Aug 10, 2019
Eater Chicago | Naomi Waxman | August 8, 2019
Hamburger Mary’s, Mary’s Attic, and Andersonville Brewing Co. are on the market
A popular Andersonville drag-and-burger destination is for sale, according to an online real estate listing. SVN Chicago Commercial’s listing includes Hamburger Mary’s, along with upstairs performance venue Mary’s Attic and neighboring brewpub Andersonville Brewing Co. at 5400-5402 N. Clark Street. Ownership has not yet responded to requests for more information.
Co-owner Brandon Wright told Block Club that over a year remains on the restaurant’s current lease and he plans to remain for the duration. He hopes to eventually move it to a location with a larger dining area and lower rent.
The listing details business assets included in the sale, such as all “unencumbered” fixtures, equipment, and pro-rated licenses (incidental liquor, retail food, and sidewalk cafe), but excludes brewing equipment and the POS system. The asking price, according to the listing and a comprehensive sales brochure, is $185,000.
Best known for its festive vibe, creative burger combinations, and talented drag performers, Hamburger Mary’s is a franchise brand with outposts in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. A second Illinois Mary’s is currently operating in Oak Park and will remain open, according to an employee.
The Andersonville location, first opened in 2006, also serves as Hamburger Mary’s International’s “world HQ,” according to the restaurant’s website. Owners added Mary’s Attic upstairs in 2007, and opened the sports bar next door three years later. The restaurant and bar was forced to close temporarily due to health code violations in 2015 after several failed inspections.
Andersonville residents have seen notable restaurant turnover on North Clark Street in the past few years. A location of gourmet wine and cheese market Pastoral and neighboring restaurant Appellation shuttered in October of 2018, and a Furious Spoon shop closed in June after less than a year in the neighborhood. Both storefronts currently remain empty.
Despite closures in prominent spots on the main drag, Andersonville has also welcomed new restaurants into the fold. These include Passerotto, a sparkling Korean-Italian hotspot from Eater’s 2018 Chef of the Year Jennifer Kim, and recent addition Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar in a long-empty space previously occupied by Adriatic Restaurant.
Stay tuned for any updates about the future of Hamburger Mary’s Andersonville.
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Aug 3, 2019
Join several River North restaurants for the 3rd Annual Restaurant Week by River North from August 5th through the 11th, 2019. This event is brought to River North and Chicago by the founders of The Tortoise Supper Club and over a dozen restaurants will participate including:
Barrio – Lunch & Dinner Menus
Beacon Tavern – Bunch Menu – Dinner Menu
Farmhouse Chicago
Gene & Georgetti
The Hampton Social – Dinner Menu
Hutch – Bunch Menu
Katana – Lunch Menu
Mercadito – Lunch & Dinner Menus
Prosecco Ristorante – Menu
Tortoise Supper Club – Dinner Menu
Wildfire – Dinner Menu
ZED 451 – Dinner Menu
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Jul 27, 2019
Chicago Sun Times | Ji Suk Yi | July 24, 2019
The James Beard Award-nominated chef Paul Virant has an upscale restaurant, Vie, in Western Springs and a more casual spot — Vistro — in Hinsdale. He also plans to open another restaurant in the trendy West Loop soon.
For many who eschew vegetables, “Crispy Tuscan Kale” doesn’t sound like a must-order appetizer. But after one bite of Chef Paul Virant’s leafy dish flavored with honey, lemon and brown butter, all skepticism can be set aside.
The delectable “Crispy Tuscan Kale” starter is on the menu at Virant’s Vistro in downtown Hinsdale. The casual Vistro, at 112 S. Washington St., is celebrating its fifth year.
The more upscale Vie — Virant’s first restaurant in Western Springs — will be marking its 15th year in August.
While the menu is seasonal at both restaurants, “We’re not as religious as focusing on the regional stuff as we are at Vie. We bend the rules a little bit [at Vistro],” said Virant, a multiple James Beard Award nominee.
“Bending the rules” means Virant often incorporates unexpected ingredients into the bistro-inspired menu with global inspiration.
There’s a poke bowl for lunch at Vistro that features tuna, spring onions, cucumbers, avocado, sushi rice, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and fried shallots.
The fried pork sandwich is made from a Slagel Family Farm pork tenderloin that’s been brined, three-step breaded and fried. The sandwich, which pays homage to the Iowa classic, is served with bread made in-house and butter pickles, onion and dill garlic mayonnaise.
International flavors are also abundant in the Belgian-style Bar Harbor Maine mussels, Spanish sardines, a falafel plate, hummus appetizer and Steelhead trout with green curry, eggplant and bok choy.
