Chicago Is Getting Six Great-Sounding New Places To Eat This Week

Darcy Moreno

Carne Mas Alla del Sol: grilled skirt steak, chile morita-tomato sauce, frijoles borrachos, pan-seared panela cheese, fried cebollitas, and avocado relish.

Opening This Week

Wednesday, 3/13: The Navy Pier restaurant City Porch (800 E. Grand Ave., 312-595-5560) closed for the winter on January 8 and is reopening just in time for spring—if only the temperature would cooperate.

Thursday, 3/14: Mag Mile shoppers and thirsty journalists can start imbibing from one of 360 taps at Howells & Hood (435 N. Michigan Ave., 312-262-5310), with Scott Walton (Markethouse) serving lamb meatballs and eggplant ragoût on the ground floor of the Tribune Tower.

Thursday, 3/14: Edgewater’s newest Mexican restaurant, Mas Alla del Sol (5848 N. Broadway, 773-654-1900), comes from Adan and Mirella Moreno, the owners of family-run Los Nopales in Lincoln Square.

Thursday, 3/14: A fifth location for the Brewstone Beer Company chain will open at 414 North Orleans Street, serving bar food and 32 draft beers.

Thursday, 3/14: The former Beckett’s space, now a pub called The Dog’s Bollox, will serve globally inspired small plates like samosas and empanadas.

Already open: The lounge below Gilt Bar that used to house Curio is now a red-velvet-boothed den from Brendan Sodikoff called The Library. The aromas of steamed mussels, ricotta gnocchi, and pork meatballs presumably mingle with the smell of old books.

Morsels

• For the next six weeks, Ripasso chef Theo Gilbert is paying homage to Irish culture with an Irish-Italian pop-up called Red-Headed Step Child. Corned beef sliders and Dublin coddle will join Italian dishes like pappardelle and ravioli on the menu. 
• Johnny O’s hot dog stand at 946 West 35th Street fired up its barside grill in January, and yesterday Grub Street caught up with Johnny O himself.
• Chef’s Burger Bistro (164 E. Grand Ave., no phone yet), a gourmet-burger replacement for Boston Blackie’s from Edward Leonard and Benny Siddu (Volare, Benny’s Chop House), didn’t open by its original goal of summer 2012. Now without a roof but on the right track, the restaurant’s new projected opening—50-seat patio, 60-seat rooftop and all—is May.
• Madison Street Kitchen, a project from Caryn Struif (Park Grill, MK) that we first heard about last June, is coming into focus. The new name is Ten Twenty Madison, to match the address, and it will open in June or July with the addition of a grab-and-go window for wood-fired breakfast sandwiches.

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