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I have more than 40 years in the news business and have successfully evolved into an electronic journalist. Comings & Goings and Southland Savvy track news about businesses in Chicago's Southland.

Illinois to hold its first sales tax holiday starting Friday

Extreme Pita is expected to open Aug. 10 in Orland Park.


By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Illinois will hold its first state sales tax holiday starting Friday and running through Aug. 15.

School supplies including calculators, backpacks, legal pads, pens, pencils and erasers will be exempt from the state’s 5 percent sales tax during the holiday, which was signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn earlier this summer.

Sales taxes imposed by municipalities, counties, transit agencies and any other government body are not included in the tax holiday.

Although intended to relieve some of the burden from parents of school-age children, anyone who purchases items on the exempt list will benefit from the holiday.

For a complete, downloadable list of what is and isn’t exempt, visit http://www.tax.illinois.gov/.

Extreme Pita to open next week
Darrell Hall expects to open his Extreme Pita restaurant on Aug. 10 at 14658 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park’s Cooper Square shopping center. For more information, call 708-403-8338 or visit their Facebook page at Extreme Pita of Orland Park.

La Papa’s coming soon
A sign proclaiming a La Papa’s Italian Beef and Sausage is coming has popped up in the building on the northeast corner of 111th Street and Pulaski Road in Chicago.

Reinsdorf to speak at chamber luncheon
White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will be the guest speaker at Monday’s monthly consensus lunch for the Southland Chamber of Commerce at the Tinley Park Holiday Inn-Convention Center, 18501 S. Harlem Ave.

The luncheon starts at 11:30 a.m. with Reinsdorf expected to begin speaking about noon. He is expected to talk about the red hot White Sox and the upcoming season for the Bulls.

Reservations are $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Call 708-957-6950 or visit the chamber’s website at http://www.chicagosouthland.com/.

Lunch deal of the week
Benchwarmers at 3325 Ridge Road in Lansing now has a $4.99 lunch menu daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

New Mexican restaurant expects to open this month in Midlothian

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Midlothian will soon be home to Sierra Mexican Grill, which is expecting to open by mid-August at 147th Street and Pulaski Road. It will be the second location for Sierra Mexican Grill, which is owned by Juan Sierra. The original location is in Peotone.

The Chieftain opens in WorthA new bar called The Chieftain opened recently at 6908 W. 111th St. in Worth in the former Pump Room. The new establishment is an Irish pub, which makes sense considering the owner John Staunton hails from the Auld Sod and owns a couple of pubs in the Emerald Isle. The Chieftain opens daily at 11 a.m. and at noon on Sundays. It is open late, until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Fare is typical pub grub.

Paddy B’s settles into new home
Orland Park’s Paddy B’s has settled in at its new location at 11969 W. 143rd St. in the village. The bar moved in June from its longtime home at 143rd Street and Union Avenue. The new location has seating for about 40 and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The phone number is 708-349-3077.

New grocery store coming for Country Club Hills
Michael’s Fresh Market is renovating the former Eagle grocery store at 183rd Street and Pulaski Road in the Shops at Cooper’s Grove in preparation for opening later this summer. The new food store will be about 56,000 square feet in size. Michael’s operates a number of stores under various names in Harvey, Oak Park, Chicago, Downers Grove and Naperville.

Tequila Roadhouse closes in Alsip
Tequila Roadhouse, which changed its name from O’Malley’s in January, closed suddenly last month at 11957 S. Pulaski Road in Alsip. The building is for lease.

Job Fair in Tinley ParkBP Staffing is holding a job fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday at the Bremen VFW Post 2791 at 17147 S. Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park. For more information, call 708-576-8901.

Italian restaurant coming to Evergreen Park

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

A new Italian restaurant called Cavatappi, which means corkscrew in Italian, is opening soon in the former Mulchrone’s at 3020 W. 95th St. in Evergreen Park.

Co-owner Bill Mulchrone says Cavatappi is going to be a brick-oven pizza parlor and wine bar with other Italian dishes on the menu as well.

“We hope to open in the next couple of weeks,” says Mulchrone, who is part of the family that owned that owned the establishment in its former incarnation.

Mulchrone’s partner is Potito Conza, a chef from Torino in northern Italy.

“Our cuisine will be authentic Italian with a Torino flair,” says Mulchrone. “We’ll have Italian dishes ranging from $9 to $15.”

Mulchrone says Cavatappi will feature a wine bar with a decidedly Italian flavor. “I’d say about 85 percent of the wines will be Italian.”

The restaurant will take up the front of the building and have seating for 78 with room for another 18 at the bar. “We’re going to have parties in the back.”

Hours are going to be 4 to 10 p.m. weekdays and 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends.

For more information, call the restaurant at 708-576-3055. A web site is under construction and will be online soon.

Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton says he’s excited an Italian restaurant is moving into the formerly vacant site.

Sexton also says he is on the hunt for a sit-down Mexican restaurant for Evergreen Park. “If there are any out there looking for a location in town, give me a call.”

Blockbuster closing in MokenaThe Blockbuster video rental store at 11230 W. Lincoln Highway in Mokena is closing. Its last day will be no later than Aug. 22. The store is selling most of its DVDs for $7.99 and Blu-ray videos are going for 10 percent off the marked price.

Pandora coming to Orland Square
A Pandora jewelry store is coming soon to Orland Square Mall in Orland Park. The company is now hiring employees for the new store. For more information, visit its website at http://www.pandora.net/.

Forman Mills opening in LansingA Forman Mills discount clothing store is opening at 8 a.m. Friday in the former Toys R Us store inside The Landings shopping center at 171st Street and Torrence Avenue in Lansing. It will be the first Illinois store for the 29-store chain that sells designer clothes at discount prices in a warehouse-style setting. The company says it hopes to open more stores in the Chicago-area. For more information, visit its website at http://www.foremanmills.com/.

Meet Your Hero Tour
White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is coming to the FansEdge store at Orland Square Mall on Aug. 23 as part of the company’s Meet Your Hero Tour, which has Chicago sports legends appearing at different stores in different malls. Pierzynski is scheduled to appear from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information and to reserve tickets, call 708-873-1250.

Online deal of the weekOnline shoppers can save 10 percent at http://www.fansedge.com/ by using this code when checking out: FBMIDSUM. The code is good through Aug. 1.