Mott St Owners Close Logan Square Sibling Second Generation

After a five-year run and two restaurants, the team behind Mott St is leaving Logan Square.

Last week, the owners of Second Generation closed their restaurant, announcing the shutter with a sign posted at the door. Co-owner Vicki Kim tells Eater Chicago that the team decided to close and that it was best to throw their energies into their first restaurant.

Second Generation opened in October 2022 and represented ownership’s second attempt at making the space at 3057 W. Logan Boulevard work. The first try was Mini Mott, a fast-casual restaurant that specialized in burgers and Asian street fare like skewers. It opened in 2018 and made it through the state’s COVID mandates that forced the restaurant into a to-go-only operation.

Mini Mott was a spinoff of Mott St, which serves a unique mix of Korean and Chinese fare through the eyes of — wait for it — second-generation Americans. Mini Mott’s burger sprang from the kitchen, after an Eater Chicago challenge for its burger theme week from 2015. It quickly became insanely popular at Mott St. Ownership pondered and believed opening another restaurant that focused on burgers would decrease demand at the flagship restaurant to free up chef Edward Kim to focus on Mott St’s creative core menu. Mini Mott was also part of the opening lineup at Time Out Market Chicago.

But after the brunt of the pandemic, ownership pivoted in Logan Square, turning the Mini Mott space into a sit-down restaurant, a kind of bistro inspired by classic Chicago restaurants from the ‘80s and ’90s. With dishes like steak frites inspired by Korean bulgogi, ownership hoped to embrace their heritages while challenging the notion of what “Chicago food” truly represented.

But a year later, with slowed business, the ride is over. There have been some rumblings on what could replace Second Generation, but none of the parties are ready to confirm. Stay tuned.