Illustrious Jack's looks for new spot in spring

The owners of Illustrious Jack's have decided to send the frozen custard restaurant into hibernation for the winter months and have announced that, when it emerges next spring, it will be in a new spot.

Illustrious Jack's closed at 9 p.m. Sunday. It will be the last time the store will operate at 1740 Broadway, where it has been located since it opened in July 2002.

When it opens again in early April, owner Dave Gerlach tells me, it will be in a new location with a new philosophy.

"We're going to a smaller location," Gerlach said. "This place is just really too big. We're closing this winter because that's what the St. Louis custard places do, and it makes sense."

Business slows down too much over the wintertime, despite adding Pilot House barbecue and gourmet coffees. When it opens in April, Illustrious Jack's will serve only custard.

"We added those other things to try and stay open year around," Gerlach said.

Gerlach said he's looking for a spot near the Town Plaza.

"We've spent 15 months figuring this out," he said. "Now we think we've got it."

TOUCH OF GRACE: Grace Parry, the owner of A Touch of Grace and Grace Cafe at 835 Broadway, has let us know about some interesting developments going on with her business.

The laptop bar is up and running, which provides free high-speed Internet with seven ports for laptops and one really cool flat-screen PC set up all the time.

The laptop bar also includes photos from the old Vandeven Grocery Store and Mercantile and other pictures of friends from the past and Grace's former downtown spot near the river.

Parry also said the Vandeven Room is up and going, a new spot for private meetings. The original restored hardwood floors and the floor-to-ceiling stained glass window wall set the stage for art and photography exhibits, she said.

The Garden Gallery is also now open upstairs over the cafe from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily except Sunday and Monday. Owner Linda Bohnsack has an interesting collection of Missouri artists.

McDONOUGH UPDATE: McDonough Mazda in Cape Girardeau on Saturday had a half-dozen or so used cars on its lot after bank officials seized all of the new cars over the weekend, according to owner Jack McDonough.

"We're still open for business and expecting a few shipments next week," Jack McDonough said Saturday.

The dealership is embroiled in legal troubles after McDonough's son and co-owner, Clinton W. "Wade" McDonough, was indicted two weeks ago by a federal grand jury and charged with six counts of bank fraud, allegedly for passing more than $200,000 in bad checks as part of a check-kiting scheme.

Scott Moyers is the business editor of the Southeast Missourian.