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Packed Closes After Less Than Five Months in Hyde Park

By Sam Cholke | May 10, 2016 4:41pm
 Packed has closed after less than five months in Hyde Park.
Packed has closed after less than five months in Hyde Park.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Packed has closed after less than five months of selling upscale dumplings in Hyde Park.

On Tuesday, owner Aaron DiMaria posted a note on the door of the restaurant at 1321 E. 57th St. that said thanked customers but said the restaurant wasn’t getting enough business.

“In the end, this specific location did not provide the consistent level of traffic needed to compensate for our tight margins,” DiMaria wrote.

By late Tuesday, the note had already been taken down, leaving students and neighbors to guess why the restaurant that opened in January was closed.

Students had complained the food was too expensive and in too small of portions, and while food critics had raved about the restaurant started by Mike Sheerin of Blackbird and Trencherman, the food never caught on locally.

“It was such a pleasure to share my passion for inventive, delicious food with those of you who not only appreciate Mike’s innovation, but who also value the lengths that I went to to serve an environmentally responsible menu in an eco-sensitive way,” DiMaria wrote. “Unfortunately, though, with the proliferation of factory farming, it is quite costly to pay local farmers and ranchers fair prices for Earth-friendly organic produce and for raising livestock humanely.”

 Mike Sheerin, left, has closed his dumpling restaurant called Packed with partner Aaron DiMaria.
Mike Sheerin, left, has closed his dumpling restaurant called Packed with partner Aaron DiMaria.
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Nick Murway

DiMaria and Sheerin were courted to Hyde Park by the University of Chicago in March of 2015 and it took the duo nine months to plan out the menu and build out the space, which is now also likely to change hands.

The building is one of 13 properties the University of Chicago has put up for sale.

 

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