John Peters (the former chef at Powerhouse) is in talks with Grant Achatz, his boss at Alinea (1723 N. Halsted St.; 312-867-0110), to do a restaurant project together. “Our intention is to open something else in the style of Alinea,” says Peters, who goes with Achatz back to the Trio days. “Not another heavy-hitter restaurant but something in the style of Alinea. We are kind of in limbo with the economy, obviously, but hopefully…
Who says hipsters don’t dance? We caught hordes of folks getting down this past Saturday at Windy City Soul Club, a new monthly night dedicated to 1960s and ’70s Motown soul at Heart of Gold, a private performance space. From 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. the first Saturday of every month, DJs/collectors spin the best and rarest on 45s—none of this newfangled iPod nonsense…
1. Bye-bye, Kevin; hello, Theory. An upscale sports bar from Joel Sorinsky, a former manager at Joe’s, and Brian Merel, a partner/exec chef of Stefani Restaurants, has opened in the old Kevin space. Highlights include oversized booths and more than 20 plasmas, some of which you—the barflies—will control. We smell the sports-bar competition getting fierce in River North.
2. Meanwhile, Bull & Bear (431 N. Wells St.), from the Stone Lotus team, is aiming for…
After teaming up with Pete Wentz and Co. to open Angels & Kings last year, Howard Natinsky is set to open Branch 27 in January.
It’s go-time for holiday sweaters. Tacky pullovers that almost never see the
light of day get not one but two airings this week: Once on Christmas Day in
honor of Grandma Gertie, who crocheted the darn thing in the first place;
and once this past Friday, when revelers donned their kitschiest knitwear
for Chicago Sport and Social’s holiday sweater party at Rebel Bar &
Grill…
Nightspotting is juggling the holiday crazies. Check back on Monday for on-the-scene photos of seasonal tippling and again on Tuesday for the latest in nightlife news.
Quick Bite
On a no-man’s-land stretch at the edge of Uptown, six-week-old Monticchio (4882 N. Clark St.; 773-275-7080) could someday qualify as a pioneer. We were intrigued by the Tuscan-contemporary spot after the owner, Jim Delelio, said about his Neapolitan pizza, “I didn’t want to put myself out there as the best pizza in Chicago. Even if we are. . . .” So Pollack checked the place out. Decent pizza, nice slice of moist banana cake, but the showstopper was…
Chef Ryan McCaskey, Jamaica Jamaica, Eve, and Farmerie 58
Take a seasoned chef, put him in a modern space with a slick bar, and turn him loose. Two new spots follow the tried-and-true formula
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a PBR with a whiskey chaser—or so went the caroling this past Saturday at the annual 12 Bars of Christmas pub crawl, a lubricated all-day slide through the watering holes of Wrigleyville. Early birds got started at the Cubby Bear at 9:30 a.m.; we snapped revelers a little later in the day at Harry Caray’s Tavern…
