NORTH LAWNDALE — A popular Little Village Mexican breakfast restaurant is set to open another location next month inside North Lawndale’s Ogden Commons.
La Catedral Cafe & Restaurant is opening its second location at 1407 S. Washtenaw Ave., near Douglass Park, according to an Instagram post.
The restaurant will welcome diners 7 a.m. Dec. 11 and celebrate the grand opening 9 a.m. Dec. 12. It then will be open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily, chef and owner Ambrocio “Bocho” González said.
The restaurant, which serves food such as chilaquiles, crepes and tortas, replaces the Ja’Grill Jamaican Restaurant in the space, González said. Ja’Grill opened in 2022, according to Eater, but it wasn’t immediately clear when it closed.
González said he hopes to hire 20 people to work at the Ogden Commons location for cooking and cleaning jobs, and he is still accepting applications.
González plans to use the spot to show off art, with authentic Mexican religious pieces and decorations arranged throughout the 98-seat space, he said.
The interior features a recreation of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, which is also in the original restaurant in Little Village, 2500 S. Christiana Ave.
González, who used to live on Marshall Boulevard, chose the Ogden Commons space to accommodate more diners, who sometimes wait up to two hours for a table at the Little Village location, he said. The North Lawndale spot is a roughly 10-minute drive from the original, González said.
The chef said he also has plans to use the space for evening events such as dinner parties and other events.
“This community has been great to us, so we’re glad to stay close by. We hope they accept us the same way they accepted us in Little Village,” González said.
Exclusive to the North Lawndale menu is a selection of dishes all based around beans, González’s favorite food. The biggest addition is the Burrito La Cathedral, a steak burrito that has cheese, jalapeños and salsa served smothered in frijoles, González said.
Other bean-heavy foods include a bean-covered steak torta and chilaquiles frijoles, González said.
González’s love of beans comes from his roots growing up with a single mother in Guadalajara, Mexico. She would make dishes out of beans in different ways, he said.
“We didn’t have money to buy much meat, so we ate beans, eggs, rice and tortillas. I ate them in so many ways that I didn’t realize I only ate just beans,” González said. “We do the beans the same way she did in Mexico.”
The ongoing Ogden Commons project will cover 10 acres of North Lawndale with commercial and retail space, as well as 350 housing units, developers have said.
Ogden Commons was developed by The Habitat Company, Sinai Health System, Alecko Capital and Bank of America to address issues that result in poor community health, such as a lack of food access, health care, job insecurity and housing.
La Cathedral joins Black-owned Momentum Coffee, Wintrust Bank and Sinai Health System inside the three-story commercial space.
Construction started in March on the apartment complexes called OC Living, which features 23 studios, 60 one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom apartments. The apartment building is expected to be completed by this spring, and the entire project could wrap by 2026, according to developers.
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