chicken and coleslaw and "other bits" as well as an extensive salad selection and steaks and pork ribs. All the meat will be sourced from the UK, with the average spend being £25 for three courses.

Yantan told Caterer he was thrilled to bring back an institution to the London restaurant scene. "There is a real niche for a family-friendly restaurant in central London that sets itself apart from other high-street chains with a real sense of occasion. Chicago Rib Shack will be just that," he said.

Separately, CRS Leisure is planning to launch a new restaurant concept called Stake, a chain of "Manhattan brasserie" steak restaurants. Yantan said he was looking for venues and hoped to have launched the first outlet in London by the end of the year.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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