Tavernita Opens Jan. 23

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 13, 2012 3:30PM

The interior of Tavernita.

The hype for Tavernita has gone on for so long that we'd begun to think the restaurant was mythical. But like the coelacanth coming up out of the depths, it turns out that it's real. It was announced this week that Tavernita, Chef Ryan Poli's new project, is going to officially open on Jan. 23.

Poli, who last made his mark at Perennial before leaving to start this new property, has been furiously blogging, tweeting and gossiping about the process of finding a space and creating a menu. We had started to tune it out, but we wish we hadn't, because the menu, as it reads, turned out to be spectacular.

The cuisine is modern Latin, with some Spanish influences — unsurprising, as it's part of the same restaurant group that runs Mercadito. The full menu (below) features a large selection of raw "crudos," a series of small and large plates and a well-done drink list curated by Tippling Bros. In what we believe is a first for Chicago, the restaurant will be making home-made vermouth on site in kegs, including a sweet vermouth made with red wine, brandy, fresh ginger, wormwood and peppercorns. The wine list is all kegged and available by the glass, and for the teetotalers, the four flavors of housemade soda include a ginger chili ale which we suspect will become our go-to cold remedy. If you want a look at the interior, Urban Daddy has a good slideshow.

The restaurant is offering "limited" reservations until the 23rd. Right now, there is a 5 p.m. reservation for tonight available on OpenTable. Who's going to grab it?

Tavernita is located at 151 W. Erie St.