Restaurant, wine club headed to Elgin
A new restaurant and a wine club could open as early as next week in downtown Elgin.
Owner Renae Marin said she hopes that Solo restaurant, featuring modern American cuisine, and Cru wine club will open Wednesday at 13 Douglas Ave., pending approval of all necessary licenses and permits. That's where the former Villa Verone was located until it closed in September 2013.
The Elgin City Council approved a new type of liquor license for that purpose on Wednesday, after the city's liquor control commission gave the restaurant its thumbs-up.
Solo will have an eclectic lunch and dinner menu with global influences, she said.
“It's going to have kind of a warm, modern, industrial urban feel and style,” she said.
The location also will house Cru Wine Club, which now runs out of L'Eiffel Bistrot & Creperie in South Barrington, which her husband Frank co-owned until recently, Marin said.
The wine club will be separate from the Elgin restaurant. “It will be invisible to customers,” she said.
In a wine club, people with memberships get a certain number of wine bottles each month. Those who pick up their bottles at the Elgin location, rather than have them shipped, will get a gift card, Marin said.
Marin said her husband gave up his stake in L'Eiffel Bistrot, which he helped open about five years ago, to run Solo with her. The couple live in Barrington.
While Marin will be in charge of the business and marketing, her husband will be in charge of the dining menu and wine selection, she said.
“Our wine list will be based on giving people things they never would have found otherwise,” she said.
Elgin is undergoing an enticing revitalization, Marin said.
“We thought it would be exciting to be part of it. We think it has a lot of potential,” she said. “I think Elgin needs (Solo). I think Elgin has a group of residents that are looking for and craving a place like this.”
She and her husband are planning to open more restaurants, possibly in Barrington, Palatine or Arlington Heights, she said.