CANARYVILLE — A chef with two decades of experience in kitchens across the city will soon bring his talents to this South Side neighborhood.
Jorge Hernandez — a 37-year-old, full-time sous chef at The Gage — plans to open Del Sur, a bar & grill at the former home of Amelia's Mexican Grille, 4559 S. Halsted St.
For the past month, Hernandez has been setting up the restaurant's interior and planning its menu, which will include his own twists on Mexican favorites — like "Ceviche Mixto" — a kitchen-sink seafood appetizer with shrimp, scallops, octopus, garlic, red onions, tomato, cilantro, cucumber and avocado.
For dinner, you might order Camarones A La Chimpa, a dinner of sautéed shrimp served in a fragrant pumpkin seed mole sauce with sides of rice and sweet plantains.
And for all you South Side traditionalists in the neighborhood? Del Sur's menu will feature an old-fashioned hamburger — named "The Regular Hamburger" — and homemade pastas.
Hernandez's journey to taking over Amelia's began when he drove by the restaurant and saw a sign in the window that read: "WE ARE CLOSED."
That's when Hernandez picked up the phone and called the building owner, Rigo Sanchez, who agreed to rent him the property for $5,000 a month.
Hernandez hopes to open the restaurant in October, but he has not nailed down a date.
While he won't have a liquor license on opening day, he plans to have a license and drink menu in the next six months.
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