A Cafe Where Customers Count

Chillin' at Linz and Vail Gelato Shop

By Victoria Scott

Linz and Vail owner, Susan Dejanovic

The name Linz and Vail (after the Austrian and American ski towns) is meant to suggest the snow and charm of the far-flung worlds from which its owners hail.  But this gelato shop and café at 922 Noyes St. is firmly rooted in Evanston. 

Susan Dejanovic (who says her Croatia-born husband is "the finance guy" for the business but leaves its operation to her) opened the shop on July 21, 2005, serving European-style ice cream made daily on the premises. 

As she marks the first anniversary of the business, she acknowledges that community input has molded it.  "We learn a lot from customers," she says.  Those like Bob Seabert say her dynamism is the reason they return.

Ms. Dejanovic finds that Evanston people, in addition to being very loyal, are "‘talky' and persistent.  They feel confident making a neighborhood place their own."  Take her televisions, for example, installed to entertain kids while their moms sip coffee and to give morning customers a chance to multitask while they wait in line.  In the beginning the TVs were tuned to Fox News.

"Why do you have Fox News?" asked an indignant customer.  Did Ms. Dejanovic not know that Evanston is a Democratic town?  She shrugged, smiled - and switched to CNN.

First customers requested an espresso machine; then they asked for white mocha and hot apple cider.  Then came Barcelona-style hot chocolate.  Ms. Dejanovic added morning muffins and noontime soups and summer smoothies made with milk and fruit.  "We want to have what they want," she says.

This time of year what customers want most is Linz and Vail's gelato.  The word gelato comes from the Italian word gelare, to freeze.  The confection differs from ice cream both in what it is made of and in how it is made.

By U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, ice cream must contain at least 10 percent milkfat.  Ice creams labeled "premium" or "superpremium," says the International Dairy Foods Association, may contain as much as 16 percent fat.

Gelato, by contrast, contains just 4-8 percent milkfat because it is made with whole milk rather than cream.  Linz and Vail get their milk base (whole milk plus emulsifiers) from a Wisconsin company.  It comes frozen in plastic bags and must be defrosted in the refrigerator for a day before it is ready to be mixed with the flavorings the shop imports from the Italian company PreGel. 

A canister of roasted almond flavoring looks like the pureed almonds it contains; coconut has the smell and texture of the tropical fruit.  Linz and Vail uses fresh fruit in season, too - all "real flavors," says Ms. Dejanovic, adding, "With gelato, there is no need for cream because of the intensity of the flavors." 

The tiny room that houses the fridge and freezer is also home to a $16,000 Carpigiani gelato machine.  To make gelato she pours in the base and flavoring, and the machine, which opens like a clothes dryer, starts revolving. 

Unlike ice cream machines, whose mad dashers whip air into the product, the gelato machine has a beater blade that turns slowly enough to create a very dense confection.  Ms. Dejanovic claims aficionados "notice the smoothness and intense flavors [of gelato] on their tongues" and contrast it with the "sponginess" of ice cream.  Gelato is not deep-frozen for storage, and, maintained in the case at 7 degrees, it melts faster than ice cream.

Linz and Vail make their gelato fresh each day.  That is the easy part, says the owner.  Her larger concern, she says, is "the visual presentation."  She wanted the shop to be cozy, "a little destination place for making happy memories."  Customers obviously like the pink and brown décor; many have requested the name of the deep brown wall paint and the source for the old-fashioned mirrors on the walls.

A second room features wicker lounge chairs and free wireless Internet.  Small groups sometimes meet there, says Ms. Dejanovic.  One NU organization staged a fundraiser in the shop, and neighbors, along with campers, students and visitors from the Noyes Cultural Arts Center across the street, are frequent visitors.

They do not mind waiting in line, she says - maybe because, at their turn, they know they can take their time choosing flavors.  "We go through thousands of palletinas [small gelato spoons]" giving tastes, says Ms. Dejanovic.  Linz and Vail encourages people to build waffle cones or edible cone cups with several flavors.  Employees use flat-nosed French gelato spades instead of ice cream scoops to serve the gelato, patting it into place like proficient masons.

