For years developers and dreamers battled for possession of Pilsen’s gorgeous Thalia Hall, built in 1892 by European expat John Dusek, a sort of Fitzcarraldo of Chicago’s new Bohemia who spent an exorbitant $145,000 to reproduce Prague’s Old Opera House at the corner of 18th and Allport. Dusek is long gone, but among his successors is Empty Bottle impresario Bruce Finkelman, who snatched the Romanesque revival building out of foreclosure last summer and has come close to restoring it to its former glory. He’s not there yet. The upstairs performance space is still under construction, but in the meantime on the ground floor there’s Dusek’s, a spacious, beer-centric tavern helmed by chef Jared Wentworth of Logan Square’s Longman & Eagle, and in the basement there’s Punch House, a nicely priced cocktail bar dedicated to classic and new variants of batched liquor, sugar, fruit, and spice.
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A quick glance at the menu might foster the impression that Wentworth has just exported Longman to the south side in order to offer young, white gentrifiers respite from tacos and carnitas. There are some obvious and not so obvious similarities between the two restaurants, particularly on the meaty hemisphere of Dusek’s menu, which features an indulgent proportion of organs and off cuts, plus the requisite seared foie gras, roasted chicken, and, of course, a burger built around Slagel Farms beef—this one a tribute to the Minneapolis cheese-stuffed glory known as the Juicy Lucy.
But Dusek’s is its own creature. The beverage program focuses on two dozen craft beers on draft (as opposed to Longman’s deep whiskey bank), and there is a significant seafood orientation, beginning with a half-dozen varieties of not always expertly shucked oysters. These are redeemed by a fillet of flaky hake, half-submerged in a powerfully rich, buttery chowder that’s swimming with fingerling potato coins and strips of pickled leeks. Seared, oil-rich mackerel fillets with fluffy, Parisian-style sweet potato gnocchi are arranged among carefully crosshatched chanterelle mushrooms and tiny diced pickled golden beets, lending an upscale note to the proceedings. That note is echoed in other details, such as amuses-bouche that initiate each sitting—maybe a bite of poached shrimp with pickled carrot, or a slurp of smoked oyster soup with tomato jelly.
Apart from the roasted-chile churros on the dessert menu, there’s little to remind anyone that Pilsen, despite its encroaching gentrification, is still a Mexican neighborhood. Observers more entrenched in the community than I have observed that the redevelopment of the entire Thalia Hall complex will mark some kind of milestone in the neighborhood’s progress. In no way am I convinced that’s good for everyone affected, but Dusek’s isn’t a bad start.
1227 W. 18th 312-526-3851thaliahallchicago.com
