A tavern building that has sat empty on Chapel Hill Road in Johnsburg since 2002 is finally coming back to life. Chef Chris Viohl is opening Toph's Bar & Grill at 3622 N. Chapel Hill Road in mid-September, bringing German, Polish, Hungarian and other Central European dishes to a village long known for its German roots.
Viohl, 44, closed on the property in June 2023 and began renovations in mid-2025, according to Shaw Local. He financed the project in part with an inheritance from his grandmother, the outlet reports. The building itself carries decades of local history: the Hettermann family opened a tavern there in 1933, operating it from the basement while living upstairs, according to the McHenry County Historical Society. That family connection lingers in Johnsburg's civic life today — current Village President Edwin P. Hettermann is a member of the same family, according to the Village of Johnsburg.
A Chef Shaped by Three Cuisines
Viohl describes his own culinary identity as born German, raised Italian and French-trained, per the same Shaw Local report. He trained as a chef at Elgin Community College, whose culinary program follows the Le Cordon Bleu style, and holds a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University. His resume around McHenry County includes stints at the Johnsburg Angelo's deli and kitchen, the McHenry Angelo's deli counter, Porter's Oyster Bar in Crystal Lake, Duke's Alehouse and Kitchen in Crystal Lake, and kitchen manager duties at Angelo's Fresh Market, according to a Facebook post from Viohl.
The Johnsburg Angelo's location where Viohl once worked has itself changed hands recently — the store at 4000 N. Johnsburg Road underwent a full rebrand in late 2025 and early 2026, reopening as ArrivaDeli & Market, the Northwest Herald reports.
Sauerbraten, Schnitzel and a Pretzel-Bun Burger
The Toph's menu leans heavily German while making room for neighboring traditions. Diners can expect wiener schnitzel, jägerschnitzel, sauerbraten, pierogies and borscht alongside a Bavarian burger topped with beer cheese and house sauerkraut on a pretzel bun. There's also a classic burger and a grilled chicken sandwich with cabbage slaw for less adventurous eaters, plus starters like North Sea shrimp cakes with herb remoulade, cucumber-dill salad and charred lemon. Dessert options include German apple cheesecake and a kaffee and cream cheesecake.
Viohl told Shaw Local that diners can dress up or dress down and feel comfortable at the restaurant. Es passt zur German heritage that runs deep in the village: Johnsburg was originally settled in August 1841 by German Catholic immigrant families from Prussia's Eifel region who founded St. John the Baptist parish after crossing the Atlantic to escape religious persecution and agricultural hardship, according to the Village of Johnsburg. That heritage still shows up in the numbers — German remains the largest reported ancestry group in McHenry County, with U.S. Census figures showing between 24.8% and 34.4% of residents identifying as German, according to the McHenry County Department of Health.
Missing the Village's Biggest German Festival by Days
The timing carries a bit of irony. Toph's mid-September opening will land just after Johnsburg's Saufen und Spiel festival, scheduled for September 11 through 13 at 2315 W. Church Street — meaning the new German restaurant will miss the very event that draws the town's biggest crowd of German food enthusiasts. The three-day festival, created in the 1970s by the Johnsburg Community Club to mark its 50th anniversary, features live German music, a parade and community games, per the Village of Johnsburg.
Viohl kept much of the original bar intact and will retain the kitchen in the basement, with a first-floor dining room and plans for future outdoor seating. Explaining his motivation for taking on a building that had sat empty for more than two decades, he said simply, “Something needs to be here.”
A Restaurant on a Rebuilt Corridor
The 1.35-acre property sits right at the intersection of Chapel Hill Road and Johnsburg Road, according to Homes.com listing data. That intersection has itself been transformed in recent years — the Village of Johnsburg engineered it into a central roundabout to reframe downtown traffic and streetscaping, aiming to ease congestion and create a focal point for the downtown corridor, per MTJ Roundabout Consulting.
Johnsburg's own civic identity has shifted over the decades, too. The community was incorporated as the Village of Sunnyside in 1956 before annexing unincorporated Johnsburg in November 1991, a move that tripled the municipality's population and led to the adoption of the Johnsburg name to unify the community, according to the Village of Johnsburg. Today the village carries notable spending power for a restaurant bet: median household income sits at $120,500, some 28.5% higher than the McHenry County median of $93,801, with more than 91% of housing owner-occupied, per CMAP and U.S. Census figures cited by the village.
