A few weeks ago when Frontier chef Brian Jupiter and his crew carried a whole barbecued lamb into the dining room, they got a mixed reaction.
Then there’s Jupiter’s regular menu, which features barbecued rabbit with blackberry sauce, venison-black bean chili, pulled boar sandwiches, and braised elk shepherd’s pie (for the recipe see our blog the Food Chain). It’s easily the most game-focused collection of dishes in town. And though the chef admits his partners Mark Domitrovich and Dan McCarthy (who also own the Pony and Lottie’s) were going for a dude-centric customer base, he says he’s selling the wild animals to equal numbers of men and women.
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Dissatisfied, he left to open his own Cajun-Creole place near Hyde Park, but after nearly a year of planning, the financing fell through. He took a job teaching at Washburne Culinary Academy and followed that with a string of poorly timed gigs at dying restaurants like La Pomme Rouge and Violet.
The three began looking for a third spot to focus on Jupiter’s food. When they grabbed the old Corosh space on Milwaukee Avenue, he was tasked with creating a menu to match the saloony western vibe they were going for.
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