WEST LOOP — FireFin Poke Shop has backed out of plans to open next to the Morgan "L" station in a new Fulton Market development already home to Shake Shack and Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken.
The Chicago-based chain confirmed Monday it no longer intends to open at 177 N. Morgan St., with its team deciding "it is best to capitalize on their current winning model," a spokeswoman said.
Originally set to open in the next couple months, FireFin Poke wanted to expand its menu to offer breakfast sandwiches made with SPAM in keeping with the eatery's Hawaiian menu.
Weekend brunch, which the raw fish bowl restaurant offered in Wicker Park, was also part of the plans.
FireFin will still open its fifth location in the former Spin nightclub in Boystown in the next month. It will join the rapidly expanding Furious Spoon ramen shop. Now Open Project founder Anshul Mangal has a stake in both restaurant chains.
FireFin has two locations in the Loop, one in Wicker Park and a fourth in the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
The switch leaves an unexpected vacancy in the Fulton Market development, where FireFin Poke would have been well met with other trendy concepts like Shake Shack, Do-Rite and Honeygrow.
The one-story building from developer Jeffrey Shapack is situated in the flourishing Fulton Market, where some of the city's top restaurants have flocked to meet a boom of major developments and increased popularity of a dining destination neighborhood.
Spanning to 185 N. Morgan St., the building is one block away from Google's new Chicago headquarters and near the award-winning Au Cheval, Girl & The Goat and other well-known eateries along Randolph Street.
Shapack did not immediately return a request for comment.
