Southport Grocery & Cafe has about two months left. Owner Lisa Santos is closing the restaurant at 3552 N. Southport Ave. at the end of 2026, after 23 years. Dollop Coffee Co. will take over the space with a new concept that Block Club Chicago calls Dollop Finer Diner. Southport Corridor News shortens the name to Dollop Diner.
The address keeps a breakfast-and-lunch restaurant, and the longtime staff keep their jobs there. The Southport Grocery name and its recipes leave with Santos, which puts a deadline on the dishes themselves.
Who moves to Dollop, and what leaves with Santos
The handoff is closer than a stranger buying the lease. Santos started working with Dollop a little over four years ago to expand its wholesale pastry business. When Block Club asked about her staff, Santos said, "I have people that have worked for me for 18 years. They all have jobs at the new concept. They all have a soft landing."
The same report says Santos will keep a small stake in the new diner and help with consulting and taste-testing. She owns the Southport Grocery name and its recipes, and she said her next chapter will not include another brick-and-mortar restaurant.
| Stays at 3552 N. Southport | Leaves at year's end |
|---|---|
| Longtime staff, all offered jobs at the new concept | The Southport Grocery name, which Santos owns |
| A breakfast-and-lunch restaurant at the address | The recipe book, which Santos also owns |
| Santos, as a small stakeholder and taste-tester | Santos as owner, with no new restaurant planned |
| A Chicago operator that already works with her kitchen | The specific menu regulars have ordered for years |
Dollop started as a small cafe in Uptown in 2005 and grew under Dan Weiss into a group of cafes that roast coffee and bake bread and pastries in-house. Its current diner is at 5060 N. Clark St. in Andersonville, with listed hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Neither those hours nor a menu, an opening date or any changes to the space have been announced for Southport.
The kitchen is cooking its own farewell
Since the recipes are the part that goes away, the final weeks lean on them. Block Club reports business as usual until the restaurant closes. That includes Thanksgiving catering, Christmas cookies, gift baskets, two more Secret Suppers and the return of older dishes customers kept asking for.
Hoodline lists what is back so far: apple-stuffed French toast, the grown-up Pop-Tart and the Ding Dong cake at checkout, with chicken and grits expected soon.
The menu has changed before. When the cafe opened in 2003 it served only lunch and dinner. Santos kept a notebook where servers wrote down what customers asked for, and breakfast was the top request after every shift. She resisted at first. Then, as she told Block Club, "after one guy ordered two orders of the bread-pudding pancakes and ate them both, I knew we had to switch."
The grocery shelves are the other piece of this. The canning and preserves operation began during the financial crisis, when Santos looked for ways to keep the shelves stocked without shipping products in. It now makes more than 40 items and has a full-time preservationist. No source says whether that line continues after December 31.
The Secret Supper series is the hardest part to get into. The cafe's online listing for Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. is $120 per person and already shows as out of stock. Hoodline reports one more supper planned for December, with no date posted yet.
Thanksgiving is the last big order
For many households, the last chance to get this food at home will be Thanksgiving. The cafe's 2026 catering page says everything is made from scratch and arrives ready to heat, with heating instructions. Orders go through the cafe's Toast catering menu.
The two price points are close enough to make the comparison useful. The Thanksgiving Dinner for Two is $132. It comes with sliced Slagel Farm turkey and gravy, red potato mash, herb challah stuffing, cranberry apple slaw, green bean casserole, honey garlic braised carrots and a mini pumpkin pie. A small tray of turkey alone, serving 8 to 10, is $120. From the bakery, the rustic oatmeal apple pie is $38, the pumpkin pie with spiced mascarpone whip is $28, and a dozen seeded dinner rolls is $21.
The page gives two cutoffs. One says "Sunday November 22nd," and the bottom of the page says "Sunday Nov 23rd." This year, November 22 is the Sunday. Plan on that date, and call 773.665.0100 or email [email protected] to confirm. Pickup is Wednesday, Nov. 25, before 3 p.m.
Holiday cookies come with less certainty. The cookie product page is undated, says store pickup only and shows out of stock right now. The last dated cookie post on the site is from December 2025. Ask in person rather than counting on an online drop.
The Music Box keeps its own long run going
A few blocks north, the street's longest-running holiday tradition is about to go on sale. The Music Box Theatre at 3733 N. Southport is presenting its 43rd Christmas Sing-A-Long & Double Feature. It pairs White Christmas with It's a Wonderful Life, plus a 25-minute preshow with carols, organist Dennis Scott and Santa. That run is almost twice as long as Southport Grocery's 23 years. The Music Box presents it as an annual show, and Southport Grocery's run ends December 31.
Here is the November and December calendar on and near Southport, in order:
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 4 p.m. In-person and phone advance sales open for the Music Box Christmas show. Online sales open to the general public at noon on Monday, Oct. 26.
- Nov. 5 and Nov. 8. The Music Box hosts Bingo and the 2026 48 Hour Film Project on Nov. 5, then Movie Trivia on Nov. 8.
- Nov. 13, 7 p.m. Southport Grocery's sold-out Secret Supper.
- Nov. 20 to Dec. 31. Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville at Gallagher Way, 3635 N. Clark St. Admission is free, and 28 vendors are planned.
- Nov. 21, 2 to 3:30 p.m. A live recording of the kids' storytelling podcast "Lions and Legends" at the Athenaeum Center, 2936 N. Southport. The Sound of Music Sing-A-Long also starts at the Music Box that day and runs through Nov. 29.
- Nov. 22. Last day to order Southport Grocery's Thanksgiving catering. The Lakeview Tree Lighting runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln and Wellington.
- Nov. 30. Deadline to send the Music Box past Christmas show photos for its preshow slideshow.
- Dec. 5 to 24. The Christmas Sing-A-Long & Double Feature runs. Tickets are $20 for one film or $28 for the double feature, $17 and $24 for members, and $13 and $18 for children under 13. The Muppet Christmas Carol plays Dec. 20 and 21.
The block keeps filling in
This handoff fits how the corridor has been turning over this year. Colectivo Coffee opened at 3258 N. Southport on July 8. By September 8, Ernesta's custom-rug showroom was open at 3530 N. Southport, on the same block as Southport Grocery. Across the street at Cornelia, Bobbles & Lace is taking the former UPS Store at 3501 N. Southport, with no opening date announced.
At 3552, the next tenant is already named, the crew already knows the kitchen, and the former owner will taste-test the new menu. What runs out on December 31 is the chance to order Southport Grocery's own dishes under its own name. Any order meant for the Thanksgiving table is due Sunday, November 22.
Changes in who runs the corner spots near your home show up in how buyers see your block. If you live near the Southport Corridor and want a read on how this year's openings and handoffs affect your property, NiKo Collaborative can walk you through it block by block. Request a Home Valuation and we'll start with the comparable sales closest to your address.
