Cheeseheads can soon get a little taste of Chicago-style grub thanks to Portillo’s.
The Oak Brook-based chain known for its hot dogs and Italian beef menu items has submitted plans to build a restaurant in Brookfield, Wisconsin, located west of Milwaukee.
The restaurant would be the first in Wisconsin.
The proposed site would be located on Bluemound Road, at The Shoppes a the Corridor, but the plan is awaiting approval from the Plan Commission and City Council. The chain hopes to open the new restaurant in the second half of 2016.
“While we started as a Chicagoland restaurant, our neighbors to the north have been badgering us for years to bring Portillo's across the state line,” Portillo’s said in a release. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to expand into Wisconsin.”
It’s not the first out-of-state restaurant for the chain, who revealed earlier this year that it plans to open a location in Tampa.
The announcement was made just after the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to take home the Stanley Cup.
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"Tampa residents spent years peppering us with requests to build a restaurant — you really put us in a pickle. So we’re thrilled we’re finally making our way to Florida," an advertisement from Portillo’s read.
Portillo's started as a hot dog stand in Chicago in 1963 and has grown to more than 40 locations, with only a handful located outside of Illinois.
Last month, the chain revealed plans to open a second Chicago location in the city’s South Loop.
The South Loop storefront also aims to be open in early 2016, Portillo’s director of marking Nick Scarpino said in an email.
In April, the Oak Brook-based chain also applied for a permit in Gurnee, which is set to open in November.
