When Southport Grocery and Cafe opened at 3552 N. Southport Ave. in 2003, it served only lunch and dinner. Owner Lisa Santos had servers keep a notebook of customer requests, and one request came up most often: breakfast. She held out until one customer ordered two plates of bread-pudding pancakes and ate both, as Santos told Block Club Chicago.
Twenty-three years later, the restaurant that became a Southport breakfast stop by popular demand is closing at the end of 2026. Two Broadway breakfast addresses are also in motion this season, as Ann Sather moves into the former Stella's Diner and leaves its longtime spot at Roscoe. Both of the restaurant spaces have announced successors. Neither successor has announced an opening date.
Three addresses, two named successors, no fixed dates
Here are the three handoffs, with the timing each operator has given so far.
| Address | Leaving | Arriving | Stated timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3552 N. Southport Ave. | Southport Grocery and Cafe | Dollop Finer Diner | Grocery closes at the end of 2026; diner opening date not set |
| 3042 N. Broadway, at Barry | Stella's Diner, already closed | Ann Sather | Lease signed with an opening planned "in the fall" |
| 3415 N. Broadway, at Roscoe | Ann Sather, open about 30 years | No successor announced | Closes shortly before the 3042 location opens |
The operators taking the two spaces are staying in the same business. A Chicago coffee roaster is taking over a breakfast-and-lunch room, and a longtime Lakeview breakfast name is taking over a diner. Southport Avenue and Broadway keep their breakfast counters, and the names over the doors change.
Southport Grocery's handoff started four years ago
Dollop didn't win the Southport lease from a list of strangers. Santos partnered with Dollop Coffee Co. a little more than four years ago to expand its wholesale pastry business, Block Club reported, and that working relationship set up the handoff.
Southport Grocery's staff move to the new restaurant. "I have people that have worked for me for 18 years," Santos told Block Club. "They all have jobs at the new concept. They all have a soft landing." She will keep a small stake in Dollop Finer Diner and help with consulting and taste-testing. She also keeps the Southport Grocery name and recipes, and she said her next chapter will not include another brick-and-mortar restaurant.
That last detail matters for anyone who orders the same plate every Saturday. The kitchen staff are staying, but the recipes belong to Santos. Whether the bread-pudding pancakes come back under a new name is for the new team to decide, and they haven't said.
The best preview of the new restaurant is in Andersonville. Dollop's only current diner is at 5060 N. Clark St. in Andersonville, open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Southport Corridor Chicago describes the Andersonville menu as locally sourced, classic American fare with Chicago-roasted coffee. It also notes that the Southport location's hours, menu and opening date have not been announced. Dollop started in 2005 as a single cafe in Uptown. It says it roasts its own coffee and bakes its pastries and bread in-house, and it has tended to give each cafe its own design and menu. WhatNow Chicago reported on Oct. 22 that the diner is expected to open after Southport Grocery closes, with no date set.
So early 2027 on Southport may bring weeks or longer when 3552 is between operators. How long depends on how much work Dollop does on the space, and it hasn't announced any.
Ann Sather's route back to Broadway and Barry
The Broadway handoff has more steps. Earlier in 2026, Ann Sather's Belmont Avenue property was sold to a developer planning an apartment building. Owner Tom Tunney, who represented the 44th Ward for two decades, moved that restaurant to the former Yolk space at 1819 W. Division St. and said he hoped to bring it back to Lakeview eventually, according to Block Club Chicago. CBS Chicago later reported that the old Belmont building at 909 W. Belmont was being demolished to make way for the new development.
When Stella's Diner sold, Ann Sather got its chance to come back. In August, Tunney said the Broadway restaurant at 3415 N. Broadway would move into the former Stella's space at 3042 N. Broadway after renovations, which he expected to take a few months. He described the appeal to Block Club this way:
"We have a lot of goodwill in Lakeview. This is a little bigger, with bigger outdoor seating. We look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve our Lakeview residents."
The new Ann Sather will sit across Broadway from The Bagel at 3107 N. Broadway. The Bagel's owner chose to focus on the deli instead of running two restaurants and plans a second Bagel in downtown Glenview. NBC Chicago reported in April that the Glenview location at 1850 Glenview Road was on track for late fall or early winter. On Broadway, The Bagel's site lists daily hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Ann Sather's contact page still lists three restaurants: 1819 W. Division, 3415 N. Broadway and 1147 W. Granville. The 3042 address isn't on it yet. CBS reported that the 3415 location will close shortly before the new one opens. Until then, the Roscoe location stays where it has been for about 30 years.
The Broadway breakfast stretch, address by address
Within a few months, the stretch of Broadway between Barry and just north of Roscoe will look different. Here it is from south to north:
- 3042 N. Broadway: Ann Sather's planned new home in the former Stella's Diner, with an opening described as "in the fall."
- 3107 N. Broadway: The Bagel, open daily.
- 3139 N. Broadway: Noodleverse, a new standalone Chinese noodle shop reported in Southport Corridor Chicago's Oct. 5 roundup.
- 3415 N. Broadway: Ann Sather's current location, open until shortly before the move.
- 3478 N. Broadway: Paris Baguette, with "coming soon" signs and no opening date announced as of Oct. 12, per Secret Chicago.
If Paris Baguette opens near Roscoe around the time Ann Sather moves south to Barry, the north end of the stretch would lose a sit-down breakfast room and gain a bakery counter. The south end would end up with Ann Sather and a Jewish deli facing each other. None of these openings has a fixed date, so the order they happen in is still open.
Southport Grocery's remaining dates
Santos told Block Club to expect business as usual until the end of the year. That includes Thanksgiving catering, Christmas cookies, gift baskets, two more Secret Suppers, and older menu items that customers kept asking for, including apple-stuffed French toast and the restaurant's own take on a Hostess Ding Dong. Here are the dates in order:
- Friday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m.: A Secret Supper is listed on the shop's site. A second remaining supper had not been posted with a date.
- Friday, Nov. 20: Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville opens at Gallagher Way, 3635 N. Clark St., and runs through Dec. 31. This is Christkindlmarket Chicago's 30th-anniversary season, and admission to the Wrigleyville market is free. It's an easy pairing with a late breakfast on Southport.
- Sunday, Nov. 22: The deadline for Thanksgiving catering orders. One line on the same page says Nov. 23, so order by the earlier date to be safe.
- Wednesday, Nov. 25, before 3 p.m.: Thanksgiving catering pickup.
- December: Christmas cookies come in boxes and cylinders, for store pickup only, because the shop says they don't ship well. The online listing currently shows them as out of stock. Gift baskets can be shipped, delivered locally or picked up, and bulk or custom orders go through a call or email to the shop.
- End of 2026: Southport Grocery and Cafe closes. No exact final service day has been posted.
Shelf items are worth a look too. The house canning and preserves line now runs to more than 40 items made by a full-time preservationist, and it started during the financial crisis as a way to keep the shelves stocked without shipping goods in.
A planned handoff with an uncertain date is familiar to anyone selling a home in Lakeview this winter. If you're thinking about your own timing, the GetBurbed team can show you how comparable Lakeview homes have priced and moved, so you can plan the date you control. Request a Free Home Valuation.