Favorite flavors include Belgian chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio and Nutella.  But the shop "tweaks the product" with seasonal American tastes like pumpkin pie, cinnamon and French toast, says Ms. Dejanovic.

Today Rebecca Lindell has brought daughters Susanna and Cassandra Duncan, ages 8 and 3, for an after-camp treat.  "It's 75 percent less fat than other kinds [of ice cream]," says Ms. Lindell.  "You feel a little less guilty."  Employee Patrick Neal, an acting student at Second City, is helping the girls to chocolate brownie and bubble gum cones. 

When another customer inquires, "When will you have crème brulee?"  Ms. Dejanovic asks, "When will you come?"  "Tomorrow," says the customer.

"We'll make what you want to buy," the owner responds.  This may be the reason  that her business has been so successful she is on the brink of expanding to a second Evanston location.

Fire Chief Urges City to Add Six Additional Firefighters

By Bill Smith

Evanston Fire Chief Alan Berkowsky urged aldermen last week to add six more firefighters to the department's roster, an increase of more than 5 percent.

The chief said the department's staffing was reduced in 1981 from 113 to 106, but that since 1984 calls for service have increased by 38 percent. The department currently has 110 workers, including 108 firefighters and two civilian employees. One additional employee is budgeted to start in September.

With current staffing levels the department leaves one of its three ambulances unstaffed, switching an engine crew to drive it as needed.

The City now spends $11.1 million on fire department operations and an additional $3.7 million to fund fire department pensions.

Chief Berkowsky said at the City Council's Budget Policy Committee meeting July 17 that Evanston handled 8,063 fire and ambulance calls last year. By comparison, Skokie, with 116 firefighters, had 7,256 calls.

He said the National Fire Protection Association recommends having four firefighters per vehicle, but Evanston currently has three firefighters on its engines and ladder trucks.

Chief Berkowsky said Evanston does benefit from having two hospitals in town, which makes ambulance runs shorter than in most communities and allows the crews to get back in service more quickly.

Despite the staffing issues, Evanston has maintained a Class 3 fire protection rating from the Insurance Services Office, placing Evanston in the top four percent of the 45,000 fire departments the ISO rates nationwide.

Better ratings correlate with lower fire losses, and so insurance companies charge less for property insurance in communities with stronger ISO ratings.

Fire Division Chief Sam Hunter said Evanston's lack of a fire-training tower is one of the things that has held the City back from getting the top rating. Both Arlington Heights and Skokie have training towers.

He said the ISO also looks at staffing levels, water supplies and a department's communications equipment.

Chief Hunter said the City has improved its water distribution and communications systems for firefighting in recent years.

The City recently applied for a federal grant that could pay part of the cost of hiring the six additional firefighters Chief Berkowsky is seeking.

Chicago/Dempster Merchants Sidewalk Sale

The Chicago-Dempster Merchant Association (CDMA) will host its second annual "World's Best" Sidewalk Sale this weekend, July 28-30. More than 60 merchants will have special bargains. Back to Basics Chiropractic Heath Center will offer fun and serious treats - face painting and scoliosis screening for kids. Possibilities will be one of the stores offering refreshments for parched shoppers. Shaker Traditions has moved eastward two blocks, from 817 Dempster St. to 613 Dempster St. The CDMA has combined red carpet treatment with priced-to-move sidewalk sale items. Visit www.shopevanston.com or call Paul Giddings at 847-328-9000.

Police Chief Says Force Could Use a Few More Officers

By Bill Smith 

Evanston taxpayers spend $18.5 million a year on police protection. And in return, Police Chief Frank Kaminski says, they are now seeing "the lowest crime rate ever recorded in the City."

