A peek at new Wilde & Greene eatery, market
By MIKE ISAACS misaacs@pioneerlocal.com July 22, 2011 4:50PM
It's not your everyday mall water fountain. Cristiane Hioki, maketing manager of Wilde & Greene, highlights a decorative water faucet that is part of the new market, eatery and rooftop restaurant in Westfield Old Orchard. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 2, 2011 1:35AM
The large fence on the east side of Westfield Old Orchard surrounding space once occupied by the shopping center’s food court is dismantled, revealing a handsome natural market and eatery that opened today.
The oversized red apple that marked the food court for decades is now officially gone; the Wilde & Greene Restaurant + Natural Market is officially born.
And if a sneak preview of Westfield’s new facility is any indication, there won’t be many customers clamoring for the red apple. Wilde & Greene sports 18 different food stations on its open ground floor with sit-down eating, separated only by a natural market on its far east side.
A rooftop restaurant and bar, accessible only from the outside of the facility, will provide a full tapas and sandwich menu and stay open until late night. The hours could extend even later depending on interest.
“Party with us and we’ll stay open until midnight,” said a joyful crew member working behind the bar, one of many scrambling last week to get Wilde & Greene open.
Wilde & Greene opened the restaurant for limited hours (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) today and was planning to keep to that schedule through Saturday. The rooftop was also to open on an abbreviated schedule (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) through Saturday if there was customer interest, which was unknown since a new heat wave was expected mid-week. The grocery component though is not scheduled to open until next week.
The 30,000 square-foot restaurant and market is not just any addition to Skokie’s largest retail center. From the get go, Wilde & Greene and Westfield officials have asserted it is intended to draw people from well beyond Skokie.
There is not another retailer quite like it, they say, making Wilde & Greene a destination point in its own right. But Westfield officials also believe that it will attract more customers to the shopping center even if their first point of interest is the market/restaurant.
It’s also not just another opening for the owner, Wilde & Greene, which recently was renamed from Richtree Market Restaurants Inc., a Toronto-based food service firm that has six smaller restaurants in Canadian shopping centers.
The owner considers the Wilde & Greene Restaurant and Natural Market “the world’s first in-mall dining and specialty food shopping venue.”
Wilde & Greene Marketing Manager Cristiane Hioki said that more Wilde & Greenes will be built and the company’s existing venues will be reconfigured and renamed Wilde & Greene.
The Old Orchard building has an attractive and earthy look with its outside of brown wood and plenty of windows for natural light. The inside, an airy room of exposed brick and sunlight, achieves an aesthetic that matches up well with the concept of “healthy and organic” eating.
The dozen-and-a-half food and beverage stations allow diners to choose from gourmet food selections in individualized “kitchens” such as a French rotisserie and carving station, an oyster bar, a customized pizzeria and a bakery featuring pastries and French crepes made from scratch.
All-natural food is prepared in front of the customer who uses a “swipe card” to purchase desired foods at different stations. Wilde & Greene has seating for 600 customers including 150 customers for the rooftop restaurant.
Islam Najrum, a trainer and cook at one of the stations during the preview, said Wilde & Greene will have a plethora of curries available.
“We’re going to have green curry, white curry, red curry. It will be a very nice place,” he said.”
Even in such a difficult economy, Hioki believes the restaurant will appeal to customers. She says that customers can eat healthy, gourmet food but families can also order “standards” such as hand-cut fries and pizza and have reasonably priced meals.
“We’ll soon see that people want this kind of a food venue,” she said.
The eating and ordering stations make up the largest part of Wilde & Greene at 12,000 square feet. The rooftop restaurant and the food market are each 6,000 square feet.
The marketplace, which will open soon, doesn’t have the space for a full-scale grocery store, of course, but it’s easy to see how customers can collect a good supply of healthy food for their kitchen after dining next door. The marketplace offers organic, sustainable and natural artisan specialty foods, seasonal fresh produce, meats, seafood and other food items.
During the preview, the freezer was already stocked with vegetarian frozen food and the crew was working filling the shelves with other unique food products.
A view from the rooftop restaurant overlooks the interior of the mall facing toward Macy’s. The upstairs deck is peppered with comfortable seating and includes a bar encased by a wood shelter. Local and unique beers will be served here, said Wilde & Green representatives.
Wilde & Greene’s permanent hours, which it hopes to begin next week, is from 7:30 a.m. to midnight seven days a week in the market and the restaurant. The rooftop patio‚s regular hours will be from from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. or later seven days a week as well.
Hioki said she sees the downstairs restaurant as a place where customers can have breakfast and bring newspapers in the morning.
“We want them to feel free to spend a lot of time here,” she said. The facility will include wi-fi access for connecting to the Internet.
In the days leading up to the opening of Wilde & Greene, workers were busy drilling and hammering, putting the final touches in place. Selected tours moved among the busy crews as the clock ticked down. However, an official grand opening is not slated until September.
“I think we’ll see that a lot of people want this kind of a one-stop restaurant and a market,” Hioki said. “We can’t wait to open up and show people all that we have to offer.”
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