Jinx Fans Get Lucky:
Wicker Park Café Gets New Lease on Life

One of the first things Samina Datta's customers do when they come into her coffee shop is thank her.

"They say, 'We're glad you're open. We've been waiting,'" says Datta, 28, a first-time proprietor and new owner of Jinx coffee shop, 1928 W. Division.

On Nov. 16, after almost five months of shut down, Wicker Park's much-talked-about neighborhood café once again opened for business -- only this time, under different ownership and management.

The new head of Jinx, Datta, a former purchasing agent for a manufacturing plant, was herself a regular patron of the café. She had heard from a friend that the previous owner Michelle Belacic was closing shop, and had enthusiastically offered to purchase the place from Belacic.

"I always wanted to own my own business," says Datta, "and this seemed like the perfect opportunity."

During the five months Jinx was closed, Datta and Belacic kept the business deal hush-hush.

"No one knew what to think," says Datta. "Michelle and I didn't talk to anyone, and because it was closed for so long, people naturally had questions. There were rumors that it was going to turn into another Starbucks."

Another general assumption, according to Datta, was that Belacic's business was going under. Datta wants to clarify however that Belacic was "never doing bad." "She just wanted to travel and wanted someone from the neighborhood to take over," explains the new owner.

Much of the old Jinx has stayed. Datta has kept the illuminated sign outside, sticking with the black cat icon, and left the arcade game and pinball machine untouched in the back. There's a jukebox that she has left half empty, waiting, as she says, for music suggestions from her new clientele.

The new café pretty much looks and feels like the old one. It's the same atmosphere, only cleaner and with a few additions like a new shelving unit, display case, and chalkboard for scribbling the menu list.

Food prices remain cheap and coffee is still strong. Datta is sticking with Belacic's patented blend Jinx coffee created by Intelligentsia. And while Belacic catered to the vegans and vegetarians (only adding the turkey sandwich to her menu near the end of her tenure), Datta will be making meat-eaters smile with options like the Shirilla (roast beef) and Vanhoose Caboose (turkey) sandwiches.

She and her three employees -- Jason, M.E. and Greg -- do all the cooking, coffee preparation and cleaning.

"This is the new and improved Jinx," she says. "It's still a hang-out coffee shop with good cheap sandwiches, but the service and food will be better, and it's definitely going to be more friendly."

"With the old Jinx, a lot of people didn't feel 'cool' enough to get in," she explains. Back then, the atmosphere was "intimidating," and the clientele were mainly artist-type friends of employees who would loiter around, chain smoke and not even order a drink.

Datta, a five-year resident of Wicker Park, has many ideas to make the café both more neighborly and profitable. For one thing, she plans on supporting the local arts.

The walls of the coffee shop will be adorned with circulating works from local artists, and Datta wants to encourage all creative types for submission. Eventually, maybe a year from now, she would also like to add a stage in the back for poetry readings and DJs' spinning.

"I want to be here all the time and make myself known," says Datta. "Sure, I want to make a profit, but I also want to have a good time. I think Michelle would be proud of what I've done."

Jinx is open Monday -- Friday 7am -- midnight; Saturday and Sunday 11 am -- midnight.

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