Downtown Elgin eatery goes under

Jef Leary and a friend went out for dinner in downtown Elgin this week.

The good news is he got his fill at the Elgin Public House.

The bad news is he went there Monday because his original destination, Akina's Thai Restaurant, was closed.

"We found out the hard way. We had no idea," said Leary, a resident since 2002. "I never got the same dish twice. That's how good it was."

The restaurant opened at 23 S. Grove Ave., in spring 2003.

But a sign on the door informed patrons of the closing and thanked them for their support.

The owners could not be reached for comment and the phone there was not accepting messages.

Whether the closing is a harbinger of more shuttered stores is unclear.

Several restaurants - Villa Verone, the Public House and Al's Cafe, to name a few, are doing well, and others like Mad Maggies are set to open this year.

But some eateries are slumping, such as Prairie Rock Brewery, which recently closed its main dining room.

"It's a hard market to understand," said Leo Nelson, president of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce and a former city manager, "The construction certainly hasn't helped anybody. It's one of those necessary evils that has to happen if things are going to get better."

The city is in the second year of a $31.5 million street construction and streetscape improvement project for the central business district slated to end in 2012.

New sidewalks, curbs, decorative street lights and other amenities are added each year to a couple streets at a time.

Downtown merchants knew for months that Akina's was in trouble.

A flier tacked to a bulletin board at a downtown chiropractor's office urged people to support the restaurant because it could close by May 30 because construction had hurt business.

As it turns out, they made it another month before capitulation.

Other restaurant owners don't necessarily see the closing of Akina's as a sign that downtown's arrow is pointing down.

Patricia Jamin, who co-owns Al's Cafe and Creamery with her husband Tony, said the rough winter, recession and downtown construction probably took its toll.

"We're incredibly sad to see (Akina's) go. We want to have more restaurants and more businesses here. All in all, it's been a difficult time for everybody. We've all felt it," Jamin said. "It's too bad. It was a great place and people loved the food."