Suburban restaurateur bares his soul

I've never met the man, but I've always liked Dick Portillo.

I mean, the up-by-the-boostraps story - poor upbringing, opens a hot dog stand in a 6-by-12-foot trailer, becomes a hot dog magnate - is compelling in and of itself. I'm a longtime fan of his restaurants; often hit the North Avenue Portillo's in Glendale Heights when I was a cub reporter at the now-shuttered Daily Journal.

But what I've really liked about Portillo is his accessibility. Many a moon ago, we were brainstorming story ideas for a special section when some idiot (most likely me) came up with the idea that it would be cool to have someone observe the action on a busy day in a fast-food operation. We reached out to the usual suspects; all said they'd have to take it up with "corporate." The answer from corporate was an across-the-board "no."

So, we decided not to mess with the national chains, and instead ask our not-quite-as-prominent-but-nonetheless-local guy, Dick Portillo. He said "yes," and the result was a cute little story in our special section that couldn't have possibly done the Portillo chain any harm.

So when I heard earlier in the week (shout out to Naperville columnist Stephanie Penick) that Portillo's fanciest concept restaurant, Key Wester in Naperville, had abruptly closed, I felt sad. But I also thought there was a good story.

So, I assigned Robert Sanchez the job of getting Portillo to talk about what was perhaps his first failure in a world of success. Sanchez was enthusiastic; he noted that unlike many other captains of industry, Portillo will actually put himself out there for interviews.

Portillo's people were at first a little ginchy about why Sanchez wanted a one-on-one with their leader, but Robert's persistent; Portillo gave the interview and bared his soul. As Sanchez reported in Thursday's editions, Key Wester was hit by a perfect storm of misfortune for the seafood restaurant: an aging building, a rotten economy discouraging upscale dining and the price of fish going through the roof. Portillo characterized the closing as "the most difficult business decision that I've ever had to do in my 47 years in business. It broke my heart."

I believe him. You could see a lot of Portillo in that restaurant, literally and figuratively; he was in many of the sea-themed pictures hanging on the walls.

I'm not going to suggest we need to hold a tag day for Portillo; he's still in the expansion mode elsewhere, starting a breakfast chain, building a new Portillo's in Bolingbrook. But it must really hurt when a hot dog guy tries to do something upscale and it doesn't succeed.

Still, I wanted to do my part. My dad and I have a regular Tuesday night dinner, and without prompting, he chose what remains as the upscale jewel in the Portillo empire: Luigi's Place in Aurora, almost across the street from Key Wester. The following night, I put in a long day and the missus was out of town, so I stopped at my local Portillo's/Barnelli's.

May I suggest the Peasant Pasta? Delicious.

Promoting myself:And the Daily Herald, of course.I was interviewed Thursday by Liz Spencer, executive director of NCTV17, Naperville's community television station. As the result of the Daily Herald's partnership with NCTV, we get a spot on the station's "Business Connection" program. I ramble on and on about the changing face of the news business and how the Daily Herald does its best to live up to its slogan of being the big picture/local focus newspaper for the suburbs. It is scheduled to air next week, likely Thursday, so if you don't live in Naperville, where it will air repeatedly on cable Channel 17, you can check it out at nctv17.com.