Aiello's Departure: The End of an Era

By Mary Helt Gavin

Whatever route Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello chooses to take for her trip home on this, her last day of official work for the City of Evanston, it will likely take her through Evanston's past, present and future. With the exception of a 15-month fellowship at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ms. Aiello has worked for the City of Evanston since 1976. She began as an intern with the City's Preservation Commission, where her first project was the rehabilitation of the 1817 Church St. building. She worked in the City's Planning Department and in 1981 began what became her career in fostering development in Evanston. "Little did I know I'd stay here for umpteen years," she said in a recent interview, adding "No two days have been alike."

Ms. Aiello has seen and overseen the transformation of Evanston's business and commercial scene, the metamorphosis of the Northwestern University Evanston Research Park into a retail and entertainment section and the beginning of revitalization along Howard Street east and the City's west side.

Although now many fast-food and carry-out restaurants cater to the college crowd and the downtown workers, the City once prohibited fast-food restaurants. When Burger King wished to come to downtown Evanston, said Ms. Aiello, "They came in under the name ‘Chart House Restaurant.' We agreed they could open but they could not bag the food to go." Customers received their food and were shown a stack of paper bags to use if they wished to carry their food out of the restaurant."

The 1980s were somewhat grim for development. "Chicago Avenue from South Boulevard to Keeney was pretty desolate; the Bell & Howell property was vacant; and Rustoleum was leaving. The downtown retail vacancy rate was up to 18.5 percent," she said.

Today, should Ms. Aiello brave the traffic of the now-bustling downtown, she would likely get there on Maple Avenue, passing the recently transformed research park area where the Maple Avenue Garage, the Hilton Garden Inn and Border's Books and Music, the Cinemark Theatres, and retail and restaurant space have replaced a grocery store, the Levy Center and a couple of surface parking lots. The high-rise Optima developments with ground-floor retail or service shops, the medium-rise office building that houses McDougall-Littell and Sherman Plaza with its massive garage are the new landmarks of downtown Evanston, and Ms. Aiello has been called its architect.

"She deserves all the credit," said Martin Norkett, long-time member of the City's Economic Development Committee. He praised Ms. Aiello at a meeting of the Joint Review Board (all the bodies that levy taxes on Evanstonians) late last year, at which Ms. Aiello received a standing ovation.

Ms. Aiello leaves before the vote on the fate of the proposed tower at 708 Church St. She notes, however, "We've had examples of design by committee that left us with less-than-wonderful projects: The Reserve (Ridge Avenue at Emerson Street), 800 Elgin Road and the Dubin Project on Chicago Avenue and near South Boulevard."

Continuing her journey homeward, Ms. Aiello would pass South Point Plaza, a small shopping area in the 600 block of Chicago Avenue. She helped with the zoning changes that allowed it to be built. Further south, Howard Street reflects her efforts both to the east and to the west. The Bristol development, a rental high-rise between Ridge Avenue and the CTA tracks, is near completion.

At the City's west end sits the Howard-Hartrey shopping plaza with the big box stores of Jewel, Office Max and Target. For its opening, says Ms. Aiello, "We had drama." Bernard Stone, the alderman of the Chicago ward just across the street from the development, erected a wall along that area of Howard Street to shield his constituents from the ravages and noise of the new shopping center. "Alderman Stone had a press conference; Mayor Morton had a press conference. We had made a commitment to Dayton Hudson [then parent company of Target] that there would be access to the shopping center, so we went to court." The wall, she said, "came down within four days of the opening of Howard-Hartrey."

A quick detour back to the north would see a stop at the Church/Dodge intersection. The City Council recently created a tax-increment financing, or TIF, district along Dodge Avenue and adopted a strategic plan for that area. Like Howard Street, the West Side is important to Evanston, says Ms. Aiello, and they need resources. Ms. Aiello could complete the circular tour of Evanston by traveling north to Central Street and surveying the corridor from Crawford Avenue on the west to Ryan Field on the east, another area for which the City recently adopted a plan for growth and development.

