Restaurants, taverns in Ottawa, Streator prepare for outdoor reopening

A drive around Streator or Ottawa Wednesday afternoon showed several restaurants preparing for the coming weekend, where they will be allowed to open with outdoor dining.

Phase 3 for the Restore Illinois plan will begin Friday after the North Central region meets the requirements laid out by Governor JB Pritzker.

Chad Lucas, who owns both Jackpots in Streator and Court Street Pub in Ottawa, has set up tents outside his businesses to ensure they can open, rain or shine. Court Street Pub was allowed to use Court Street in downtown Ottawa to set up space for outdoor dining, while Jackpots already had an outside sitting area, which has been expanded to include some space in the adjacent parking lot.

“It’s definitely out of the norm, and we’re still adjusting, but we’re spending these next couple of days making sure we’re safe and healthy,” Lucas said. “We have to make sure we have the proper guidelines in place to hit this head on.”

Lucas said there are still rules that need to be followed – tables will have to remain 6 feet apart, and servers will wear masks. They also want patrons to limit gatherings to 10 people.

“I think this whole situation has been an unknown from the get-go with how the city will react,” Lucas said. “I think common sense would say we’ll be swamped, based on what I’ve seen in other states. We’re going to prepare for a bigger crowd, but we will still have social distancing guidelines in place.”

Perry Waddell is part of a group of owners that took over Berta’s Pub in Ottawa on March 1, but they were forced to shut down after just two weeks in operation.

Waddell said they made the best of the time they were shut down, and while they may not be able to open Friday, they intend to open over the weekend.

“We took the time to try and beautify the place and make it more presentable,” Waddell said. “One of the things we wanted to do when we bought it was start using the patio more; the previous owner didn’t use it very much, but that was going to be one of our focal points even before everything.”

Waddell said they’re putting in a 40-foot bar on the back patio and including more comfortable seating.

“Once we were shut down, we saw an opportunity to speed up projects we would have had to shut down for in the future anyway,” Waddell said. “We’re hoping to see a good crowd when we open again.”

Lucas said the quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have been tough on everyone.

“For all the local bars and restaurants, this has been a tough time financially and emotionally,” Lucas said. “All the bars and restaurants in Streator and Ottawa need the support of our communities in a responsible way.”