Restaurants, entertainment to follow as Yorkville grows

marianne mather / staff photographer The back room at the Kendall Pub is filled with people who come to eat lunch, drink beer and play beanbags on a Friday afternoon in downtown Yorkville.

YORKVILLE — When Grant Westphal decided three years ago to open the Kendall Pub here, he knew exactly what he wanted: A spacious, laid-back establishment that would appeal to families, young adults and businessmen alike.

He drew his vision in colored pencil and then spent about two years perfecting the bar's "old-school flair." He found just the right chandeliers. He installed a 42-foot polished wooden bar. He put 100 different beers on the menu, along with burgers and home-made pizza. He moved in shuffleboard tables and set up the long target boards a competitive game of beanbags requires.

Westphal didn't want customers to come in, knock back a few drinks and leave. He wanted to give Yorkville residents a place where they would spend time.

"It's just what I pictured that we didn't have," said Westphal, a Yorkville native.

Indeed.

"The potential ... for entertainment and unique little shops is beyond anything that we have seen in this town," said Yorkville Economic Development Corporation Director Lynn Dubajic, who expects the planned residential development to raise the city's population to 68,000.

That's the kind of prediction that perked up the ears of George Arsoniadis, general manager of the Stonefire Restaurant and Pub, which is scheduled to open on the corner of Route 47 and Kennedy Road in June.

"Kendall County is the second fastest growing county in America, and we wanted to be a part," Arsoniadis said, pointing out that Yorkville has few sit-down restaurants. "We're hoping to fill a void."

Eateries are not the only venues Yorkville lacks. There's only one place to go bowling. Since the Countryside Theater closed in 2004, there's nowhere to see a movie.

That may not be the case for long.

"I think restaurants and entertainment are going to help make the community," said area developer Harold Oliver, who owns Countryside Shopping Center. "We need the quality of life."

Residents seem to agree.

Those who filled out a 2004 survey by the Yorkville Economic Development Commission, which is a public-private partnership aimed at attracting development, wrote that they'd like to see a new bowling alley, a movie theater, an arcade and even a comedy club come to town.

Moreover, their overwhelming response to the survey — including 55 percent participation by famously apathetic high school students — suggests that any entrepreneur who can provide a new destination for a night out will be rewarded with plenty of business.

Spend an evening in the Kendall Pub, and you'll come to the same conclusion.

People drink, eat, chat and play impassioned rounds of beanbags and shuffleboard.

"I hear a lot more laughter than I ever heard at the old place," Westphal said, referring to Little Joe's, the pub's "dilapidated" predecessor.

Business also is booming at the Blackstone Bar and Grill, which opened Dec. 1 at the corner of Veteran's Parkway and McHugh Road.

"It's unbelievable," said co-owner Rino Dervishi, who is considering lengthening the restaurants' hours and serving lunch as well as dinner.

His and Arsoniadis' ventures suggest that a change is under way, not only in the Yorkville's landscape, but also in entrepreneurs's attitudes.

When Westphal, then 29, first bought the space that would become the Kendall Pub, he said, "I think a lot of people (thought) 'Whoa, whoa, what's this kid doing?'"

Now Oliver, the developer, is predicting that Yorkville eventually will offer the most entertainment options of any town in Kendall County.

And Dubajic, interviewed shortly after returning from lunch at the Kendall Pub, expects the influx to start soon.

"I think that 2006 is going to be a year that we're going to see many new projects announced," she said.