GOLD COAST — A month after closing Little Market Brasserie and reopening it as Mercadito Fish, head chef Guillermo Tellez says the new, seafood-focused concept is a big hit with Gold Coast neighbors.
"It was great to do the change ... it's a really great, welcomed addition to the neighborhood, and it's been well-received by the guests, especially the repeated guests that we have," Tellez said as the restaurant, which had a soft open in early July, plans for its grand opening celebration later this month.
"In the beginning, they were a little skeptical, and now they love it. We do have a lot of people that live in the area that dine here — they either live around the corner or a couple blocks away. They have their favorites, and I'm starting to learn them [when] I come out and talk to people at their tables."
Lizzie Schiffman says many people are already considered regulars at Mercadito Fish:
Managing partner Alfredo Sandoval said Mercadito Fish's clients so far have been an even fifty-fifty split of locals and tourists.
The restaurant was swapped into the former Little Market Brasserie at 10 E. Delaware Place. Both brands are owned by the Chicago-based Mercadito Hospitality restaurant group. Sandoval says the move was motivated by a lag in wintertime business at the old concept, which drew locals almost exclusively.
"Little Market was open for almost two years, and the summers were amazing ... our business in the summer was just superb," he said. "But when the winter came around, it was very quiet. We had a good base of regulars, but it seemed like everyone went away in the winter. That might be the case in that neighborhood ... a lot of our customers are people that live in the neighborhood and I think a lot of them go away in the winter months."
The new concept is already bringing in more tourists "and people from other neighborhoods, because Mercadito is a very well-recognized name in Chicago, synonymous with a great restaurant." place.
The move was also inspired in part by Tellez's own creative impulse to return to the cuisine he remembers from his childhood in Mexico, the chef said.
The menu is almost all seafood, featuring "traditional dishes from a New England-style concept with a little bit of a different twist," Tellez said. The twists include incorporating Asian flavors and ingredients into American preparations, he said.
Menu highlights include a citrus-cured salmon tartare crudo and the $99 "Gold Coast Platter" of oysters, shrimp cocktail, tuna crudo and a cracked half lobster.
Mercadito fish is open seven days a week with breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and brunch and dinner on weekends.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
