Gone: bluprint

bluprint—the slick, glass-enclosed restaurant in the Merchandise Mart—closed for good today.

Our critic Heather Shouse had mixed feelings about the restaurant when she reviewed it in August 2007 (lunch was more successful for dinner, she wrote). But despite the mixed reviews, the restaurant was widely considered the only decent place to eat in Merchandise Mart. That was certainly the restaurant's goal, at least—they decked their dining room out with zebra wood and the like to appeal to the LuxeHome crowd.

But with everything getting a little less luxe these days, the restaurant just wasn't getting the numbers it needed.

bluprint's parent company, Blue Plate Catering, will continue to exist, and some of bluprint's employees will be absorbed into the company. But the restaurants chef, Sam Burman,  won't be one of them—he's moving to California.