'Triggering' Inquiry For Coming La Grange Restaurant

LA GRANGE, IL – The owners of Wooden Paddle restaurant had hoped to open up in downtown La Grange by spring 2023. It hasn't worked out that way.

In 2022, Jonathan and Brianna Cowan, who own Wooden Paddle in Lemont, announced their expansion plan at 23 W. Calendar Ave. in La Grange.

They have documented the project to rebuild the structure with videos on Instagram.

They hope to open the wood-fired pizzeria early next year.

During the summer, the Cowans were filmed in their car heading to their La Grange building.

Brianna asked her husband, "What's the most triggering question you've gotten about our La Grange opening?"

He read a social media inquiry from the spring, "Are you ever opening up your location in La Grange or are you just wasting downtown La Grange real estate?"

In the video, Brianna had a ready response.

"It actually physically pains me every month to pay this bill," she said. "That's the last thing I want to do is pay for an empty (expletive) building, paying taxes, paying the mortgage. That's not fun for me. I don't want to do that. Here I am eating it every month. I'm not wasting La Grange real estate. I'm doing everything I can to get it up and running."

They said their La Grange restaurant will be considerably larger than their Lemont location.

Earlier this month, the couple appeared in a video in which 120,000 pounds of steel beams were put into their building, with the help of a crane. (In the video, Brianna said the steel cost more than $300,000.)

A week ago, a 4,000-pound oven was hoisted into the building.

About the overall project, Jonathan said in a video, "This hasn't gone smoothly. Anybody who has watched this knows it has been delayed."

The building is 98 years old.

"We want to own this building for the next 50 years," Jonathan said in a video.