Robert Gomez has owned beloved Chicago music venues Subterranean and Beat Kitchen since the 1990s, yet he may be the most inconspicuous club owner in Chicago.
Gomez, 56, who also owns Beat Kitchen on the Riverwalk and Underbar in Roscoe Village, is getting out from being behind the scenes to encourage more Chicagoans to visit two restaurants he opened on Navy Pier during the pandemic, Beat Kitchen Cantina and Bar Sol.
For Gomez, who despite owning six businesses, still coaches baseball for one of his sons and tries to be home for dinner with his wife and three kids every night, the task of getting more Chicagoans to go to Navy Pier ranks as a big hurdle.
“It might be the greatest challenge I’ve ever faced. It’s very uphill, as every Chicagoan I’ve talked to tells me how many years it’s been since they’ve been to Navy Pier. In some cases, it’s decades,” Gomez said during an interview at Bar Sol, which he opened in 2022 after restaurateur Phil Stefani’s Riva exited.
Gomez, who brought many items from Beat Kitchen’s menu to Bar Sol, such as Mexican dishes Huachinango Al Mojo de Ajo (Red Snapper In Garlic Sauce), Tuna Ceviche Tostadas, along with tacos and more American items like burgers, is seating restaurant patrons downstairs both inside and on the patio which together make up 6,000 square feet of space. Upstairs, which has another 8,000 square feet of space and was once Riva’s main dining room, is being used for private parties — which Gomez has been trying to attract by becoming the face of the restaurant — something that he’s not entirely comfortable with.
“People come to Subterranean and see me behind the bar and think I’m the bar back,” Gomez said, laughing. “Even this interview is uncomfortable for me.”
While Subterranean and Beat Kitchen have both been around for almost 40 years, Gomez is largely unknown in the city, even among bands who have played there.
“My band has played Beat Kitchen several times and I don’t know who he is,” said Fred Popolo, bass player for Chicago punk band Haymarket Riot.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing; he probably has a different personality than someone like Joe Shanahan.”
Gomez conceded that his personality is indeed different from Shanahan, the well-known owner of Metro who he considers a friend and who he worked with on CIVL, the Chicago Independent Venue League, which formed in 2017 to fight the Lincoln Yards development.
“Joe is great and much more of a public figure than I’ll ever be, and everyone knows Tim Tuten,” Gomez said, referring to the co-owner of The Hideout, who he also said is a friend and CIVL colleague. “I don’t go into the green room and I don’t introduce the bands with a microphone like he does. He basically becomes part of the show, but that’s not who I am,” Gomez said, laughing.
Gomez said as a Mexican-American, he’s started doing outreach to bring Chicagoans to Navy Pier by reaching out to Latino organizations about booking Bar Sol’s event space, which features an expansive view of both Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline.
While Navy Pier spokesperson Amanda Willard said 70% of Navy Pier’s 7.2 million visitors in 2022 were from Chicago, Gomez said that didn’t match what he sees on a day-to-day basis, especially when he compares it to patrons of his Beat Kitchen on the Riverwalk spot, located on the Riverwalk and Michigan Avenue.
“That has a great mix of locals and tourists, unlike Bar Sol,” Gomez said of his Riverwalk eatery.
Gomez also said the fact that of more than a dozen food vendors and restaurants on Navy Pier, he is the only Hispanic owner, is significant.
“It shows Hispanic kids that there are many options to what they can do,” Gomez said, adding that his restaurants on Navy Pier are more representative of real Chicagoans.
“I’ve never really reflected on it but all of my general managers are women, people of color and/or queer,” Gomez said. “It wasn’t intentional, it’s just how it worked out. But to me, there’s some significance to that, the loyalty to each other.”
Asked what he views as the main challenge for Chicagoans to visit Navy Pier, Gomez said it’s a combination of perception and high parking prices.
“Parking [rates can run $18-$55] That’s huge, but so is the image that Navy Pier is only for tourists,” Gomez said.
Gomez also said weather is a challenge for business on Navy Pier, as visitors usually flock during the summer months but stay away in the winter, making it all the more vital to book events like weddings, anniversaries and corporate parties throughout the year.
In 2019, the last year monthly numbers of visitors were available, just 223,000 people visited Navy Pier in February compared to 1.6 million in August, Willard said. Other Navy Pier restaurant owners did not want to go on record for this story but agreed with Gomez that operating a business on Navy Pier presents challenges that are different from operating anywhere else in the city.
Now focused on getting more Chicagoans to Navy Pier, Gomez said he has no current plans to open another business, joking “that may lead to divorce,” and added that despite the fact that he has three children, he envisions his staff one day taking over the businesses they helped build.
“My wish is to help them become part owners and then they can carry it on,” Gomez said. “That’s who cares, that’s who is invested.”
