More than a decade after closing the doors to their Harwood Heights restaurant, the owner’s of Carson’s Ribs are planning a return to the village.
Owners Dean and Chris Carson and architect Steve Kolber presented their plans Monday to the Village Board, proposing a new restaurant at Carmen Avenue and Harlem Avenue — the same spot where they were located before.
The brothers, who still own the property, plan to reopen Carson’s Ribs in a new building, offering sit down dining and carry out options for their menu of barbecue classics such as baby back ribs, prime cut steaks and their famous cornbread.
“This property has been vacant for far too long,” said Dean Carson. “The best developer we can depend on for it is ourselves.”
The new restaurant would offer seating for 80 to 100 people in five booths at the bar and 16 booths in the table service dining area. There also would be a “convenience window” and 30 parking spaces, Dean Carson said.
Though customers are welcome to order online or over the phone and pick up at the window, or order at the window through a handheld device and receive curbside service, the dining area plans call for a more formal option the Carson brothers think members of the community will enjoy.
“I think the community needs a place to sit down with a tablecloth,” Dean Carson said.
The building would be made of brick and stone and would be about 5,000 square feet, about half the size of Carson’s downtown Chicago location, with about 20 employees staffed per shift, said Dean Carson.
Chris Carson said that although the dining room will be about the same size as the previous Harwood Heights Carson’s, “it’s going to be very different from what you remember. The interior is going to be far nicer than what you remember from the old days.”
“I think the village will be proud of the building we’ll have there and I’m confident we’ll back it up with good food,” said Chris Carson.
Village Board members raised concerns that the convenience window may be noisy or bright, and said that in the past residents had complained about such issues at restaurants like McDonalds that have drive-thru windows.
The Carson’s team assured the board that their planned convenience window is not a typical drive-thru.
“It’s really just a ‘pull up, get your food that’s ready and go’ kind of thing,” Kolber said.
An employee will be staffed at the window, but there will be no speakers or brightly lit menu signs for placing orders. Guests will only use the window to pick up orders they have called in or placed online, or to place new orders through a handheld device.
If they place an order at the window, they will then get their food brought to them curbside, said Dean Carson, but 95 percent of their orders are placed ahead of time.
The Carson’s team went before the Plan Commission at the end of June. The commission recommended the village approve their plans with a contingency that the village enact an ordinance making Carmen Avenue two-way up to the western boundary of the property.
The village and the Carson’s team reached a verbal agreement that the village will be responsible for enacting such an ordinance and constructing parking spaces on the south side of Carmen Avenue. The restaurant will be responsible for constructing a sidewalk in front of the parking spaces.
The next step will be for the Village Board to vote on the plans recommended by the Plan Commission on July 11.
Mayor Arlene Jezierny said that she was excited to have Carson’s returning to the property.
“I’m really happy to bring Carson’s back,” she said. “I think a lot of people missed it and the pork chops are great and the ribs are great.”
The Carson’s team does not have an opening date, Dean Carson said they hope to begin construction by October and have a foundation and shell of the building completed by winter.
