St. Charles will soon be the beneficiary of a Chicago restaurant family’s creativity. 

After a successful chain of Italian restaurants in the area, the Cirrinciones decided to try a new venue: sports bar, with the opening of their Real Time Sports bar in Elk Grove Village. The family will unveil a larger version of the Elk Grove restaurant when it opens its second location, 580 S. Randall Road, St. Charles, on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Avid fans of Chicago sports teams, the Cirrinciones wanted to create a unique Chicago sports bar experience with their stamp on it. For more than 30 years, the Cirrinciones have owned and operated Suparossa restaurants. In 1977, Biagio and Josephine Cirrincione opened the first Suparossa restaurant in Harwood Heights.

There are four Suparossas in the Chicago area and one in Florida. The Cirrinciones’ grandson, Ben, now a co-owner, said the family wanted to dive into Chicago’s rich tradition of sports bars. The St. Charles location will take the place of the old Bud’s Sports Place, which closed in April.

“We’ve always been big sports fans ... the (western suburbs) is a market we’ve never touched,” Ben Cirrincione said. “Elk Grove was a great location for us.”

Real Time will take Bud’s tradition of using multiple television sets to another level.
Crews are installing 80 TVs, including 25 high-definition screens and a 200-inch projection TV as the centerpiece. The restaurant will feature stadium-style seating, with small TV screens in each booth.

“We try to re-create a live sporting event – the whole nine yards,” general manager Jim Burke said.

The eatery will offer traditional favorites including ribs and burgers but with a twist. Cirrincione said 95 percent of the food items are made fresh in the restaurant, including the Owl Wings, full-sized chicken wings that come with six sauces. But most unique to the menu is Chicago deep dish pizza.

The wall on the building’s south side has been knocked out to make room for glass doors that will lead to an outdoor patio.

Following the success of their Elk Grove location, the Cirrinciones saw St. Charles as a lucrative market.

“There’s a lot of potential and a lot of growth,” Ben Cirrincione said. “We target families a lot.

“We get a lot of Little League teams, and there are a lot of families in St. Charles and the west suburbs.”

The bar has satellite service that allows access to nearly all live televised sporting events. The staff also plans to have fantasy football tournaments, Bears ticket giveaways and beer specials during football season.

“We try to be a community-based place where people can take baseball, softball and basketball teams,” Cirrincione said. “We felt like there was something missing – where you can bring a football team, and buddies [to] see a late-night band and have something for everybody.”