EDGEWATER — Ramsen Sheeno plans to open his second Mediterranean restaurant, Lé Pita Fresh, within a few weeks on a stretch of North Broadway that's undergoing a broader redevelopment.
The restaurant would replace CJ's Grill, which closed at 6141 N. Broadway earlier this year.
Edgewater "is coming up like Bucktown did," said Sheeno, 36, while sitting at a table in the renovated restaurant. "I think this area here needs a place like this."
Sheeno, an Assyrian born in Iraq, said he spent $50,000 to fix up the storefront by adding a stone facade and exposing the brick on one wall inside, among other improvements.
He said he plans to turn a back porch into a seating area and a hookah lounge if he can get the alderman's support.
He bought his first Lé Pita Fresh restaurant in suburban Niles from a previous owner. He also plans to open a third location in the Northwest Side's Forest Glen neighborhood sometime in March.
Lé Pita Fresh will join a dozen other new developments and businesses sprouting on Broadway, a strip that for years has been home to stagnant and vacant properties.
The restaurant, serving shawarma, falafel and kabobs, will be open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays and from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays.