GARY | New owners of the shuttered Miller Bakery Cafe plan a grand opening in late March or early April after they spruce up of the iconic eatery at 555 Lake St. in the Miller Beach section.
Jack Strode, of the Strode Restaurant Group Inc., and his mother, Diana Twyman, of Miller, bought the restaurant two months ago, Strode said Wednesday following a Lake County Alcohol Beverage Commission meeting.
The commission granted Strode Restaurant Group a three-way liquor license for the restaurant.
“The restaurant will be a casual fine dining restaurant specializing in steak and seafood,” said Strode, a Chicago resident who will be the restaurant’s owner-operator.
“It needs a little love,” he said about the renovation process that includes painting.
The new owner said he will maintain the name Miller Bakery Cafe for the present but will eventually change it.
Strode has 20 years of experience operating restaurants throughout the Chicago area.
The Miller Bakery Cafe has served locals and out-of-towners since its inception in 1941, but fell on hard economic times twice in its nearly 70-year history.
On Oct. 5, 2010, owner and chef Gary Sanders abruptly closed the Miller Bakery Cafe after 21 years of affiliation with the culinary institution.
That was the second time the cafe was shuttered. The building that houses Miller Bakery Cafe served local residents pastries and breads for 45 years until shutting its doors in 1986. A Chicago couple bought and renovated the building, establishing it as Miller Bakery Cafe in 1989.
When it closed in 2010, Sanders said the rising food costs due to fuel prices made the costs of doing business skyrocket to a place that demanded a volume the cafe was unable to attract.
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