Southport Grocery and Café, the Lakeview restaurant and specialty grocery that has served breakfast and lunch out of a former funeral home for more than two decades, will close at the end of 2026, with Dollop Diner expected to take over the space. Owner Lisa Santos says she plans to send the 3552 N. Southport Ave. spot off in style, bringing back old menu favorites and hosting a string of ticketed farewell dinners before locking the doors for good.
According to CBS Chicago, Dollop Coffee plans to open a Dollop Diner in the Southport Grocery and Café space. Santos told the outlet the restaurant and its people are a significant part of her life, and that she intends to celebrate through the closing rather than simply shut the lights off. The report notes Dollop Coffee and Southport Grocery and Café have had a partnership for three years, with Dollop coffee served at the café.
A Send-Off Built on Old Favorites
Santos says some past menu items are already making a comeback ahead of the closure. The apple-stuffed French toast and the grown-up Pop-Tart are both back on the menu, and Ding Dong cake has returned at checkout, per the same report. Chicken and grits is expected to return to the menu soon as well, Santos said.
The café has also kept a handful of ticketed secret suppers on the calendar, with two more planned — one in November and one in December — before the year ends. Santos said the restaurant will also keep up its holiday traditions on the way out, continuing Thanksgiving catering and its annual Christmas cookie baking. The retail side of the business, stocked with preserves, pasta sauces, hot sauces, soup mixes, bitters, beans and gift baskets, has also won awards for its preserves, the report notes.
From Insurance Career to Neighborhood Institution
Santos opened Southport Grocery and Cafe in 2003 after more than a decade working in insurance, a career change she made after completing culinary training at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, according to a 2003 Chicago Tribune report. That early coverage described the restaurant as serving comfort food for an adventurous 21st-century palate, with a 24-seat cafe that at the time served dishes including short ribs braised in ginger-soy sauce and a daily crème brûlée. The café opened in a former Cooney Funeral Home space, per CBS Chicago's report.
Not every dish has lasted the full run, but one has: the bread-pudding pancakes have remained a mainstay even as other menu favorites changed over the years, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2021.
Who's Moving In
Dollop Diner already operates in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood at 5060 N. Clark St., where its menu features locally sourced classic American fare, locally roasted coffee and craft batched cocktails, according to Dollop Diner. The broader Dollop Coffee operation says it was established in 2005 and describes itself as roasting its own beans and baking its own bread, per Dollop Coffee. CBS Chicago's report states Dollop Coffee has 12 other shops in Chicago, concentrated mostly downtown and on the North Side, and that it also runs a joint location with Hoosier Mama Pie Co. in Evanston.
Part of a Rough Year for Chicago Restaurants
Southport's closure adds to a string of notable Chicago restaurant shutdowns in 2026. Stella's Diner was closed by city officials on July 9 after a health inspection turned up more than 50 trapped cockroaches along with other violations, the Chicago Tribune reported. Ann Sather later announced plans to relocate into that former Stella's space, aiming to reopen about eight weeks after cleaning and renovations, once its own Broadway and Roscoe location closed at the end of its lease this year.
The same report noted that Wishbone, a brunch spot open for 36 years, announced it would close permanently. Elsewhere, Zeitlin's Delicatessen shut down after six years on Clybourn Avenue, and Dao Thai Restaurant and Noodle Palace closed its Ohio Street location after nearly 37 years in business, according to a roundup from What Now Chicago.