On Mondays, for $10, you can build your own pizza for the 700-degree wood-burning oven, and bottles of wine are half-off. On Tuesdays it’s the $10 dry- aged griddled burger special with half-off draft beers.
Virant, who has achieved national acclaim for his contemporary Midwestern cuisine using hyperlocal and seasonal ingredients, often works with local farms, including Werp, Klug, Seedling, Ellis, Frillman, Green Acres and Genesis.
“Any respectable talented chef anywhere around the world will embrace as much as they can what they can get locally,” Virant said.
Virant grew up outside of St. Louis with parents he describes as “kind of hippies.”
“I grew up on some land, but it wasn’t a working farm,” Virant said. “They [my parents] originally bought seven acres and built a house in 1971 … but they ultimately ended up having 100 acres. So we had pigs and chickens when I was little.”
Virant’s expertise on canning came from watching his grandmothers perfect the culinary art. He was so enthused by preserving food that in 2012, Virant co-authored the cookbook “The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking With Pickles, Preserves and Aigre-Doux.”
Although his two current restaurants ultimately center on his roots, Virant is ready to draw inspiration from his wife’s semester abroad in college and their subsequent travels to Japan.
This summer, Virant plans to launch Gaijin in the West Loop neighborhood, focusing on the Japanese okonomiyaki — a savory, customizable cabbage pancake that is served with a variety of incorporated proteins, toppings, sauce and bonito flakes.
And even though the latter establishment will focus on cuisine from the East, Virant still plans to showcase a myriad of Midwestern ingredients.
Vistro is located at 112 S. Washington St., in Hinsdale and can be reached at (630) 537-1459. Vie is located at 4471 Lawn Ave. in Western Springs and can be reached at (708) 246-2082. For more information, visit www.paulvirant.com.
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Jul 12, 2019
Eater Chicago | Ashok Selvam | July 11, 2019
The yoga pants vendor is bringing smoothies, acai bowls, plus burgers and beer to Chicago
Lululemon, the athletic apparel company known for its yoga gear, is entering the world of food and beverage. The company’s first restaurant, Fuel, opens today on the second floor of a massive new flagship store in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Customers will find healthy (acai bowls, smoothies, salads, protein boxes), beefy (an 8-ounce burger), and boozy (draft beers from Chicago’s Marz Community Brewing) options on the menu.
Not only does the store, at the Northeast corner of Sheffield and North Avenues, contain a restaurant, but there’s also two fitness studios. They’ll offer 40 to 50 classes a week. Signups for the initial run of classes have already sold out.
The opening of Fuel can be looped in with the emerging trend of retailers who are attempting to attract more customers to their stores as more and more sales continue to happen online. For example, on Tuesday, another retailer with a national reputation, Crate and Barrel, opened its first full-service restaurant. Table for Crate opened inside a suburban Chicago shopping center, taking over a vacant Land of Nod, Crate and Barrel’s children furniture store.
Lululemon, founded in 1998, spent two years tweaking the counter-service restaurant and the surrounding 20,000-square-foot space to ensure it matched the brand’s values. Folks unfamiliar with the apparel have at least seen those popular red and white bags on trains and buses. They’re the ones with supposedly inspirational messages like “friends are more important than money.”
“We know that food fuels you, but good food fuels you emotionally, too,” said Maureen Erickson, Lululemon’s VP of experiential retail.
She pivoted when asked if the restaurant was a response to the challenges of operating a store in an era of Internet sales:
“Building community through connection has always been at the heart of Lululemon — both online and offline, and Lincoln Park is the physical manifestation of the heart and soul of Lululemon,” Erickson said.
So why does Vancouver-based Lululemon want to dip its leggings into the restaurant pool? Chicago is a strong market and was one of the handful of cities the chain first expanded into. A restaurant also helps grow the brand and fulfill its full potential, Erickson said.
“What we know is our guests want everything under one roof,” she added.
Lululemon is pouring its resources into this Chicago store, as earlier this summer it closed a smaller store located about a mile away. Normal Lululemon stores recruit four to eight “brand ambassadors” who wear the gear and form a sort of street marketing team. This store has 45. Ambassadors were surveyed and asked what they wanted out of a restaurant and the result is Fuel.
The restaurant features an island in the center with bar seating. There are two coolers full of grab-and-go drinks and food for customers in a rush. There’s an espresso machine with beans from West Town’s Dark Matter Coffee. The dining tables sit in front of two fitness studios. Sweaty customers can grab food immediately after classes. They’ll sit on seats and couches in a space called the “connection room.”
