Barba Yianni Plans Spring Reopening in Lincoln Square

Barba Yianni Grecian Taverna has been feeding Lincoln Square since 1989. Owner Anas Ihmoud says he’s targeting a mid-May reopening at 4761 N. Lincoln Ave., with Mother’s Day on his mind as a soft deadline.

The path back wasn’t simple. Last August, neighbors walking past the longtime Greek restaurant on Lincoln Square’s main commercial strip spotted metal panels bolted over the windows and front door. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office confirmed what those panels meant: a commercial eviction had been carried out, and the restaurant Ihmoud had run for years was sealed shut.

Here’s what happened. Ihmoud purchased the building in 2022 through an adjustable-rate mortgage. When interest rates climbed, his monthly payments shot up 30 percent over just six months. He fell behind. The mortgage debt got sold to a third party, and that third party sent the Sheriff’s Office. That’s when the metal doors went up.

It took months to dig out. Earlier this month, Ihmoud managed to refinance and get back inside. The metal panels came down last week, and the neighborhood didn’t waste any time responding.

“Everybody’s knocking on our doors. We’ve had maybe 100 or 150 people since last week just come running ever since the metal doors came down,” Ihmoud said.

The financial squeeze Ihmoud described isn’t unusual for The U.S. Small Business Administration to hear about. Adjustable-rate loans and rising debt sales have caught more than a few small business owners flat-footed since 2022, and Ihmoud’s story tracks a pattern that’s hit Chicago merchants across multiple neighborhoods.

Still, getting the keys back was just the first problem. While Ihmoud was locked out, a water leak from a residential apartment upstairs had done real damage to the restaurant’s ceiling and floors. Construction crews were working inside Barba Yianni as recently as April 6. The damage pushed his reopening timeline further out than he’d originally planned.

He doesn’t seem broken up about it, though. The forced downtime gave him an opening to tackle upgrades he’d been putting off for years, things that weren’t possible while the kitchen was running six nights a week.

“I’ve always wanted to do so many things with this restaurant, but it just wasn’t an option because I didn’t own the building then,” he said.

The wish list is practical. “We’ve got to freshen up. And my chef needs a new broiler, OK?” he said.

To help with repair costs, a GoFundMe launched on Ihmoud’s behalf in January 2025. As of last Friday, it had raised $1,100 against a $100,000 goal. It’s a long way from target, but Ihmoud’s treating every dollar as something that moves the calendar forward.

The reopening also comes with a rethought menu. Barba Yianni built its name over 37 years on traditional Greek cooking, and Ihmoud isn’t scrapping that. What he’s adding is a layer he’s calling a fusion element, something to bring new customers in without pushing longtime regulars away.

“Greek cuisine is trending more than ever now, but we’ll be adding a fusion flair,” Ihmoud said. “We’ll still have traditional Greek menu items but we’ll also have options that are more modern.”

Ihmoud’s relationship with Barba Yianni goes back further than his ownership. He didn’t walk in as the boss. He came up through the place as a server, learned the business from the floor up, and eventually took over the operation. That history, 37 years of it running through 1989 all the way to 2026, is part of why the eviction stung the neighborhood the way it did.

Block Club Chicago reported in April that Ihmoud is aiming to have the restaurant back open this spring. The construction timeline and the fundraising gap make mid-May ambitious, but Ihmoud’s been through worse, and the metal doors are already down.

“We’ve got to freshen up. And my chef needs a new broiler, OK?” he said.