As the Rosebud, Taylor Street Italian restaurant staple transitions to a ‘speakeasy’, precious memories emerge that speak to Taylor’s new status.

An era has ended, but a blast from the past has occurred!

Please open the menu!

A week ago, Sneed announced that the legendary Italian restaurant Rosebud on Taylor (which opened in 1976 and was once a “red sauce” destination for glamour, glamour, sports enthusiasts and mobsters) We shared the news that it has changed gears and is now a special event space. In the new year.

Arrivederci! Times have changed. So was the surrounding Little Italy neighborhood. The iconic Rosebud flagship will be closed to walk-in dining to the public after New Year’s Eve.

frank sinatra’s The photo will still be hanging on the wall. Everything stays in place and no modifications are required. However, the venue changes to Rosebud: The Speakeasy, which is available for parties from his 10 people to his 250 people.

“This place has been around too long to actually close,” says Rosebud founder. alex dana Its flagship location has spawned nine Rosebud restaurants over the past 50 years.

It used to be a place where various celebrities, including boxers, gathered. jake “Raging Bull” La Motta Sinatra (loved his “red sauce”), andrew dyce clay (He liked to tell bad jokes). oprah winfrey (Who would contribute to her “diet” and toss broccoli into her cavatelli).young actress at the time meg ryan (I wanted to be a singer, appeared on a movie set in Chicago, and read books).and Madonna (Who calls the public phone in Rosebud?)

While the restaurant’s reputation as a port of fame and big money may have waned since its pre-millennial heyday, Dana expected it to soft close with little fanfare. talk. “New Year’s Eve turned out to be the best holiday ever” at that location. That was amazing!

“It was rockin’! It was like going to bed and waking up back in 1976-1977 when this place started to turn magical.”

Dana said the holiday night started with an unexpected line forming outside the restaurant on Taylor Street at Laughlin Street.

A group takes a photo next to the 2011 “Alex Dana Way” road sign.

• There was so much of a crowd that we had to call in more serving staff.
• The group was so hungry that more red sauce had to be brought quickly from another Rosebud restaurant.
• The customers were so foodie that some even requested old Italian recipes.

On the Saturday morning before New Year’s Eve, a few hours after this column announced the restaurant’s closing, “dinner reservations started coming in like letters from Santa,” Dana said. “It would have been helpful to have a switchboard to record the tsunami of comments and New Year’s Eve reservations, as the phone keeps ringing and bringing back nostalgic family stories.”

“This restaurant evoked memories for older customers who wanted to share the relationships they had built here,” he says. “They wonder how their parents brought them here, how they wooed their wives, or how they got divorce papers here while they were having dinner with their new lovers. We shared the story.”

Then I got a call from a celebrity.

“I really enjoyed talking to you.” Joe mantegna A woman from Chicago teased me about her days in restaurants,” Dana says. “And she hears that Alec Baldwin, who was here with her ex-wife, actress Kim Basinger, also paid her respects.

“But most of it was from people who had been here before… over the years… with their children.

Inside the restaurant, guests posed and took photos under a giant photo of Sinatra next to their table.

“It was knee-deep at the bar, and the bar stools were rotating,” Dana says. “I didn’t see it for a long time. It was like everyone was coming home and talking about old times.

“What a night. It was amazing. I was back in my old neighborhood.”

At midnight, “everyone seemed to be clinking glasses at the same time with the old man.” jerry bale The song playing in the background. Everyone drank wine, whispered, sang, and took home bags filled with large servings of Rosebud specials. Every time we open the refrigerator door, it reminds us to come back. ”

I’ve known Alex Dana since he built his flagship store in 1976 when he was an actor in Chicago. robert conrad When the singer held court while appearing on the popular TV series “Wild Wild West” and “Barbar Black Sheep.” tony bennett He would show up with his big wig and eat alone. It was a place for table hopping, cracking jokes, and throwing red sauce on people.

“I don’t think we really knew who we were, but I think it’s safe to say that at some point we became an institution, a neighborhood institution,” Dana said, adding, “Thank you, Tables Steal You can’t do that!” he added.

Sneedlings

Saturday birthday: kate mckinnon 39, and eddie redmayne 41. Birthday on Sunday: jeremy renner 52, katie couric 66, nicolas cage, 59. And Kenny Loggins 75.