On Sept. 23, patrons filled a dining room at 5403 N. Clark St. for a preview of De Colores. Patricia Guerrero is opening the Latin fusion restaurant in the old Cescas Margarita Bar & Grill space. Back in January, she was aiming to open by Cinco de Mayo. She now says mid-October, about five months past her first target.
That slip is the pattern of the fall. Nearly every opening and civic project on Clark Street and Catalpa Avenue landed later than first announced. The slowest belongs to the city. The plaza on Catalpa is under construction until next spring, and private operators filled the gap in the meantime.
Five Months Late Is Early by Catalpa Standards
The Elise Malary Plaza will turn Catalpa Avenue between Clark Street and Ashland Avenue into a car-free block. It will have trees, benches, bike parking, and overhead lights. Plans were announced in early 2020. Construction was originally set for 2025, and the 40th Ward's own town hall recap says it moved to 2026 after design changes the community requested. In April the city awarded Sumit Construction a $2.7 million contract. Elected officials and members of Elise Malary's family held a ceremonial groundbreaking on June 18. The Chicago Sun-Times reports completion is slated for next spring.
Counting from the 2020 announcement to a spring 2027 finish, that is roughly seven years for one block. The plaza is named for Malary, who helped create the Chicago Therapy Collective in Andersonville, and the block already carried the honorary name Elise Malary Way.
Compare that with Guerrero's timeline. She told Block Club Chicago that De Colores had been:
"roughly 25 years in the making."
She opened Edgewater Tacos at 5624 N. Broadway in 2018, on her mother's advice to start small, and it specializes in takeout with sidewalk seating. The pandemic arrived two years later, and she has said the small format is what kept the business afloat. She spent recent years looking for a sit-down space before her friend and regular customer Benjamin Bloom, of Bloom and Co., flagged the Clark Street storefront. Bloom designed the room, and he says the walls carry photos of her family.
Here is how the fall's biggest changes compare with their earlier targets, as of Sept. 29, 2026.
| Project | Earlier target | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Elise Malary Plaza, Catalpa between Clark and Ashland | Construction in 2025 | Groundbreaking June 18, 2026, completion slated for spring 2027 |
| De Colores, 5403 N. Clark | Cinco de Mayo 2026 | Owner says mid-October |
| Noble Thai, 5721 N. Clark | Sometime in 2026 | Announced in February, no opening date in published coverage so far |
| Andersonville Farmers Market | Its longtime home on Catalpa | Relocated in 2025, on Winona this season, expected back once the plaza is finished |
The Patio at 5721 N. Clark Keeps Choosing Its Tenants
The northern end of the Clark Street corridor holds the address with the longest paper trail. The storefront at 5721 N. Clark held Pork Shoppe, which closed in February 2018 after two and a half years. Stone Fox followed and closed abruptly in December 2019. Parson's Chicken & Fish opened there in June 2021, and closed on Oct. 19, 2025, when its lease ran out in November. Land and Sea Dept., the restaurant group behind Parson's, sold the Andersonville business, and the listing included the equipment, the furniture, and a transferable liquor license.
Noble Thai is the next name on the building. The West Town Thai restaurant at 1371 W. Chicago Ave. opened in 2021 and, per Block Club Chicago, is taking over the space with its bar, dining room, and large patio. It announced the expansion in February and said it would come in 2026. No opening date has appeared in the coverage I found. Eleven months after Parson's last service, that leaves a bar, a dining room, and a patio waiting on the north end of Clark.
The building has drawn full-service operators each time. When Parson's took the space in 2021, its representatives said it met their criteria of a large space with outdoor seating. The next tenant is picking up the same patio and the same bar.
De Colores follows the same logic in a different form. Guerrero's Broadway shop is pickup-first with sidewalk seating. The Clark Street location will have full seating, a rear patio, and alcohol service, a step up in scale for the same owner.
One Martini Bar Closed and Two Now Pour
Marty's Martini Bar left 1511 W. Balmoral Ave. in September 2024, after it was bought by 2Bears Tavern Group. It reopened in November 2025 at 1477 W. Winnemac Ave., under new ownership.
In the year between, Wil Mcerlean, Marty's former manager, and his partner Charlie Bonanno opened their own place. Wil's Martini Lounge opened in late September 2025 at 1478 W. Catalpa Ave. The couple live in Andersonville. Bonanno, who pivoted from corporate work to hairstyling and opened three salons, handled the interior with architect Todd Israel, and much of the room is custom, from the bar top to the glassware shelves. Block Club Chicago reported lines out the door since opening night, and the owners said they were building a second room in the neighboring storefront at 1480 W. Catalpa.
Marty's took more than a year to reopen, and the person who used to manage it opened his own room first.
Planning a Fall Around Approximate Dates
Some dates on the Chamber calendar are fixed. Others are the owner's best estimate. This list marks which is which.
- Farmers market: Four Wednesdays remain, starting tomorrow, through Oct. 21, from 3 to 7 p.m. at 1500 W. Winona, with 60-plus vendors selling goods grown or made within 200 miles. The city's farmers market schedule lists the same dates and location.
- Bingofesten: Tuesday, Oct. 13, on the Chamber's second-Tuesday-of-the-month schedule.
- De Colores: Mid-October, per Guerrero. Given the earlier Cinco de Mayo target, expect that to be approximate.
- Aville-o-ween: Saturday, Oct. 31.
- Autumn Restaurant Week: It opens Nov. 1. The Chamber's events page lists it through Nov. 15, while other calendars show an earlier end. Last year's inaugural run, Nov. 1 to 9, offered prix fixe menus from $35 to $60 at spots including Anteprima, Big Jones, Hopleaf, and Bar Roma. Check the Chamber's page for this year's participants.
- Small Business Saturday: Nov. 28.
- Holiday Tree Lighting, Late Night Andersonville, and Menorah Lighting: Dec. 4.
- St. Lucia: Dec. 13.
Andersonville Arts Weekend, the 22nd annual, ran Sept. 25 to 27. It brought more than 30 businesses and 50 artists into the district, and it closed with the Fall Wine Walk on Sunday. The final Vintage Market of the season ran the same day.
If the spring target holds, the Catalpa block stays under construction through the winter events, and the farmers market stays on Winona until then. The first of the four remaining market Wednesdays is tomorrow.
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