How Café Au Lake’s success may brew food service expansion to other city spaces

Evanston’s Café Au Lake, which faced some early challenges, nearly doubled its profit in its second year of operation. The success of the lakefront cafe at the Arrington Lagoon is now spurring city recreation officials to expand food operations at other sites, including at the Prieto Community Center on Oakton Street later this month. “When we invest and we are able to operate, we can improve services across the city,” Evanston Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Audrey Thompson said in a report on the cafe at the city’s Oct. 28 Economic Development Committee meeting. “Café Au Lake demonstrates what’s possible when we invest in the public space and manage it as an active service.” Thompson thanked the committee, which in 2023 endorsed the department’s strategy to expand food service to the Arrington Lagoon area. Officials had several hurdles to clear after that, though, including a broken sewer line and an outdated kitchen in the cramped Depression-era shelter