By Michael Morain
dsm Editor
Sometimes the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. The team behind Oak Park plans to open a spinoff restaurant and market just a block west.
The new project is called Canopy, a riff on the oak tree’s branches, and is slated for 4001 Ingersoll Ave. in a boxy brick building that currently houses the music education nonprofit City Voices.
Oak Park owner Kathy Fehrman said she hopes to finalize the purchase in September. She said her team was planning to file preliminary paperwork this week with the city, but it could be a full year before the place opens to the public.
The concept is still evolving, but it’s likely Canopy will be open for breakfast and lunch, probably 7 a.m.-4 p.m., with a more casual feel than Oak Park. The menu is still undefined, but its creator may be nearby. “We’re hoping to promote from within, to promote a back-of-the-house staffer to be the executive chef,” she said.
She has enlisted architects from Hartman-Spiller, who designed Oak Park, to renovate the 2,200-square-foot mid-century modern building, built in 1957, and double its footprint with a patio that can be enclosed.
The new space will also accommodate an indoor market to feature locally grown and made products, including some created in-house. It’s likely the market would include some of the local producers who currently supply Oak Park and sell their products directly to customers at an occasional farmers’ market in the restaurant’s parking lot. The Canopy market could extend those opportunities year-round, which was part of Fehrman’s overall strategy when she opened Oak Park.
“If someone asked me about my mission in life, I’d say it’s to make my neighborhood the coolest neighborhood ever,” she said.