During the City Council's review of the Police Department budget July 17, Chief Kaminski did not directly ask for more staffing. But when Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, asked what it would take to set up a tactical unit to deal with disturbances in the area of Custer Avenue and Brummel Street or other trouble spots, the chief said it would require about eight officers and two supervisors -  or about a million dollars a year including equipment.

Evanston now has 162 sworn officers and 60 civilian staff members. That gives the City substantially more police presence than nearby communities of roughly similar size.

Arlington Heights, for example, with just a few hundred fewer residents than the 75,236 in Evanston, has 113 sworn officers, according to a recent survey. Skokie, with nearly 65,000 residents, has 111 officers. By contrast, Chicago fields over twice as many police offers per capita as Evanston.

"We're a mid-range-to-large police agency," Chief Kaminski says, "We run our own lockup, our own communications service, and have every major responsibility any big-city police department does."

He said the department responds to 60,000 calls for service each year, and he noted that Evanston is one of only 600  police agencies accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) among over 22,000 departments nationwide.

The chief said the department has 10 patrol officers on duty during the day and 11 each for the evening and overnight shifts, along with two supervisors on each shift.

He said the evening shift tends to be the busiest, and that several additional officers from specialty units, ranging from the detective bureau to the youth division, are generally available to help out during those hours as needed.

Lacking a dedicated tactical unit, the department has added two extra patrol units on the evening shift during the summer months by bringing officers in for overtime shifts.

"That means we have different officers on that patrol every day, so you lose some continuity," the chief said, "but it's still better than nothing."

Chief Kaminski said the department's new K-9 unit will start operation on Aug. 14, once the officer and dog return from training. He noted that donations provided to start up the K-9 program will not cover its full cost in the future and noted that the grant funding for the department's youth outreach initiative will run out at the end of the fiscal year.

In addition to the $18.1 million police operating budget, the City also spends $4.1 million a year to fund police pensions.

Residents Picket Home of Landlord

By Bill Smith

About three dozen people turned out in sweltering heat last Wednesday night to picket the home of an Evanston landlord.

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, who was among the organizers of the protest, said the landlord, Jean Gregoire of 2017 Warren St., owns a building at 435 Callan Ave.

"We very much raised awareness and pointed out to this guy's neighbors that his property has been causing us grief," Ald. Rainey said. "We've tried everything to shape up the neighborhood," she added, "Seeking fines for housing code violations, going to court over citations, having ‘positive presence' gatherings in front of buildings. Sometimes we seem to be wasting our time."

Ald. Rainey said that Sgt. Dennis Prieto of the Evanston Police Department warned her before the protest that picketing in a residential neighborhood violates a state law.

"He was intimidating," Ald. Rainey said.

She posted a message to the 8th Ward message board threatening to "sue the c-p out of" the police if she was arrested and encouraging neighbors to turn out for the demonstration.

"It is OK for mobs of thugs ... to hang out in front of your buildings, but don't think of embarrassing an influential landlord because the police will call you ... and threaten you," she told the neighbors.

Ald. Rainey said she plans other protests in coming weeks at the homes of other landlords she believes are mismanaging their properties.

Neither Sgt. Prieto nor Mr. Gregoire returned calls seeking comment.

Fire on Payne

All of the Evanston Fire Department's equipment was dispatched to fight a fire at a warehouse located at 1625 Payne St. last Wednesday.

Division Chief of Training Sam Hunter said that the cause of the fire, which destroyed about one third of the building including a drapery storage area, had not been determined. No one was injured in the blaze.

According to Chief Hunter, the building is a warehouse owned by Robinson Realty.  The only other damage inside the building was smoke damage to some rugs which had been stored there. 

Approximately 50 to 60 firefighters were called to the scene at 2:31 pm.  Equipment included five engines, two trucks, the battalion chief and the senior staff vehicles.  Assistance was also provided by the Morton Grove Fire Department.

