According to a news report from SunTimes.com, “Le Francais has closed and is, according to reports, regrouping (whatever that means). Ambria goes 86 this weekend (and, so the story goes, is headed for a new direction). Are the once solid walls of fine dining crumbling?”

“I was pondering this as my wife and I cooled our heels at an outdoor table on the sidewalk on a recent June night in front of Crust, the hottest new pizza joint since, well, the last hottest new pizza joint. I have never seen so many people jammed into this much space (rather large space at that), since the grub-grub days of the mid-’80s. And this was a Tuesday night. A promised 30-minute wait waltzed into 45 minutes, then 50,” said the story. “I will answer that. I figured the average age of the customers at Crust to be about 33. These are young professionals looking for the newest and hottest, not the edgiest or finest. And it’s not about price. The two young women sitting at the table next to us spent at least 50 bucks on food and drink. Not exactly chopped liver for what they had (an appetizer and a couple of pizzas and two glasses of wine). But what they had is what they wanted: casual, fun, their crowd and, yes, pizza.”

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