Even though Ms. Aiello is leaving the employ of the City of Evanston, she says she would like to continue to be a part of the growth and development here. "I hope to do some volunteer work on the west side with a couple of Evanston groups," she told a reporter recently.

Parting Words
Ms. Aiello had nothing but praise for the many mayors, City Councils and City staff members with whom she worked during her three decades in Evanston. "I learned a lot from them. They took a lot of risks." She adds, "I think what the citizens of Evanston don't realize is that people who work here love the City of Evanston. It's not a job - it really is a passion for the City. You know how good it can be because it's such a microcosm."

She does, however, have some advice for the citizens and for the present City Council. "There's meanness [now] in the Council and the [community]. A person can't disagree without being personally attacked. There is no sense that reasonable people can disagree. We need to find a way to listen and find that we have more in common."

Noting that previous City Councils took risks, she said, "We have to get back to that. This Council tends to close ranks and settle, and we should never settle."

Harvey Saver Retires After 22 Years With City

By Joe Linstroth

After nearly 22 years with the City of Evanston, Harvey Saver, assistant director of mental health services, retired last week. During his tenure with the City, Mr. Saver played many roles - he was a leader and coordinator of local mental health policy and community education; a liaison to the Mental Health Board, easing communication between the Board and the agencies it funds; and a personal case manager and crisis counselor who provided referrals and a calm voice to scores of Evanston residents who sought help for themselves or for loved ones but did not know where to begin.

Looking back on his career, Mr. Saver is proud of the work he has done to "facilitate and foster a network of agencies and individuals who work together." He highlighted the success of various workshops and community education events. Whether it was to increase awareness of mental health issues in underserved minority populations or to offer a support network for low-income families to help them locate resources for their children, Mr. Saver said he was proud that he helped "bring people together to address the needs of the community."

Mr. Saver also fondly remembered his work on improving housing for people with special needs. During the late 1980s and early 1990s when the City rewrote portions of its zoning code, he said he worked almost three years to develop licensing recommendations for alternative housing for the disabled. "Evanston is a much more accommodating community in terms of special housing," he told the RoundTable.

His role as a one-on-one case manager seems like it would fall outside the job description of an assistant director, but Mr. Saver, an experienced social worker, said, "Bottom line is it's services to the citizens of the community." A service, it appears, that is unlikely to continue as the City undergoes a restructuring of the health department which includes the elimination of Mr. Saver's assistant directorship position. The City plans to hire a management analyst, most likely with a master's degree in public administration, to handle all grant-funding responsibilities for the health department, including Mr. Saver's former responsibilities with the Mental Health Board.

"The perception of need in the community has changed," Mr. Saver said, looking at the future of the City's role in health services. He referred to recent shifts in budgetary priorities which have put more of an emphasis on the role of the non-profit sector in providing health services to the community. "I'm leaving here feeling I was the right person at the right time," he said.

Honor for Autobarn Ltd.

The Autobarn Ltd. was named the Certified Pre-Owned Dealer of the Year for Volkswagen at the First Annual CPO Forum held in Dearborn this week. The CPO Forum was sponsored by Auto Remarketing NewsMagazine.

The Autobarn Ltd. was named the best Volkswagen dealer in the country for selling certified used vehicles in 2007. Each manufacturer selected its own top dealer, and the dealership received recognition and a plaque at the national meeting. Executives from Volkswagen were on hand to present the award to The Autobarn Ltd.

Simple Gourmet Makes Cooking Look Easy

Simple Gourmet chef Leyla Wheelhouse (left) and owner Debbie Karhanek offer gourmet-to-go for busy people who like to eat well.

By Victoria Scott

A business called Simple Gourmet should be as straightforward as its food, gourmet-to-go dishes intended to be fresh but not fancied-up.

Owner Debbie Karhanek likes her food pure, not fussy. But she makes sure it is never merely plain. She has built an extensive - and complex - menu, a few elements at a time.

In creating the business of her dreams, it appears that Ms. Karhanek, a foodie since her Evanston childhood, has let no detail escape her notice. Her new shop at 1459 Elmwood Ave., in a formerly dowdy building she completely rehabbed, is a feast for the eye as well as the palate.

