Picnic enjoys opening week; Mensch’s Deli up next in Glencoe

A Picnic awaits in Glencoe.

The second location of the healthy restaurant opened earlier this month in half of the space at 668 Vernon Ave., the former home of Honey Butter Fried Chicken and, before then, Poppy’s Social.

On a warm Thursday in Glencoe, Picnic’s open and bright dining room was bustling, and Jack DeMar, who owns the business with fellow New Trier High School alumni Eric Kogan and Kiki Eliopoulos, told The Record that Picnic was enjoying a successful first week.

The eatery serves a variety of elevated salads and grain bowls that all feature a wealth of healthful ingredients — like the Miso Matra salad with mixed greens, super grains, roasted root vegetables, caramelized carrots, and sesame Miso dressing, and the Greek chicken bowl with brown rice and quinoa, lettuces, Za’atar-marinated chicken thigh, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, Tzatziki and lemon oregano vinaigrette.

“Sometimes people think healthy is a salad with a lot of raw veggies on it, which it can be,” DeMar said, “but what we’ve done in Evanston (our first location) is make them as chef-driven bowls so the toppings and ingredients feel a little more complex and you end up with something that is more like a full meal and that’s worked really well for us.”

Picnic is an order-at-the-counter spot. While DeMar was running the Glencoe counter to start, his team hopes customers will get comfortable ordering from the restaurant’s tablet at the counter or their own mobile device — a setup that is established at the Evanston location.

Meals can then be taken to-go or enjoyed in Picnic’s sizable dining room, which is open daily from 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

DeMar and company are also bringing to life the other half of 668 Vernon Ave. with the second location of Mensch’s Deli, which opened in Evanston in summer 2024. DeMar said Glencoe’s Mensch’s Deli, a full-service restaurant, will open in June.

The restaurant combo is the third dining concept to occupy 668 Vernon Ave. in the past four years.

In September 2021, the building (before then home to Art Store Gallery) welcomed casual eatery, Poppy’s Social, which closed nine months later, as The Record North Shore previously reported.

Chicago favorite Honey Butter Fried Chicken gave it a shot starting in January 2024, but by October of the same year, shut its doors as well. 

DeMar is focusing on the positive, such as the lowered build-out costs and time line thanks to the restaurant-ready space. Plus, he thinks Picnic has what Glencoe is looking for.

“It is unfortunate those places didn’t make it work,” he said. “… I feel food like this is going to fit the community really well. For us it was worth taking that chance.

“You have to be a place where people want to go to often, and I think our food checks that box, not just the variety but I think it’s affordable and you can feel good about eating it.”

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