A longtime Palace Grill customer has created a fundraiser to help rebuild the West Side restaurant after it was damaged in a fire last week.
The restaurant near the United Center has been a fixture for first responders, politicians and Blackhawks players, and it even welcomed politicians, including Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin throughout its many years in business.
“It’s the backbone of Chicago that comes here,” said Katrina Vlasich, a Palace Grill regular and Blackhawks season ticket holder who created the fundraiser. “They know there is good food and a smile waiting to greet them there.”
Owner George Lemperis vowed last week that the restaurant would survive and reopen after the fire that caused extensive damage to the kitchen about 10 p.m. Thursday.
The fundraiser was started Tuesday on GoFundMe with a goal of raising $15,000. Vlasich said many Blackhawks fans and others associated with the team banded together to support the beloved diner.
“It’s time to pull together and rally around the Palace Grill, George and the staff, as Blackhawks fans and a city,” Vlasich wrote. “Let’s help George rebuild an iconic diner where so many memories have been made, so it can help build more.”
The restaurant opened in 1938 as De Mar’s Grill and has been in the Lemperis family since 1955. George and his father, Peter, who died in 1992, took over in 1979.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated Tuesday, but Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford said it was determined to be accidental.
