Taking advantage of mid-pandemic dining habits, Eric Roldan and Hector Laporte started a “virtual kitchen” in spring of this year. Marina’s Café has been serving modern Puerto Rican food with “new Latin fusion flavors” in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood—although that is about to change.
Eric Roldan, now the sole owner of the café, has found a brick-and-mortar location in the former Uptown Dry Cleaners space at 4554 N. Magnolia Avenue and plans to have Marina’s open for in-person dining by April 2022.
“It’s going to be a sit-down restaurant with a mojito bar,” Roldan shared with What Now Chicago over a phone interview Thursday afternoon. You can expect the menu to expand a bit while maintaining the signature items currently available for catering services. “It’s going to be a little more traditional,” Roldan added. Roldan also plans to bring on a new chef from Puerto Rico every month in order to create varied and changing menus, and the eatery will specialize in Mofongo, a dish made with mashed fried plantains.
Roldan, who was born in Chicago and raised in Puerto Rico, has named the café for his mother to honor her after her passing. Potential designs for the space on Magnolia show an intimate, lush interior with lots of greenery and low-hanging lights.
Find Marina’s Café online to learn more.
