E&O Restaurant and Bar: Excellent and Original

By: Maria Girlie Pascual

In the heart of Mount Prospect, a suburb 15 minutes from O’Hare is Randhurst Village, aka Randhurst Mall, a shopping center situated at the corner of Rand Road and Elmhurst Road, thus the name. When it opened in 1962, it was the first enclosed regional mall in the Chicago area and the largest enclosed air-conditioned shopping destination in America. In 2008, it was completely demolished to give way to a newly constructed Randhurst Mall. Still, plans for modernization to attract new merchants were under way, and finally in 2011, after the last of the original stores had left, Randhurst Village came into fruition, and this is where E+O, (Earth and Ocean), stands today. A fitting location I must say, since the restaurant opened up with the idea of modernizing and bringing into the mainstream, native Filipino dishes alongside American comfort and bar food, just like the village center that it’s in. The restaurant and bar was conceptualized by the original triumvirate of Aeron Lancero, Chef Rodelio Aglibot and “Uncle” Paul Lee,….