- Michael Gebert
- Nando’s Peri-Peri, 953 W. Randolph
They were lining up on West Randolph street for the last day of previews at Nando’s Peri-Peri, the first Chicago location for a South Africa-based chain. Most of the people lining up when I got there at 1:30 PM on Tuesday were African-American. Was there a hitherto unknown fan base for the spicy peri peri chicken in Chicago’s black community? Maybe they were folks who knew it from D.C., where it has nearly two dozen locations. But I got the likeliest answer a few minutes later from marketing director Sepanta Bagherpour, who said that during the last two days before Wednesday’s official opening, they were allowing guests to pay whatever they felt it was worth and donating the proceeds to a Chicago organization called After School Matters (which Maggie Daley helped found; Mayor Emanuel mentioned it in his inauguration speech the other day). These looked like churchgoing folks who were connected in some way to that organization; that’s how they got the word, I imagined.
Nando opened at regular prices today; two more will open in the next few months, one on Diversey in Lakeview and one in my favorite parking neighborhood at North and Clybourn. The last two days of previews, I was told later Wednesday, produced a donation of $18,445 to After School Matters.
