Labriola Italian Opens in Fulton Market, Replaces Kuma's Corner

Fulton Market keeps swallowing neighborhoods whole. The latest casualty: Kuma’s Corner, the heavy metal burger bar that anchored the strip for years before closing, now replaced by a white-tablecloth Italian concept from one of Chicago’s most recognizable baking families.

Labriola Italian Specialties opens April 22 at 852 W. Fulton Market, taking over the space Kuma’s vacated. The restaurant is a venture from Rich Labriola’s Doughboy Restaurant Group, the outfit already running two Labriola Ristorante locations, one near the Magnificent Mile and one in Oak Brook, plus the Stan’s Donuts chain that has become a fixture across the city.

This isn’t the same menu you’d find at those spots. Not even close.

The kitchen at the new Fulton Market location will focus on regional Italian specialties, including spaghetti assassina, a dish with roots in Bari, Italy. The preparation is specific: the spaghetti gets pan-fried and cooked down in a spicy tomato broth like risotto, producing a crispy, deeply flavored result that’s become something of a cult item in southern Italy. They’re also running Sicilian cannoli with housemade pastry shells fried in beef tallow, filled with Italian sheep’s milk ricotta, chocolate chips, candied orange peel and Amarena cherry. That’s the kind of detail that separates a neighborhood Italian spot from a concept that takes its sourcing seriously.

Heisler Hospitality didn’t wait for April 22. The company behind Pizza Lobo has already opened its third Chicago location, this one at 165 N. Morgan St. in the West Loop, and the footprint is substantial. First floor has a 75-seat island bar. Second floor holds a 180-seat dining room. Out back, a 2,000-square-foot partially covered patio. There’s also a walk-up window for slices, open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. A photo booth, too, for whatever that’s worth.

Pizza Lobo started in Logan Square in 2020 and expanded to Andersonville in 2023. The Morgan Street address marks the brand’s push into what has become one of the most competitive restaurant corridors in the Midwest. Whether a third location dilutes the original or just meets demand, regulars will make that call fast.

The expansion doesn’t stop at Fulton Market.

Mariela is set to open May 6 inside the Reliance Building at 1 W. Washington St. in the Loop, connected to boutique hotel StayPineapple Chicago. The project comes from the team behind Mirra in Bucktown and Sarima Cafe in Wicker Park, with Zubair Mohajir, Rishi Kumar and David Mor attached to the venture.

The concept pulls from coastal cuisines around the world. Seafood anchors the menu, with dishes like a seafood arroz negro made with octopus and scallops in a squid ink sofrito, served with uni. Service runs all day, starting at 7 a.m. for breakfast and rolling through lunch before dinner kicks off at 4 p.m. Happy hour runs 4 to 6 p.m., with $1 oysters. That’s an aggressive price point for a Loop hotel restaurant, and it’ll get attention.

The Reliance Building is a landmark structure, completed in 1895 and considered a forerunner of modern skyscraper design. Staking a new restaurant concept inside it carries a certain weight. The Loop hasn’t always been the most forgiving territory for ambitious dining, though the post-pandemic push to diversify downtown beyond office lunch traffic has opened some room.

Block Club Chicago first reported the details on all three openings.

Three restaurants, three different neighborhoods, three operators with existing Chicago track records. That last point matters. These aren’t outside groups dropping a concept into a hot market and hoping it sticks. Doughboy Restaurant Group has been operating in Chicago for years. Heisler Hospitality built Pizza Lobo from a single Logan Square location up. The Mariela team already runs restaurants in Bucktown and Wicker Park.

Still, Fulton Market has chewed through plenty of confident operators. The rent is real, the competition is real, and the customers who spend their nights there have options stacked on top of options.

April 22 is the first test. May 6 comes right behind it.