November opening planned for restaurant in Aurora Arts Center

Restaurateur Amy Morton is months away from opening her newest establishment next to the Paramount Theatre in downtown Aurora.

Morton appeared this week with Mayor Richard Irvin to announce that the upscale restaurant at 5 E. Galena Blvd. is scheduled to open in November. It will occupy a space on the first floor of the John C. Dunham Aurora Arts Center.

The name of the restaurant is yet to be revealed.

"I love the summertime," Irvin said. "But I am looking forward to November, and this will be only time I look forward to November."

Morton described the future restaurant as "a place that both Amelia Earhart and Coco Chanel will appreciate."

Renovations to the Art Deco space are ongoing. One of the restaurant's features will be a brass-topped bar with a bead-board facade in the center.

Morton said the restaurant will be a seasonal kitchen and steakhouse.

"We're going to have really great food," she said, "with really great service in a vibe that's really cool."

At the same time, she said, "people are going to feel it's a really great value."

It's also going to be homegrown, Morton said.

"We've hired our management team already," she said, "and I'm really excited to say everybody's from Aurora."

Morton is the daughter of the late Arnie Morton, the legendary Chicago restaurant owner of Morton's Steakhouse fame.

But she has developed her own reputation over the years, starting with Mirador and The Blue Room in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She spent some time working as a consultant, then took time off to raise a family.

When she returned, Morton opened Found Kitchen and Social House in Evanston; the Barn Steakhouse in Evanston; and Patty2, a burger restaurant on the campus of Northwestern University.

This week, Morton said she has a possible name for the Aurora restaurant, but she's not ready to share it yet.

"I just want to make sure that it's going to be the one that sticks," she said.