Restaurant News: Ruxbin Talking Wine Store, Trencherman, Red Violet Opening

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 24, 2011 4:40PM

- Ruxbin Kitchen, everyone's favorite little restaurant-that-could, has had a heck of a year. They showed up on Bon Appetit's best new restaurant list, Chicago Magazine's best restaurants list and our own Best Restaurant Bathrooms list. (We're particularly gratified that our list has a smiley face next to it on their press page.) Now, according to Eater Chicago, they're moving forward with plans to open a retail wine store upstairs. There are still a lot of regulatory hurdles to jump, and the project is still in the planning stage. Proposed name? Hopscotch. Since Ruxbin is BYOB, this would be a great addition.

- Michael (Blackbird, Three Floyds brewpub) and Patrick Sheerin (Signature Room) have been teasing Chicago for months about The Trencherman. They finally got a space - the former home of Shawn McClain's defunct Spring - and announced their early 2012 opening last week in an exclusive video for Time Out Chicago. Bits and pieces about the food have trickled out. It'll be casual and serve champagne on tap. The Feast called it "one of the most exciting openings of the new year. Check out the video for more.

- Here's one we hadn't heard about - a new Chinese spot in River North named Red Violet. In last week's Chicago Mag Dish Flash, we learned that the 200 seat restaurant is set to open at the end of November. Helmed by Franky Fong, formerly of Lao Sze Chuan and other Tony Hu properties, the restaurant hopes to do upscale Chinese at a decent price ($30-40 per person). We're drooling at the prospect of stir-fried egg noodles with black truffle oil, wild mushrooms, and black pepper. Check out the post for more menu teases.