Photos: Logan Square 'Tavern' From Longman & Eagle's Owners Is Underway

By Mae Rice in Food on Apr 19, 2016 2:33PM

The Golden Teardrops exterior, as seen from California Ave. (Mae Rice/Chicagoist)

The Land and Sea Dept. (owners of Michelin-starred Longman & Eagle, as well as Parsons Chicken & Fish and tiki bar Lost Lake) have long had another Logan Square bar-slash-restaurant in the works just south of the California Blue Line station, in the building that once housed punk club Ronny's. It looks like at long last, the owners are moving forward in earnest on the establishment, located at 2101 N. California Ave. and currently titled Golden Teardrops.

The owners applied for a special use permit "to establish an outdoor rooftop patio" at the venue on April 13, according to the handwritten public notice posted on the building. On April 7, according to another public notice on the premises, the owners also applied for a liquor license for the venue, which they categorized as a "tavern." This is of a piece with their previous paper trail. Back in 2015, they filed a building permit for "interior renovation...for a new tavern/restaurant," according to Eater—which means Golden Teardrops will serve food as well as drinks.

Golden Teardrops' public notice of its application for a liquor license (left) and of its application for a special use permit to establish a rooftop patio (Mae Rice/Chicagoist)

That's not the only activity at the site, either. The building appears to be—or to have recently been—under construction. When we stopped by Monday evening, the street-facing side of the building was locked up, but its back end was completely open, though fenced off. We took some shots of the construction work, which seems to be in the its early stages.

View of the Golden Teardrops space from the back (Mae Rice/Chicagoist)

A wider view of the construction shows the rooftop they want to turn into a patio, and a second story that once had a balcony, if that floating door is any indication.

Wider view of the back end of the Golden Teardrops space (Mae Rice/Chicagoist)

This current progress on Golden Teardrops has been years in the making. The first reports of a Land and Sea Dept. project at this location surfaced on DNAInfo in April of 2013. The working name of the place at the time was "California Point"—likely because the space sits at the intersection of California Ave. and Point Street. Since then, rumors have also swirled that Paul McGee, Land and Sea Dept.'s beverage director, will run Golden Teardrops' cocktail program.

We've reached out to the Land and Sea Dept. for comment on where the project is headed, and will update this post if we hear back.

[h/t Eater]