Eggsperience, Tempesta Italian deli coming to Higgins Road in Rosemont

An Eggsperience Cafe and Tempesta Market Italian deli are coming this summer to a mini restaurant row developing on Higgins Road in Rosemont.

The eateries will be part of the commercial building at 9500-9520 W. Higgins Road that formerly housed Ram Restaurant & Brewery and a Starbucks, which closed during the pandemic. The village purchased the single-story, 16,246-square-foot property for $2.5 million last summer and has been trying to fill the vacant spaces.

On Monday, the village board inked a lease with the owners of Eggsperience for 4,000 square feet — about half of the former Ram space.

Since the franchise started in 2004, Eggsperience has expanded and retracted across the suburbs, but today has four locations: Wheeling, Elmwood Park, and Chicago’s Lakeview and Irving Park neighborhoods.

Most locations serve breakfast and lunch and close by 3 p.m., but Mayor Brad Stephens said owners are exploring the possibility of early dinner hours at their new location in Rosemont.

Village real estate broker Marc Offit has been talking with proprietors of a stir fry restaurant concept for the other half of the former Ram restaurant space, Stephens said.

Next to the old Ram is Cilantro Taco Grill, which moved in 2023 from a smaller strip mall location across the street, and a FedEx office. Next to that is the old Starbucks, where interior renovations will begin soon for Tempesta Market, a specialty sandwich shop and deli.

It’ll be similar to the deli’s location on Grand Avenue in Chicago’s West Town. It opened in 2017, selling prepared items, meats and cheeses, and other Italian groceries. Popular made-to-order sandwiches include The Dante: hot sopressata, mortadella, genoa, hot capicola, porchetta, provolone, hot giardiniera, ‘nduja aioli, lettuce and tomato on a baguette.

The Rosemont locale will have some seating inside and outside, Stephens said.

Father and son owners Agostino and Tony Fiasche have garnered international acclaim for their homemade ‘nduja — spicy, spreadable pork salami originally from the Calabria region of Italy — along with other cured charcuterie made at their Tempesta Artisan Salumi food processing facility.

The Rosemont lease terms for Eggsperience and Tempesta call for the space to be rented at $32 per square foot, with the village providing some tenant allowance for interior upgrades. The village will also pay for a new roof on the building and updated heating and cooling systems.

Both new businesses are expected to open by the end of summer.

Another 1,700 square feet remains leasable on the site, Stephens said.