The main attraction at Humboldt Park’s Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar, not surprisingly, is the intriguing list of small-batch beverages put together by a trio of Webster’s Wine Bar vets. There are a good many interesting selections—including a passel of wines from Greece, Austria, and unusual spots like Slovenia—among the more than 60 bottles and 15 available by the glass. But the tight, well-curated menu of small and midsize plates, cheese, and charcuterie, from consulting chef Mark Steur (Hot Chocolate) and executive chef Remy Ayesh, is no afterthought, peppered with items engineered to trigger Pavlovian gushes of saliva: bar plates include a few sweet and savory duos, including bacon toffee with spiced mixed nuts and skewers of watermelon and salty halloumi cheese, both grilled smoky and accompanied by a dollop of tangy labne. Deep-fried items—particularly the frites—are less well executed, and a trio of “crusts” were flimsy discs of topped naan, though the bourbon-glazed mushroom version, blanketed with gooey Vivace cheese, transcended the delivery system.

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Among the generally solid larger plates, the loosely packed Tallgrass burger with bacon-chive aioli is super, and the cognac-lamb sausage with braised chard and fresh celery hearts was a beautiful plate of complementary textures. Yet the $8 half-size pork-belly banh mi just demonstrated this near perfect street food’s resistance to upscaling. Still, overall this is a fine spot to take sip or two, dark and comfy with an outdoor patio that brightens an otherwise stark intersection. —Mike Sula

The pretty birds preening on the Wit’s sceney rooftop lounge may be enjoying sunshine and balmy breezes, but in the boutique hotel’s dark, pubby ground-floor restaurant, State and Lake, it might as well be the depths of a bitter winter. It’s not just the padded leather walls and poor air circulation—it’s also the menu, which is dominated by heavy dishes suitable for hibernatory preparation. I can see how an outfit like corporate parent Doubletree might not be as nimble in adapting to the seasons as your average indie farm-to-table partisans, but even with the mild summer we’ve had so far, bock-beer-and-cheese soup, pork shoulder with mac ‘n’ cheese pie, and sticky toffee pudding are about as inappropriate right now as Italian ice on Valentine’s Day.

Alas, some of the main courses proved dismal: cerdo estofado was six golf-ball-size chunks of leathery, underseasoned pork, and classic Cuban ropa vieja took more chewing than it should’ve, as though it hadn’t been cooked long enough. These hurriedly prepared entrees seemed to reflect a broader focus on the future rather than the present. Dinner was rushed, glasses were overfilled with BYO wine, and appetizers and entrees arrived almost simultaneously—we were in and out in about an hour.

Frida’s 3755 N. Southport, 773-935-2330

Frida’s

Rootstock 954 N. California 773-292-1616 rootstockbar.com

State and Lake 201 N. State 312-239-9400 stateandlakechicago.therestaurantsatthewit.com

siboneychicago.com

3755 N. Southport, 773-935-2330