Restaurant News: Trencherman Opens, Trotters To Go Closes

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jul 3, 2012 3:25PM

- The Trencherman has been the biggest restaurant tease in recent memory. Small bites from the menu, created by brothers Patrick and Michael Sheerin, have been served at foodie events for for the past two years, but there's been no restaurant. Even the preview party was something of a lark, since the space wasn't finished and the food was cooked off site. Finally, we can stop waiting - according to a tweet from Patrick Sheerin, the restaurant soft-opened yesterday. Reservations are available on OpenTable. The website still has nothing useful on it, so no official menu yet.

- Blackbird's pastry chef drama is over for now. Pastry Chef Bryce Caron was fired over a month ago (and is now at Graham Elliot), and a new hire was announced yesterday. Chef Dana Cree is a relative newcomer to Chicago, but has an extensive resume from her latest stint in Seattle. In addition, she has worked at Spago, Fat Duck and, most recently, Alinea. With a resume like that, we're sure she'll carry on Caron's award-winning legacy.

- Everyone has heard by now that Charlie Trotter's is closing this year, but Trotter's to Go was supposed to remain open indefinitely. Well, not any more - Time Out Chicago reported yesterday that Trotter told the staff at Trotter's to Go that they would be closing immediately. The space is being cleared now, the website is down, and Trotter didn't return TOC's requests for comment.