The Bluebird
This late-night lounge/wine bar/gastropub from the owners of Webster’s Wine Bar is a pleasantly understated space, outfitted in a sort of rustic-minimalist vein, with tables made from old wine casks and stools reminiscent of high school chem lab. For the most part the starters are great—lots of cured meats and funky cheeses, salads, flatbreads, and so on. The classic frites, simultaneously crispy and floppy and served with little cups of addictive curried ketchup and garlic aioli, are no-brainer perfection. The seasonal menu features dishes like ale-braised rabbit with mushrooms, bacon, and Manchego served on fettuccine. By-the-glass options we tried from the wine list were excellent, and the extensive beer list is sophisticated and heavy on the Belgians. —Martha Bayne
With chef Jean Joho (Everest) in charge of this Lettuce Entertain You partnership, the menu expands on traditional brasserie fare with specialties from Joho’s native Alsace. A very rich and flaky sweet onion tart appetizer is named after Joho’s uncle Hansi; typical brasserie dishes like steak frites, cassoulet, and salade nicoise are also offered. The French wine list emphasizes Alsatian wines, and the new Bar Jo offers 75 beers—more than half of them on tap—from Two Brothers, Half Acre, Lost Abbey, Chimay, Koningshoeven, and others. —Paul Schoenwetter
If we truly lived in a town that cared to eat well, restaurants like chef Chris Pandel’s beercentric the Bristol would be distributed evenly instead of concentrating in overcrowded, gentrified ghettos like Bucktown or Lincoln Square. The seasonal menu promises interesting variety at accessible prices; on the daily chalkboard menu, snout-to-tail items beyond pork belly or the increasingly common headcheese put the Bristol in the growing class of restaurants catering to the public’s curiosity about the fifth quarter and other uncommon proteins. It’s indicative of Pandel’s guts that he’s unafraid to leave the foot on a roasted half chicken, but at the same time he occasionally shows too much restraint. A supper-club-style relish plate special with potted salmon and beer cheese featured beets with a sprinkling of grated bottarga, the delicious, famously funky cured roe of a mullet. But it was applied with such moderation that if I’d never eaten it before I’d think it was nothing more than some ungarnished purple root vegetable. If these dishes sound fearsome, there’s plenty here to feed the timid—duck-fat fries, a burger—and the beer list is deep and fascinating, with lots of large-format bottles and unusual choices. —Mike Sula
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BAR/LOUNGE | LUNCH, DINNER: SEVEN DAYS | SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH | OPEN LATE: FRIDAY & SATURDAY TILL 2, OTHER NIGHTS TILL midnight
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