Landmark Palatine cafe cooking on borrowed time

A landmark suburban restaurant could be torn down under a plan to redevelop a busy corner in Palatine.

Brandt's Little Café, known for some of the best burgers around, would become a parking lot for a new Walgreens and Fifth Third Bank.

The bank would be built along Northwest Highway and the Walgreens along Quentin Road, both with a drive-through, according to plans submitted by Des Plaines-based developer DL Acquisitions.

Brandt's owner George Grisco declined to comment Tuesday on the plan, since nothing is finalized yet.

"I own the place; it's not sold yet," he said. "Right now, nothing is for certain."

The gray stone building carries with it a lot of history. It dates back more than 120 years and originally was a farmhouse in Inverness.

In the 1920s, it was moved to the Palatine corner and has housed restaurants since the '40s. Brandt's has been there since 1947 and has been family-owned the entire time.

There aren't more than 20 tables in the eatery. Chicago sports team posters, liquor ads and neon beer signs adorn the wood-paneled walls.

Brandt's doesn't even have a menu -- everything is written on a blackboard on the wall.

"It's just a little bit of the past, that's what makes it different," said Herman Staiger, a customer for more than 20 years.

The Palatine resident says change is inevitable and that if it's sold, there's nothing anyone can do.

"How long are you going to hold on to something?" he said. "If it happens, it happens."

Rumors of a bank going up have been ongoing for more than two years. Palatine village planner Kevin Anderson said an initial proposal came forward about two years ago that just had a bank. A formal application never was submitted.

"We need both tenants to make this project work economically," said Gary Lundgren, a partner with DL Acquisitions. "It's a boon for the village since it offers retail sales."

In March 2003, there was a fire in the restaurant and it closed for several months.

Grisco decided to re-open after working to fix the $50,000 in damage.

In a 2003 interview, Grisco, who is near retirement age, said he sometimes thinks about giving up the business.

He said things hadn't been the same for him since his wife, Patricia, died in 2002. She helped him run the business for many years.

The proposal is scheduled for a public hearing in front of the Palatine Plan Commission on Sept. 18.