Publications & Sites 
Restaurant’s final days become hard to swallow
Updated: July 1, 2012 12:04PM
An old menu from Pat’s Place, when it was called a different name, has been handed over to the Skokie Historical Society.
The good-bye notice hangs in the window.
“Thank you to all the customers for 52 years.”
A makeshift book at the front of the restaurant, as the countdown clock to closing day May 26 ticks away, allows people to declare what the restaurant meant to them.
“We the undersigned thank Pat Bellos and her great staff and her family for decades of service to the Skokie community.”
“Pat’s Place is where I have come for friendship and affordable food and to meet old and new friends.”
“Bless you for all that you have done for us and may her guide you to a wonderful future.”
“Good luck at your new location. We love you and your restaurant.”
“We hope that Skokie’s Historical Society and the Village Council keep this and other records of how much each of us appreciate and treasure Pat, her staff and the time we had at Pat’s Place.”
These customers also wrote down when they first frequented Pat’s Place.
Many of them are 30-, 40- and even 50-year customers.
One customer, though, didn’t write down the first year he came to Pat’s Place. It was probably too hard to figure.
“Forever,” seemed to suffice for him.
