Coffee bar, restaurant planned for vacant Palatine building

The owner of Chicago Prime Steakhouse in Schaumburg plans to open a new restaurant in the former home of a Boston Market and Peapod in Palatine.

The Palatine village council recently approved a special use and liquor license to allow for Tellios Coffee at 790 W. Northwest Highway.

Owner George Kalkounos intends to renovate the building at the corner of Northwest Highway and Quentin Road for what a business plan submitted to the village describes as "a cross between a full-service coffee bar and a dine-in restaurant serving specialty coffee drinks."

The food menu will feature eggs and omelets, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, soups, salads, snacks and desserts.

Operating from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, the business will have a drive-through, indoor seating for 48 customers and an outdoor patio. Alcohol will be permitted inside only.

Tellios will employ up to 20 people, according to its business plan.

Kalkounos, who lives in neighboring Inverness, has been in the restaurant business for about four decades. His family owns Chicago Prime Steakhouse in Schaumburg and Avante Banquets and Conference Center in Fox River Grove. His son, John, owns Chicago Prime Italian restaurant, also in Schaumburg.

Spiros Alikakos, attorney for Tellios Coffee, told Palatine's planning and zoning commission in June that the drive-through is critical to the restaurant's success.

"If the drive-through wasn't there, I don't think he could meet his economic requirement," he said. "Because he's not going to be able to have that many seats in the interior of the building. So without the drive-through service being a coffee shop, he would find it difficult to continue running."