MOLINE, Ill — A Moline staple is looking to make a comeback ten months after closing at the start of the pandemic.
Bass Street Chop House had been open downtown for 14 years when it closed for good in April last year. Then owner Jeff Harrop said it was a one-two punch: the coronavirus pandemic and the I-74 bridge construction both keeping business away.
"We had such a response when we shut the chop house down, and that kind of motivated me to think that if the opportunity came available to move it within the same area. It would make a lot of sense," Harrop says.
Now the chop house is reopening just a few blocks away in the old TGI Friday's spot attached to the Radisson Hotel. Harrop is the developer for the new spot. He says crews have been remodeling, recreating a lot of what made the former chop house special. He says they even brought over the old bar.
"It was difficult imagining it," Harrop says. "I mean, you've imagined it reopening, but now I'm a little nervous and I'm very excited. But there's some nervousness to it because I haven't really done this in a year."
Harrop says he hopes to open by the first week of April, which hopefully comes with more activity downtown and fewer COVID restrictions, like concerts at the Taxslayer and events at the John Deere Pavillion.
"There's a lot of conversation on things that we can do in this area to kind of drive, make it a little bit more of a, if you will, is kind of a destination area for the Quad Cities," he says.