Closings, and a weird tofu taste

I referred the other day to "all the Italian places" on Lincoln just south of Lincoln Square. Well, "all" the Italians is now 66.7% less than it was-- both Tartufo (which I think was actually a Balkan place serving Italian food) and Bella Domani have closed, leaving only old vet La Bocca della Verita (and Pizza DOC around the corner of Lawrence and Lincoln). The Tartufo space says it will be an Indian restaurant, while Bella Domani is becoming something called "Toucan" (to judge by the way the work is going, it kind of looked like it may still be the BD folks with a new concept).

Meanwhile, totally unrelatedly, I had lunch at a funky cafe kind of place, which I won't name for the moment, and my friend reported that his fried tofu had a kind of gas-like taste, like it had been char-broiled (which should not LEAVE a gas flavor). The waiter said people had said that before, and his bizarre explanation was that the chunks might be too big and that seemed to make them emit this gas-like smell when fried (I guess the thought being that if they were smaller it would escape more easily). Does that make any sense to anyone? Any alternative explanations?

I am amazed that Tartufo is closing. Not because of the amazing food (I've actually never eaten there), but because it's been there forever (at least five years) despite being virtually empty whenever I go by. I always assumed it was some type of money laundering front for the Serbian mob. Maybe the heat was closing in. Anyway, an Indian restaurant will be welcome.

Yesterday's Morsels has a bit on Toucan. Different people are involved. Given Chef Sylvia's history as a serial restaurant owner with varied concepts, the idea that the same people are involved is a reasonable guess. http://chicagomag.com/dining/morsels_story.htm#more

Last year there was discussion on Chowhound about these two restaurants. Search only turned up some posts from 2003. Tartufo was Slovenian (next to Veneto) and did a pretty decent but definitely not great job on northern Italian food.

Both Tartufo and Bella Domani closed quite abruptly. Bella Domani just papered the windows without any signs. Looking through a gap shortly afterward, I saw tables left set and bottles still at the bar. I just noted that tartufochicago.com is still live.

The building that housed both of them had a history of landlord problems including going to foreclosure auction. I heard but cannot confirm that the owner was able to scrape up enough money to stop the auction and so may still be causing problems. She ran Enisa's House of Fine Pastry in another of her buildings. That business and building had a whole litany of problems with the city and utilities including bypassing utility meters.
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It looks as though Toucan lasted about a year before closing. Sign in window says Brioso is opening soon. The place is really torn up, so who knows how long soon is.

She She has closed with windows papered over. Chicago Magazine's Dish had noted in May that it was for sale.