Just two months after leaving Champaign, and not but a month after it was reported in Smile Politely that Mike N’ Molly’s would be sold to CMT Ventures, John Hoeffleur has decided to move back, and partner with CMT to re-open the space as an extension of Seven Saints.
Allegedly, according to reports, he has also purchased 111 N. Market, currently unoccupied, 113 N. Market, which currently houses WEFT, as well.
“The goal is to just eventually make the whole block Seven Saints. Ashley (Buerkett) owns the building at the end of the block, and she seems interested as well. The old Pogo live room would make a perfect place for us to serve sliders. Now, we just gotta convince (Prairie / David) Monk to move to Urbana or something, and we’ll be all set.”
Only being gone two months, it seemed odd to most people why he’d come back so soon. But the answer was at the griddle.
“Seven Saints is my favorite restaurant, and in truth, it was missing their sliders that had me coming back to Champaign to begin with. I traveled a lot over the past couple of months. I eat only one thing: burgers with nothing on them. Not one goddamned thing. Burger. Bun. That’s it. So, when Carlos offered me a place at the table to expand the scope of the restaurant into Mike N’ Molly’s, it just made a ton of sense. I hated that place, honestly. Cheap ass hipsters drinking $2 PBRs. Complaining about having to pay $1 for a DJ.
“I was house DJ for years, and could barely keep concentration because of the smells of those sliders, wafting through the walls.”
Construction on the project will begin in June.
“It’s good to be home. It’s good to be back with my one true love: Seven Saints’ sliders.”