Prasino Owner Plans to Open New Hinsdale Restaurant

The owner of Prasino plans to open a new restaurant in the former Grant Square Restaurant space in Hinsdale.

Theo Maglaris confirmed Monday that the vacant space at 13 Grant Sq., where Grant Square Restaurant operated before closing in August, will become Yia Yia's Pancake House and Restaurant.

Maglaris said Yia Yia's would serve breakfast and lunch at first, with dinner service a possibility in the future.

It would be the Maglaris family's second Yia Yia's location. One already operates in North Riverside. They also own all three Prasino locations (La Grange, Chicago and St. Charles, MO) and two Jam N Jelly Cafe locations (Darien and Woodridge).

Maglaris said he hopes to get through the village's approval process in time to open in late winter.

"I don’t see it happening before February but I hope it’s not after March," he said.

Maglaris, a native of Greece who moved to the U.S. in 1962 and has been in the restaurant business since 1968, said he hopes to blend the North Riverside Yia Yia's traditional breakfast and lunch menu featuring home-made juices and coffee drinks with Prasino's organic, eco-friendly philosophy.

"We’re going to try to mix it up a bit because of the neighborhood," Maglaris said, specifically pointing out Core Power Yoga customers as a segment of future regulars he hopes to have.

All items served at Yia Yia's will be made in-house, Maglaris said.

Village of Hinsdale director of economic development Tim Scott said that because of Grant Square Restaurant's long run in the space, Hinsdale's residents and visitors associate the spot with food service. 

"An active search from the long-time, committed property owners of the Grant Square Shopping Center has produced an agreement with a highly-skilled operator whose team has a number of successful restaurants in the metro area," Scott said in an email. "A restaurant of this type at Grant Square will complement the center and provide a vital volume of foot traffic that should prove beneficial to neighboring tenants."

Maglaris seemed confident in the new location, as well. 

"I think we’ll do [well] here," he said. "It’s going be extremely nice. We’re going to spend some money there to make it good for the neighborhood." 

The original Yia Yia's opened in 1991 as Jedi's, Maglaris said. The name was changed about five years ago.

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