Less than two weeks after Ann Sather opened a new flagship location between East Village and Wicker Park, the beloved diner known for its massive, house-made cinnamon rolls announced another big move: It’s moving back to Lakeview, into the former Stella’s Diner that closed permanently this week.
“Lakeview has been good to me,” said former Ald. Tom Tunney, Ann Sather’s owner and operator, who had closed the last Belmont Avenue location after 81 years in the neighborhood in late June.
Although Ann Sather’s move into Stella’s comes weeks after the diner temporarily closed in July following a failed city health inspection, Tunney said the deal was years in the making.
“I was approached by Stella’s owner Marvin (Barsky), two or three years ago, to potentially buy Stella’s,” Tunney said, noting that he already had a space on Broadway. “But now things were different.”
Tunney said he plans to close the Ann Sather location at Broadway and Roscoe by the end of the year, as the lease expires, making the move to Stella’s more of a relocation than an expansion.
Stella’s failed its health inspection on July 9, which found over 50 trapped cockroaches in the kitchen’s temperature-controlled holding units and several other violations. Managers were instructed to remove all roach carcasses and seal the bottoms of entryways to prevent more pests from entering. The city later cleared the restaurant to reopen after the required corrections were made.
Tunney said the closure has nothing to do with the inspection.
“The issue was the expiration of my lease at Broadway and Roscoe and having a void in Lakeview, making it natural for me to look at Stella’s,” Tunney said.
Tunney said Stella’s will undergo renovations before reopening as Ann Sather on 3042 N. Broadway, including repairs to the 100-year-old building.
He plans to open in about eight weeks.
“There’s always a challenge, despite the condition of the building prior,” Tunney said. “We are going to do a thorough cleaning and re-cleaning, and structural work to do with our landlord,” he said. “We did the same thing at Division, but Division was in better shape.”
Last month, Tunney relocated Ann Sather’s longtime Belmont Avenue restaurant to the former Yolk space at 1819 W. Division St. after the Belmont property was sold to a developer planning an apartment building.
Tunney hopes to rehire many of the employees from Stella’s.
“They’re important … they know customer service and they know how to cook breakfast,” he said. “Some people are sentimental about Stella’s — I’m not — and some people are sentimental about Ann Sather closing on Belmont, so we’re going to try to keep everybody — to the best of our ability — happy.”
Stella’s Diner sits empty after it was closed on July 9, 2026, by Chicago officials for trouble with insects and rodents, Aug. 4, 2026. The location will become an Ann Sather restaurant. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Barsky, owner of Stella’s Diner, could not be reached for comment, but in a statement shared on Instagram, took “full responsibility for everything that has happened over the past several weeks.”
Barsky also owns Lakeview’s The Bagel Restaurant and Deli (3107 N. Broadway), which also closed temporarily for 17 days after an inspection on June 2 found a heavy cockroach infestation. It reopened on June 20 after passing the re-inspection.
“I quickly realized that owning and operating two iconic Chicago restaurants comes with challenges and responsibilities,” Barsky said in the statement. “I do not take the privilege of being entrusted with these historic establishments lightly.”
After Ann Sather opens in the former Stella’s space, the grand total of Ann Sather restaurants will be four, at least until the end of the year.
The Belmont location of Ann Sather has moved five times in 81 years. The legendary Ann Sather originally bought what was called the Swedish Diner in 1945, then moved it a few doors down and changed the name to Ann Sather’s in 1955. Tunney worked with her shortly after and took over the business at 925 W. Belmont in 1980. When the lease ended, he purchased the adjacent building at 929 W. Belmont in 1984.
In other restaurant closings, the West Loop’s Wishbone (161 N. Jefferson St.) announced Monday on social media that it would be closing for good.
“There is no easy way to say goodbye to something that has been such a large part of our lives for so long,” owners Joel and Julie Nickson said in a statement posted to Instagram. “To our many loyal customers and to the generations of staff members who helped make Wishbone what it became, thank you.”
Joel Nickson, owner of Wishbone restaurant on June 16, 2016, has been serving food in Chicago for over 30 years. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
The beloved brunch spot had been open for 36 years.
“We began in 1990 at 1800 West Grand Avenue on a shoestring budget with a lot of help from family, and of course, my mother’s painting on the walls,” the statement said. “During the time we have left, we hope people will come by, share a meal, say goodbye and help us celebrate everything Wishbone has been to our family, our staff and Chicago.”
Wishbone became known widely as a destination for Southern-style cooking whose regular customers used to include staff from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios, when they were located next door.
In an interview with the Tribune in 2018, owner Joel Nickson said “people used to think this was Oprah’s restaurant.”
Even then, Nickson cited rising rent prices as a reason to relocate. Wishbone’s reasons for closing permanently weren’t clear and the owners don’t yet have a closing date, but they hope to remain open through the end of August.