'We get to share what we love': Red Poppy Bistro reopens in Elgin with rotating prix fixe menu
Rising food costs, supply shortages, a difficult labor market and myriad other side effects of the pandemic had finally taken their toll on the Red Poppy Bistro in Elgin.
By the end of 2021, husband-and-wife owners Matthew Habib and Jennifer Polit and their two partners realized the business was in the red, despite having a loyal customer base. They couldn't afford to maintain all-day business hours and weren't willing to raise prices for fear of alienating their supportive diners.
In early January, they announced on social media that Red Poppy would be closed indefinitely.
“It was bad,” Habib said. “We thought we were done.”
Fast forward to a little over a month later, and a reinvented Red Poppy Bistro has new life and a new concept.
The restaurant at 109 E. Highland Ave. reopened last weekend with the first of what will be a rotating prix fixe menu of multicourse, curated meals.
“We are cooking what we like to eat,” Habib said of his team in the kitchen. “This is stuff we make for ourselves, and we're experts at it.
“We get to share what we love,” he said.
The restaurant will now be open only for dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Reservations must be made by Wednesday each week to secure a spot.
The menu for Feb. 18-20 will have an appetizer of mango and cheese stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapeños, a black bean and corn salad, a lobster bisque garnished with chopped lobster tail, and an entree of shrimp and cheesy grits. The meal ends with hot-skillet apple pie a la mode for dessert.
That meal will cost $60 per person, and prices will vary as the menu changes.
The new concept addresses most of their challenges. Food costs and shortages are more manageable with a smaller menu. With presold tickets, they know how many employees are needed each night.
The predictability allows them to focus more on the customer experience, which the couple hope remind guests of the care and love that go into food you would eat in your grandmother's kitchen.
A relaxed pace is part of the experience. The restaurant has only one seating a night, with a cocktail hour from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., appetizer, salad and soup courses in the next hour, entrees served at 7:30 p.m., and dessert an hour later.
“People are always so stressed and running around,” Polit said. “This gives them time to sit and indulge and enjoy the experience. I feel like that's why it will work.”
Habib said they'll take the future as it comes. But they believe this is a sustainable model in the meantime. And more importantly, he's having a good time.
“This is fun,” he said. “Before, every day was like war with all the hurdles and obstacles we've been facing, but this is way more fun for us, and I think it will be more fun for the people that come here.”