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Nando's Peri-Peri Opens on Randolph in West Loop

By Stephanie Lulay | May 20, 2015 9:09am | Updated on May 21, 2015 8:35am

WEST LOOP — Workers in the West Loop seeking a fast casual for lunch and dinner now have a new option on Randolph — Portuguese-style chicken.

Nando's Peri-Peri, a popular international restaurant chain specializing in South African/Portuguese-style spicy peri-peri chicken, will officially open its first Chicago location at 11 a.m. Wednesday at 953 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. 

Nando's signature peri-peri chicken, or piri piri as it is sometimes referred to, is named for the African bird's eye chile that flavors the sauce. The chicken is marinated for 24 hours, then grilled and basted. Customers choose the heat level of the sauce.


Nando's Peri-Peri, known for its spicy peri-peri chicken, opens Wednesday in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]

Menu options range from a quarter-chicken with a side dish for $7.25 to $51.45 for a jumbo platter, which includes two chickens and two extra-large sides that feeds four to six people.

Sandwiches, featuring chicken or ribeye steak and roasted vegetables, come on Portuguese rolls, pita bread or whole wheat wraps. Salads accented with peri peri chicken and desserts round out the menu.

The restaurant's interior, using bright colors and textures, reflects the company's African-Portuguese heritage. Worldwide, the company has become the largest collector of South African contemporary art in the world, said company spokesman Jim Popkin.


Nando's Peri-Peri opens Wednesday at 953 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]


The patio at Nando's Peri-Peri in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]

Artwork displayed at the Randolph restaurant includes the 16-foot ceramic mosaic “Half Square" by visual artist Liza Grobler. Grobler and a team of artists designed and hand-made the project’s 4,032 color tiles in a ceramic studio in Cape Town, South Africa, and then carefully packaged them for the 8,500-mile trip to Chicago.


Art displayed at Nando's Peri-Peri in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]


Nando's Peri-Peri opens Wednesday at 953 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]

Nando's plans to open two other locations in Chicago this year. The second will open in June at 670 W. Diversey Ave. in Lakeview, and a September opening is slated for the third store at 1500 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park, Popkin said.

The restaurant chain, which now operates 1,200 locations in 23 countries, launched in South Africa in 1986. The only other U.S. Nando's restaurants are in the Washington, D.C. area.

Earlier this year, Popkin said the Nando's is "exploring options" for additional locations in Chicago.

The West Loop location is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.


Nando's Peri-Peri opens Wednesday at 953 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]

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