Owners of Wherewithall, an Avondale restaurant focused on seasonal American cuisine, announced on Wednesday that they will not reopen the space after shutting down for several weeks due to an infrastructure problem.
Restaurant owners and James Beard award winners Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim announced the news on Instagram, saying that “after several weeks of closure due to an infrastructure emergency, Wherewithall will not be reopening.”
Wherewithall temporarily closed in May after a sewer line collapsed and Clark and Kim had to wait for the city to dig up the streets for repairs. The sewer line that fell apart also caused damages to the pipe system which the restaurant had to pay for out of pocket, according to Eater Chicago.
The restaurant, which is located at 3472 N. Elston Avenue, first opened in July 2019 and closed twice during the COVID-19 pandemic when indoor dining was suspended. With the infrastructure issue becoming the latest challenge for Clark and Kim, they said they don’t have the means to reopen for a third time in four years.
“Had we launched Wherewithall at another time, who knows? The restaurant might have enjoyed a much longer life. But forces of nature that were beyond our control intervened, and we have given ourselves over to acceptance, and a willingness to go where the universe is nudging us,” they said on Instagram.
However, Clark and Kim plan to utilize Wherewithall’s space differently, saying they will bring something “exciting” later this year and plan to announce further details about it soon.
