Stella's Diner, mainstay in Chicago's East Lakeview community, goes out of business

Stella's Diner in Chicago's East Lakeview community has gone out of business.

Owner Marvin Barsky said Sunday that the restaurant, at 3042 N. Broadway at Barry Avenue, ended its run following a sale that has been in negotiations for some time and closed within the last few days.

Barsky said the sale was not connected in any way to a recent shutdown of Stella's by the Chicago Department of Public Health after investigators documented a cockroach infestation.

"There was a clean bill of health given a long time ago, and they dropped all the investigations. We were already open for a couple weeks," Barsky said. "So it had nothing at all to do with that."

Barsky also owns The Bagel, at 3107 N. Broadway across the street, which closed for a cockroach infestation in early June — weeks before the same happened at Stella's.

The city ordered management at the restaurants to treat the facility for pests, and to remove the dead insects that were found inside.

The Bagel reopened on June 19, a few weeks after its closure. Stella's also later reopened.

Barsky emphasized that The Bagel remains open for business as usual, and plans are still afoot to open a new location of The Bagel in Glenview.

Stella's dates back to 1962, when Jimmy and Stella Mavraganes opened the restaurant as The Wheel-A-Round, Chicago Magazine reported. The name later changed to The Lakefront Diner, and after the founders' daughter and son, Maria and Gus, took over, they honored their mother by adopting the name Stella's Diner.

Stella's was known for its all-day breakfasts, sandwiches, and milkshakes, as well as the enormous first clutching silverware over the door, which honored cofounder Jimmy Mavraganes.

Barsky bought Stella's in 2021, and The Bagel after owner Dan Wolf died in 2022.

As to the future for the Stella's space, Barsky said "a well-known restaurant in the area" is set to take over.