Mimis Cafe plans to welcome you with just-right food in February
It's quite a wish list.
Some of you hoped that cozy restaurant building going up in front of Algonquin Commons was going to be an Olive Garden.
Others wanted it to be a Portillo's.
While those eateries still might appear along the Randall Road horizon some time in the near future, the building under construction in front of Wickes Furniture store is actually going to be a Mimis Cafe.
The restaurant might not be familiar to many of you. The only other one in Illinois right now is in Orland Park.
But for those of you who travel, you may have stopped at Mimis in California, Florida or South Carolina.
The Mimis in Algonquin is expected to open in February.
The restaurant will serve breakfast through dinner, and everything in between.
According to Shelly Grogan, a cash auditor in Mimis' corporate office, the restaurant is "a little bit upper-crust, but not so super-elegant that everyone can't go there to enjoy a great meal.
"The food is all homemade and it's just delicious," she said.
In other locations, she said, it's a popular place for girls' night out events, and for women to gather over coffee and dessert.
But it's also popular with families.
"I just think everyone out there will really like it when it opens," Grogan said.
A furry bunch: Stop into Trader Joe's in Algonquin, where you'll find a wall adorned with slobber-filled faces.
The store, located along Randall Road, posts pictures of your perfect pooches and other purring pets in its store for everyone to admire while they're shopping.
Open house: The village of Algonquin is hosting an open house Thursday at Biaggi's along Randall Road to promote its corporate campus, which stretches south from Algonquin Commons.
The event runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and more than 2,000 commercial and industrial brokers have been invited to attend.
The village will release information on a labor study done in the area, and will encourage future development of the 1,000-acre campus.
• Amy Williams' column covers all the news of business along the Randall Road corridor from South Elgin to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or at (847) 894-5036.