ROGERS PARK — A diner serving breakfast all day opened quietly this week, nestled among Clark Street's bountiful collection of taquerias and other Mexican cuisine.
Markello's owners, Adilene Campos and her mother, Magdalena, hope their menu — including country-fried steak, Belgian waffles and burritos — would offer something not usually found nearby.
"It's only Mexican restaurants around here," Campos said Tuesday inside the renovated restaurant space at 7137 N. Clark St. "We wanted to have something different."
Campos, of Rogers Park, said she and a few other family members run the restaurant.
They plan to have a grand opening at 10 a.m. Sunday, offering a breakfast buffet for $7.99.
Regular business hours would be from 6 a.m. to midnight, while delivery would be offered 24 hours a day, she said.
The restaurant is also BYOB, with no cork fee.
Campos, a 21-year-old Truman College student, said she balances her time between studying for classes and running the restaurant.
Her mother, who also owns a delivery service for Chicago restaurants, fills in where she's needed.
As long as her family helps, Campos said, she's able to juggle the workload.
Markello's, named after a family member, had been two years in the making, Campos said.
It began with a gut rehab of the storefront, which formerly housed El Novillo, a taqueria-pizzeria joint.
Now the space, with red-bench booths and Jarritos sodas in a fridge behind the counter, resembles a diner with a Mexican flair.
Leticia Sanchez, who waits tables and handles the restaurant's social media accounts, said Markello's plans to feature local artists' work on the walls.
For more information, call the restaurant at 773-961-7676.
