One of Southport Avenue’s most beloved brunch spots is closing its doors. Southport Grocery & Cafe, the all-day breakfast-and-lunch cafe and specialty grocery at 3552 N. Southport Ave., announced Saturday that it will shut down at the end of the year.
Owner and chef Lisa Santos delivered the news in an Instagram reel titled “Special Announcement,” seated in the cafe’s dining room in front of a framed board listing the shop’s house-made preserves year by year, from 2019 through 2025. The caption reads: “Here at Southport Grocery & Cafe, we love a long goodbye. So, come celebrate with us until the end of the year! 🎉” The video closes on a simple card: “LET’S CELEBRATE!”
The response was immediate. Within hours the post had drawn nearly 800 likes and more than 100 comments, with regulars mourning a neighborhood institution —one commenter said their rehearsal dinner was held there; another said it was one of the first places they visited after moving to Chicago nearly a decade ago.
Santos has run the shop for 23 years, a milestone she marked in a recent post. The business pairs a cozy cafe with specialty grocery shelves stocked with local goods and house-made preserves, pickles, and mustards — the work of a full-time preservationist. Signature dishes like the bread pudding pancakes and the chorizo & eggs made it a weekend line-out-the-door staple for years.
It’s a sharp turn from just days ago: Monday’s roundup noted that no new store or business closings on or near Southport Avenue had turned up that week.
What happens next: The cafe stays open through the end of the year — daily, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. — so there’s still time for a farewell breakfast. And the space already has a next chapter: Santos confirmed in the announcement that Dollop Diner will be moving in.
Dollop Diner is the diner arm of Dollop Coffee Company, the Chicago-born brand owner Dan Weiss started in Uptown back in 2005. Its existing location at 5060 N. Clark St. in Andersonville is known for house-made donuts, chicken and waffles, buttermilk pancakes, chilaquiles, and burgers — a brunch-heavy menu served daily, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Is it a chain? Yes, but a local one. Dollop Coffee Company runs about 10 locations across Chicago (Uptown, Streeterville, the Loop, Gold Coast, River North, South Loop, and more), each with its own feel. A Southport outpost would make this the second Dollop Diner — one brunch institution handing the baton to another.
