JOLIET, IL — At Tuesday night’s meeting, Bill Dimitroulas took to the podium to thank the Joliet City Council for its continued support. Earlier in the meeting, the Council voted 8-1 to award Dimitroulas with another Business Continuity Grant for his struggling CUT 158 Chophouse in downtown Joliet next to the Rialto Square Theatre. The latest taxpayer-funded subsidy for CUT 158 totaled $63,734, and only Councilman Larry Hug voted against it.
As it turns out, Joliet city manager Beth Beatty also approved two more Business Continuity Grants for Dimitroulas’ other Chicago Street restaurants in early November, for a grand total of $23,595.
Beatty has the authority to approve all Business Continuity Grants, without Council approval, if the grant amount is less than $25,000. A Nov. 4 grant of $20,265 was awarded to Dimitroulas for his Juliet’s Tavern at 205 N. Chicago St. and $3,330 went to his sit-down restaurant, Mousa Greek Tavern at 158 N. Chicago St., Joliet Patch learned this week.
Dimitroulas originally opened CUT 158 in early January 2019 at 158 N. Chicago St., inside the former Tin Roof Restaurant. After CUT 158 outgrew the Tin Roof location, Dimitroulas moved CUT 158 into the nearby Two Rialto Square Building being taken over by John Bays in January 2019. In March 2021, Dimitroulas acquired Juliet’s Tavern, and announced plans to change the menu from Italian to American cuisine, but he would keep the name of the restaurant.
In the summer of 2022, Joliet Patch was on hand at Juliet’s Tavern when Gov. JB Pritzker ate lunch at Juliet’s before joining then-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for a ribbon cutting to celebrate downtown Joliet’s new Pace Transit Center.
“Absolutely my first time here. I just had a terrific meal, honestly,” Pritzker told Joliet Patch. “And I have to say, this is one of the best places that I’ve been to in Illinois. So happy to have been here and got to meet the owner Bill (Dimitroulas) and got to hear about the other restaurants that he’s opened up all across Joliet. I hope I get a chance to see those and, frankly, visit other places.”
Hug Asks City Manager For All Business Continuity Grants Issued In 2024, 2025
Prior to Tuesday night’s vote, Councilman Hug asked Beatty for a detailed summary explaining all the Business Continuity Grants that Joliet has paid out for 2024 and so far in 2025.
During the discussion, Joliet Economic Development Director Paulina Martinez pointed out that a handful of additional Business Continuity Grants were still in the pipeline. She said the city has received new applications from Kula’s Jewelry & Loan as well as AmaLove, the clothing boutique store, and the Yura Nuna Korean-style restaurant best known for its rice bowls.
A spreadsheet showing all the Business Continuity Grants that were approved through the end of November is posted at the bottom of this Joliet Patch article.
After the Council approved his CUT 158 grant of nearly $64,000, Dimitroulas walked up to the podium to offer a few remarks during the audience participation.
“Good evening. Mr. Mayor, City Council … city manager, ladies and gentlemen, Bill Dimitroulas of Arkas Restaurant Group and the most commercial-ed … the last few days from the Joliet Patch. I like to thank you very much, though, for the last two years … understanding what’s going on in the downtown area and the businesses, with the construction that was going on.
“Unfortunately and fortunately, my biggest restaurant is direct right in the hardcore of that construction, so we got the most affected of it, and affected meaning more than 50 percent down in the business within almost two years now.
“So, I want to thank you, on my behalf, and my employees … most of them, I kept them there, and they kept supporting their families through that job, and of course, your understanding and the comments that we see on the social media that are going on, it’s obviously, we all understand why they’re coming and how they’re coming and why they’re misleading the audience. But it’s an unfortunate thing, people, they cannot see a great future for the city of Joliet for the downtown area and a bigger picture that’s needed to be brought up. Thank you very much, all of you.”
Downtown Joliet Artist Angelica Crystal Blasts City of Joliet: ‘Give Me A Break’
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At Monday night’s discussion, Beatty advised the City Council that the Business Continuity Grant program will be coming to an end very shortly.
“This is the last traunch because we’ve opened Chicago Street now,” she said, referring to the last allotment of the grants.
Meanwhile, Joliet’s Business Continuity Grant program has ruffled some feathers, angering some of the other downtown Joliet merchants and shops.
Angelica Cristal, a notable Joliet artist, created the new 8-foot-tall Steelman sculpture at the Route 66 Park along North Broadway Street behind Rich & Creamy ice cream stand. On Wednesday, she shared out this week’s Joliet Patch story on her Facebook page and remarked, “please toss us small businesses on Clinton Street and Ottawa Street a morsel of help. Just one crumb.
“To think we haven’t struggled for the entire duration of this project is not only out of touch but it’s a real slap in the face. As a creative business, Waywards Art Haus, and someone who has to work 80-hour weeks at a blue-collar job AND a side job to keep the doors open, give me a break.”
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