She seems to care - to be passionate about - everything, from her chef and co-creator (Leyla Wheelhouse) to the color of the walls (she calls it "grapefruit") to the shape of her business cards (square), the taste of her vinaigrette (smoky and aromatic, she says, with a depth of flavor conveyed by toasting peppercorns in a pan on the stove) and the wooden trays she designed to hold "Simplegourmet" treats by the dozen.

The spare contemporary store, enlivened with select antiques, reflects her culinary philosophy: "Food doesn't have to be ‘busy' to be good."

She maintains, "You can make a wonderful vinaigrette with just a few ingredients. Ingredients make the dish great. If the ingredients are not fresh, the food won't be great."

A food-lover but no snob, she has, with Chef Wheelhouse, created an imaginative menu that, on a given day, might encompass anything from savory feta, olive and scallion scones to a miso-barbecue tofu wrap with rice noodles and crisp veggies to fried chicken and mac and cheese they term "the best ever."

Simple Gourmet has something for every taste, they say, from the vegan to the "ultra meat-lover." They create everything from scratch, with the exception of the bread from Chicago's Red Hen bakery.

Some items - such as the simple tuna and chicken salad sandwiches and signature potato chip cookies - are available every day. Others - for example, simple lime or raspberry oatmeal or pecan bars - show up in rotation, four varieties each day.

"You can always walk in and find dinner or food for a cocktail party," says Ms. Karhanek.

Today's fresh food, if left over, moves tomorrow to small containers in the store refrigerator and then to the freezer, where asparagus and sweet pea soup ("like spring in your mouth," she sighs) shares shelf space with the likes of chicken and sausage stew.

The owner and the chef taste, refine and re-taste their recipes. As restaurant veterans, both women know how unusual their tasting process is.

Chicago's Red Light restaurant, where Ms. Wheelhouse was a sous-chef, devoted two weeks to tastings. Simple Gourmet devoted two months. "That's how we can take a lot of pride," she says.

Still constantly experimenting, the pair are very much in sync. "When she presents something to me, it's beyond my wildest dreams," says Ms. Karhanek.

Though she was a theater major at the University of Illinois, Ms. Karhanek says the food business is in her bones. She describes her mother, a professional actress and singer, as "the Martha Stewart of the 50s and 60s," an "amazing cook who canned jam on Sundays."

Her father had a restaurant in St. Louis. His daughter teased him about passing along "the cooking gene. I told him, ‘It's your fault I'm working a 70-hour week,'" she says. She managed Chicago restaurants Blue Mesa and Harry Caray's and Northfield's Brasserie T. But it was during her 10 years with A La Carte in Wilmette that Ms. Karhanek says, "I fell in love with this business."

Determined to start her own, she wrote a business plan and looked to locate in Evanston, to which she had returned in 1985. With construction of her store well underway, she began the hunt for a chef. On Craigslist she advertised her "new gourmet-to-go business … working atmosphere where enjoying what we do is what it's all about."

Ms. Wheelhouse, the executive chef at the Michigan Avenue Neiman-Marcus, was finding her job "not as hands-on as I wanted." She says as a newlywed she "wanted to simplify."

Her response to the ad was bold: "I am the one you should talk to." They hit it off right away, and Ms. Karhanek hired her on Nov. 12. Then began the marathon talk-and-tasting sessions that culminated in their opening Simple Gourmet on Feb. 12.

Now, says Ms. Wheelhouse, "instead of managing 14 cooks, I come in and make scones and bundt cakes - how lucky. We share the seasons with our customers."

They revel in return business and enjoy going the extra mile. When a mom called from Bridgeport, Conn., Ms. Wheelhouse baked three dozen birthday cupcakes (red velvet with cream cheese and fresh pistachio icing, fudge-frosted fudge and vanilla-vanilla) that Ms. Karhanek delivered - boxes balanced beneath an umbrella - to her Northwestern University son.

Three years ago, says Mr. Karhanek, she made the decision "to spend the second half of my life working for the right reasons - enjoying every day." She says she is.