Council Rejects Optima Proposal

By Bill Smith

At the July 24 City Council meeting, aldermen voted 8-0 to accept the Plan Commission's recommendation to deny a developer's request to build an 18-story high-rise building called Optima Promenade at 1515 Chicago Ave. It would have been the fourth high-rise in downtown Evanston built by architect David Hovey.

The aldermen did not discuss a revision to the proposal submitted from the developer that would have reduced the building's height by 20 feet, increased the width of the alley behind the building by three feet, increased other setbacks and relocated the rear loading dock to the north end of the building.

Nor did they discuss a staff recommendation to reduce the building's height by an additional 20 feet, to 145 feet, and cut 20 condo units from the 175 proposed in Mr. Hovey's revised plan.

In urging the Council to reject the Optima Promenade proposal, Alderman Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward, said the site is "a very fragile transition area between downtown and residential neighborhoods. This particular architectural plan," she added, "is really insensitive to the context of the neighborhood."

Chris Westerberg, 525 Grove St., a leader of neighborhood opposition to the project, said she was gratified that the aldermen understood concerns neighbors raised.

Yet the proposal had won praise from local architect James Torvik, who called it "an excellent example of a fine downtown building." In addition, Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, said the development, which included retail and commercial space, would attract more diners and shoppers to downtown.

In a July 17 memo to City Manager Julia Carroll, James Wolinski, director of community development, said the development would "enhance the vitality of the downtown." In addition, he said, it would produce $508,000 in real estate taxes to the City, and an annual surplus of $724,000-$950,000 to School District 65 and $645,000-$707,000 to School District 202.

Anjana Hansen, 9th Ward alderman, was absent from the meeting.

Fifth Third Bank Proposes Drive-Through on Main St.

By Bill Smith

The Plan Commission has recommended approved for a proposal from Fifth Third Bank to open a drive-through branch in the shopping center at 2400 Main St.

Bank official Laura Johnson told the commission July 12 that the new branch will be much larger than the bank's existing branch downtown at 1710 Maple Ave., which the bank plans to maintain.

The branch would have six employees and be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The bank's architect said the building will have a brick exterior with cast-stone accents.

It would have four drive-through lanes, three staffed by tellers and one for an ATM. The building would have a maximum height of 26 feet, with the main portion just under 20 feet tall.

The bank's landscape architect said the proposal calls for extensive use of trees and foundation plantings to give a more residential character to what has been a barren landscape for the two decades of the shopping center's existence.

Bank consultants forecast that the project would generate more than $250,000 in new tax revenue for the City and the school districts and that it would have no significant impact on traffic levels on Main Street.

If the proposal wins approval from the City Council, bank officials hope to begin construction by next spring and have the branch open by November 2007.

Construction Permit Numbers  Fall for This Year

By Bill Smith 

New starts of construction work in Evanston in the first half of this year were far below last year's pace. Building permit fees for the first six months of the year are down 58 percent from the same period a year ago, according to data from the "Building Permit & Construction Value Financial Report" from the Community Development Department.

Even excluding the month of March, which saw an unusual spike in 2005 when permits were issued for the Sherman Plaza project downtown, the year-over-year decline is still 45 percent.

The decline may not be apparent yet on the street, because major projects, like Sherman Plaza, take 18 months or more to complete, while the permit fees are paid up front. Sherman Plaza itself is scheduled for completion this fall.

So far this year, 38 percent of the construction value of building permits issued has been for renovation of existing residential buildings, with 24 percent for existing businesses.

New single family construction has totaled 7 percent, new multi-family 9 percent and condo conversions 2 percent. New business construction has totaled 7 percent.

Schools and churches account for 12 percent of the construction work, miscellaneous uses 12 percent and garages 1 percent. There has been essentially no construction work on new or existing industrial sites so far this year.

City officials projected a 20 percent decline in building permit revenue for the fiscal year that started March 1 when they adopted the city budget in February because nothing of the size of the Sherman Plaza project appeared to be in the pipeline.

Building permit fees last year topped $4 million, and represented about five percent of the City's general fund revenue.