Restaurant News: Doves Luncheonette, Baker Miller Open; GQ Names Chicago Greatest Drinking City In America
By Lisa White in Food on Sep 22, 2014 7:00PM
(Doves Luncheonette courtesy of One Off Hospitality)
-Two highly anticipated new projects from some of our favorites here at Chicagoist open their doors today. Doves Luncheonette, the latest venture from Paul Kahan and One Off Hospitality, are serving up Tex-Mex influenced diner fare next door to Big Star. We love the classic retro diner interior and items like buttermilk fried chicken smothered in chorizo verde gravy with sweet peas and green beans or the Uptown Shakedown cocktail made with Calle 23 Blanco tequila, Cocchi Americano, Green Chartreuse, cucumber, lime and celery bitters have us ready to stop in and check it out. Also opening today is Baker Miller in Lincoln Square, the bakery and millhouse from former Bang Bang Pie Shop co-owners Dave and Megan Miller. During their opening week, all food is first come first serve and they’ll stay open as long as they have food while getting their first week footing. For more info on their new project, check out our chat with them last month. [Eater] [Chicagoist]
-We’ve got some more restaurant announcements from Chicagoist favorites. Maria’s Community Bar, an always excellent Bridgeport spot to visit, announced plans to expand and open a restaurant as well. If approved for zoning changes, the bar will begin construction in November and hope to open late next spring. It will include indoor and outdoor seating for about 70 as well as a second bar. The menu will be Asian-inspired street food, similar to the offerings served up at Maria’s popular Korean Polish BBQ series. Also announced were more details about the forthcoming project from the Three Aces team for the West Town Tavern space they bought earlier this year. The new restaurant, Charlatan, will be serving up a menu of farm-to-table Italian. Expect dishes like oxtail agnolotti, roasted pig, pomodoro and more rustic classics. As their site states “a bottle of wine, a simple past and attentive friendly services makes for a magical evening.” The space is set to open by Mid-October. [DNAinfo Chicago] [Crain's]
-We were sad to see the departure of Knockbox, one of our favorite local neighborhood coffee shops, but are glad to find out that the team behind the shop have passed on some good karma and helped out another local coffee spot. The newly opened Perkolator Coffeehouse (6032 W. Irving Park Rd.) in Portage Park received $2,000 worth of equipment and supplies from Knockbox owners Jonah and Tiffinie Shalack. Perkolator owner Joe Basilone said he was “overwhelmed by their generosity.” [DNAinfo Chicago]
-Our friends over at RedEye tried all the egg offerings at the recently opened Eastman Egg Company while hungover to see if their sandwiches solve the problem of soaking up the booze of last night. While our go-to hangover breakfast sandwich usually involves fried chicken and a biscuit, we’re happy to report that RedEye gave Eastman big thumbs up all around. We’re sure they are just as delicious sober, but it’s good to know we have some new options to cure our ails after a long night out. [RedEye Chicago]
-And last but not least, in a bold (but deserving) proclamation, GQ has graced Chicago with the title of currently being the “Greatest Drinking City in America.” They throw a spotlight on many of our favorite local spots to imbibe, including Scofflaw, Maria’s, Happy Village, Billy Sunday and many more. They also gave attention to local brewers Half Acre and Revolution as well as the obvious, standard commentary on Malört. That said, they did make a joke about happy hours in the first paragraph, something we do not have by law in Chicago, suggested Ada St as the best wine bar in the city (really? We love Ada St but “best wine bar” doesn’t jump out to us when we think of it) and picked Drumbar over The J. Parker for best skyline view. We noticed only one local as a contributor to the piece, maybe they should have gotten a few more involved? Also we appreciate the Tamale Guy love, but you gotta mention the fact there is the blue cooler and the red cooler and you must pick an allegiance between the two! Our usual Chicago behavior of being critical of attention aside, we’re still very proud of the accolade and the fact that everyone else is catching on to how great the beverage scene is here in Chicago. [GQ]