New Roadhouse Rt. 47 to open in August following last month’s closure

YORKVILLE – With an homage to its predecessor of a similar name that suddenly closed in early July, Roadhouse Rt. 47 is looking to open its doors at the beginning of August.

Jay DeMarco, owner of Kennedy Pointe in Bristol and Pearce’s Pub & Grille in Oswego, said he will be one of two owners for the space, which was once Roadhouse Country Bar & Grill at 1901 S. Bridge Street. He said he has signed the lease for the space but the other owner hasn’t, and he will not release the other owner’s name until the other owner also signs the lease.

DeMarco said he has a liquor license from the United City of Yorkville and will be going to Chicago tomorrow to get the state liquor license for the restaurant. He said the restaurant has inspections this week.

“Hopefully, everything goes great and we’ll be opening very soon,” DeMarco said.

DeMarco said he had heard about Roadhouse Country Bar & Grill shutting down on June 6 and the circumstances of how that restaurant closed, since he doesn’t work too far away from the site currently. He said he knew that the restaurant was a successful one for the last five years or so that it’s been open under previous ownership.

“I thought that was a great avenue to flip in and take over a successful business that we just want to make better and keep going,” DeMarco said.

If everything goes according to plan, DeMarco said, the goal is for the restaurant to open its doors Aug. 1.

Yorkville City Administrator Bart Olson said the city approved a liquor license for Roadhouse Rt. 47 on Tuesday, July 23. He said the license wasn’t subject to City Council approval and didn’t need to be because the liquor license for the space didn’t exceed the number of licenses that the city can issue.

The update comes after former owner Greg O'Leary confirmed that the Illinois Department of Revenue shut down the restaurant due to money being tight and the business being behind on state tax payments. That followed Yorkville Bowl and Pinheadz, also owned by O'Leary, temporarily closing in May and the buildings subsequently going into foreclosure.

O’Leary had said the landlord of the property asked him what was going on and he had told the landlord that the company’s foreclosure situation with First Midwest Bank regarding Yorkville Bowl and Pinheadz was still holding things up. He had said he signed a no-contest eviction notice for the restaurant, saying it wasn’t fair to keep employees and patrons waiting if there was someone else that could get the business back up and running faster than he could.

O’Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, July 23, from Record Newspapers.