Food & Drinks in Wicker Park

As any of you who have spent time with Steve and Michelle know, these two love good food and drink. So last night I got the weekday tour of the Wicker Park bar/restaurant scene, the neighborhood in which they live.

First stop was Small Bar, where we sampled four beers before deciding on two totally different pints. There was also fried cheese curd. Welcome to the midwest. The bar was pretty neat, friendly and helpful bartender and very tasty fried cheese.

Next up was dinner at Piece Brewery & Pizzaria. This was not Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, for which I was glad. They call it New Haven-style, but I'll call it Jersey-style because it's what I grew up with. Anyway, they also brew their own beer. I had a pretty tasty English IPA. The pizza was monstrous and we all ate too much.

For the final stop of the night we walked through a door to what looked like a boarded-up, abandoned building below an 'L' track, pushed through a series of heavy velvet curtains and entered a dimly lit and well decorated lounge with a bar stocked beyond anything I've ever seen. This is the classy epitome of Chicago speakeasy. At The Violet Hour you may not use your cellphone, stand around the bar, shout to your friends across the bar or drink "lite" beer. The menu was full of incredibly creative cocktails utilizing homemade mixers and mid-level booze (aka no Grey Goose, etc). Steve had brought me here to have a sazerac, my new favorite cocktail. It was no longer on the menu (they change it frequently), but the bartender was happy to oblige and produced hands-down the best cocktail I've ever had. I had a different drink after which contained scotch, allspice and apple bitters that tasted like a smoked apple pie. It was a lovely experience. There was a line to get in as we left. Keep in mind this was a Wednesday night at 10:30.

Tonight I am making dinner for the three of us as payment for the room. There will be photos.