By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — A new addition to the restaurant Lino’s opened inside a shipping container last year allows you to enjoy the Italian cuisine indoors or outdoors in a park-like setting.
The 51-year-old locally owned restaurant converted a former 80-by-40 foot machine shed into its “summer shack,” a place sit down out of the sun with your pizza, gelato, bottled drinks and other Italian food.
The new option for the restaurant at 8410 E. Riverside Blvd. creates a convenient place for athletes and their families at the nearby Mercyhealth Sportscore Two to relax and have a bite between tournament games.
“It’s more like a park pavilion more than anything,” said Charlie Schweinler, part of the third-generation of family that runs Lino’s. “It’s conveniently located for kids to get off the field or for the neighborhood or the community to come out and have something different.”
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There are picnic tables and other tables and chairs set up inside the building, which has large glass doors that let in natural light and open on each end that allow air to flow through.
“Anybody that’s been on those soccer fields in the back knows that it gets pretty windy, and so the air flow is flowing through there really well,” Schweinler said. “It’s very comfortable inside that building.”
There will be a dozen flavors of gelato offered. The display case for that came from Cucina di Rosa, the family owned Italian eatery in Rockford that closed last year.
Inside their are QR codes and phone numbers for the curbside restaurant that allow you to order and eat inside.
“You can call and just say, ‘hey I’m in the summer shack,'” Schweinler said.
The summer shack opened last week, and it was already busy on Thursday nights when Raptors youth soccer leagues take place.
“It is the perfect thing for families with working moms and dads and busy kids,” said Lindsay Arellano, vice president of sales and service for the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I think it’s a gold mine. I think it’s awesome.”
She said the restaurant will be a nice addition for families at various soccer, softball and other tournaments at Sportscore Two. This week, for example, the Indoor Sports Center is expecting 4,000 visitors for the 2023 USA Wrestling 16U National Dual Championships.
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There is also a mowed and maintained grassy area where kids can play and pass the time.
“It’s such a great asset, whether it be the shipping container to get pizza or to hang out and pass that time,” Arellano said. “We know there are a couple hours between games. What do families do? Do they go back to the hotel, or do they hang around until the next game? I think that provides a cool option for families to do in between tournament games.”
Lino’s shipping container restaurant is serving as a prototype of sorts for future plans the city and Parks Chamber of Commerce have for the area. The city and chamber, in conjunction with the strategic development firm Place Foundry, are developing plans for a box market village in the area. The idea is to bring together multiple shipping container eateries and businesses to create a destination.
“That is a huge selling point for us, too, to help sell the facility,” Arellano said of attracting tournaments to Sportscore Two. “The competition is just getting bigger with more of these sports facilities like Sportscore Two across the nation. So, the more accessories or unique options we have, this helps put us above others.”
This is Lino’s second restaurant after operating for more than 50 years on East State Street in Rockford. Schweinler said the restaurant is learning and making adjustments as it goes to find the right fit for customers at its new location.
“This going to be our learning year,” he said. “The response has been really great and has allowed us to get established on that side of town.”
About | Lino’s Restaurant in Loves Park
Where: 8410 E. Riverside Blvd., Loves Park
Hours: 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (summer shack operates at the same time seasonally as weather allows)
Info: linos815.com/curb
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas