He learned a number of things at Alinea as Grant Achatz’s #2, we know, so it’s no surprise that one of them is the technique of building excitement for your opening with an eyedropper’s worth of information at a time. Today Curtis Duffy has revealed the address of his upcoming Grace— to be honest, we didn’t even realize it was a secret; Kevin Pang made no mention of being blindfolded and driven around the block a few times in the back of a van for this piece. But apparently it wasn’t public knowledge that the space is 652 W. Randolph, which used to be Supreme Frame & Art (they moved one door to the east). In restaurant terms that’s about a half block west of Blackbird and Avec, which are 619 and 615 W. Randolph— and for those keeping track, it’s even closer to the former early 2000s restaurant called Grace owned by Ted Cizma, which was at 623 W. Randolph (the space that was more recently Meiji). To add emphasis to this newslet, Duffy has a very short video in which you also get a glimpse of the pre-renovation interior (which is not nearly so cavernous as in the Tribune’s photo, which made it look like he was opening in Lower Wacker Drive). Watch the video below.