Erickson talked about using the most seasonal and beautiful produce. Nice looking fruits produce pretty plates, which also produce pretty photos. The sunlight on the second floor is bright; very good for Instagram photos.
Executive chef Paul Larson knows the Midwest presents a challenge. This concept would be right at home in California’s sunshine, but Chicago is home to polar vortices and the like. Also, of note: fad diets come and go. One day a customer is into keto, the next month it’s paleo or whole 30. Larson said they’ve built in the flexibility to change the menu to accommodate trends.
“Trends change and we want to make sure we always stay on trend and we what they need,” Erickson adds.
Larson works for Blue Plate Catering, a popular Chicago company that caters weddings and other private events. Fuel is a collaboration with Blue Plate. Before he was hired, Larson wasn’t familiar with a lot of diets Lululemon customers follow. This was a learning process for him. That menu was then edited by registered dietician Mia Zarlengo. Zarlengo is a social media influencer with more than 56,800 Instagram followers. That makes her a good choice as a Lululemon brand ambassador.
Zarlengo advised Larson on little tweaks such as switching smoothie sweeteners. Honey, for example, is controversial in vegan circles and not great for keto diets. They’re using dates instead. Larson’s favorite dish may be a citrus salad with watercress, radicchio, edamame, radish, fennel, lemon granola, edible flowers, seasonal citrus, and poppyseed dressing.
A menu with burgers (they have beef, black bean, and Beyond Burger) and beer will surprise some visitors, given Lululemon’s reputation as an active lifestyle brand where customers hold on to wellness goals. But Erickson said it just shows how the company and its fans don’t take themselves seriously.
“It’s also for people like me who like to workout out so I can eat a good cheeseburger,” she said.
Also, it doesn’t appear the restaurant serves pop. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson had a major aversion toward soda. The company has distanced itself from his views since he resigned in 2015 as CEO.
Lululemon employed crews to build-out a full kitchen inside the space once occupied by Restoration Hardware. Coincidentally, Restoration moved Chicago operations into a tony new location in Gold Coast where Hogsalt Hospitality (Au Cheval) operates a restaurant. Hogsalt’s Brendan Sodikoff took that template to New York where he opened a restaurant in October.
Erickson wouldn’t commit if Lululemon planned to open more restaurants. Chicago is one great experiment, and they’ll study the store’s performance. For now, take a look at the space and some food items below. Fuel opened with the rest of the Lululemon space on Thursday morning.
Fuel, inside Lululemon, 944 W. North Avenue, restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as first studio class starts at 6 a.m.; store open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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Jul 6, 2019
Eater Chicago | Kat Odell | July 3, 2019
Go beyond Good Humor and scoop shops
As summer commences in Chicago, frozen dessert season kicks in. Luckily, Chicago is rife with great scoop shops, but for those interested in more unique and plated ice cream-based desserts, local restaurants are ready to serve. A myriad of eateries offer inspired sundaes, like Sunda’s jackfruit and coconut gel-garnished dish with avocado, sweet corn, cheddar cheese, and ube-macapuno ice cream. Others riff off frozen cream via creations such as Aba’s iteration of kulfi — the classic Indian sweet — with Turkish coffee, coriander caramel, and Marcona almonds. From North to South, here’s where to cool off this summer with Chicago’s most compelling composed ice cream dishes.
Note: Restaurants on this map are listed geographically.
1. Mon Ami Gabi – Lincoln Park – 2300 N Lincoln Park W
2. Dos Urban Cantina – Logan Square – 2829 W Armitage Ave
3. Café Cancale – Wicker Park – 1576 N Milwaukee Ave
4. Ina Mae Tavern & Packaged Goods – Wicker Park – 1415 N Wood St
5. Somerset – Gold Coast – 1112 N State St
6. I|O Godfrey Rooftop Lounge – River North – 127 W Huron St
7. Sunda – River North – 110 W Illinois St
8. Flora Fauna – River North – 11 W Illinois St
9. RPM Steak – River North – 66 W Kinzie St
10. Travelle at The Langham – River North – 330 N Wabash Ave
11. London House Rooftop Bar – Loop – 85 E Wacker Dr
12. Aba – Fulton Market – 302 N Green St, 3rd Floor
13. Joe’s Imports – Fulton Market – 813 W Fulton Mkt
14. Yūgen Restaurant – West Loop – 652 W Randolph St
15. Bad Hunter – West Loop – 802 W Randolph St
16. Blackbird – West Loop – 619 W Randolph St
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