On Saturday, Ed, Dallas and I went to Revolution Brewery. This is the place that we have been waiting on pins and needles to open. A brewery! In our backyard! Well, sort of. It’s less than a block away out our back ally. Whoo hoo! So, Revolution opened last Wednesday night and we went in to try it as soon as we could: Lunch on Saturday.
When we came in at about 12:45 we were told it would be a 20 minute wait. That was fine. Ed hadn’t even arrived yet, so we just got a spot at the bar and ordered a few beers. What a beautiful bar it was! Very big. Beautiful wood. Four carved fists “holding up” the upper bar. As well, all of the beer taps are also these fists.
To one side of the bar are some booths, up in an elevated area. To the other side are tables and a “lounge area” with a fireplace. In the back, through some stained glass windows is the actual brewery.
Also, there are only one or two TVs in the whole place. Dallas heard the owner isn’t a fan.. so this is not where you want to go to watch sports.
When Ed arrived we chatted a bit and had a nother beer. A table near us opened up and we realized that our names hadn’t been called yet, so I checked in with the hostess stand. There was a mix up, they thought they’d seated our party, so they seated us immediately at the open table.
Our waiter was a friendly guy. I wish I’d have gotten his name. He told us about how he is in a band and lives next door and heard 2 years ago that a brewery was opening. From that time on he’s been jockeying to get a job at Revolution Brewery. He told us all about the beer and food. All of the bread is baked in-house, everything is made there. The pork is from a local (IL) farm and the bacon and pulled pork and everything is made on-site.
Dallas gets his hair cut by a guy named Jack at Mops, just up the street. Jack also cuts one of Rev Brew’s owner’s hair. So, the salon gossip was that we HAD to get the bacon fat popcorn. And we did.
Bacon Fat Popcorn: Bacon, crispy sage & shaved parmesan
You know, the popcorn was good, but I didn’t think it was worth all the hype. It wasn’t a favorite for us. We also got the applewood smoked chicken wings. I’m not a huge wing fan, but Dallas and Ed really liked them.
Applewood Smoked Wings: Blue cheese potato salad & dipping sauce
For our meals, Dallas got the forest burger with blue cheese potato salad.
Forest Burger: Gorgonzola, cremni mushroom, crispy shallot
I got the mustard herbed chicken sandwich with garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes.
Mustard Herb Chicken: Fontina cheese, arugula and roasted garlic
Ed got the pulled pork with hand-cut fries.
Smoked Pulled Pork: South Carolina-style mustard sauce, honey-jalapeno slaw
Everyone liked what they had to eat. My chicken was so flavorful and tender. And the baked in-house bread was delicious too. My mouth just watered a little bit thinking about it.
The service at Revolution has kinks to be worked out. Our waiter was great, but our wait for the food was long. And there was the slip up with our wait. I’m not saying this as digs really against them. It’s totally to be expected given that they just opened a few days ago. Also, the waiting line to get in exploded just after we arrived. The crowds here are huge right now. We weren’t the only ones excited for Rev Brew’s opening!
Oh, and the beer? Revolution has 5 of their own beers on tap right now. Between the 3 of us we tried each one at least once. Our favorites were the Eugene, a dark Guiness-like beer; Workingman Mild, a kind of toffee/caramel-y beer; and the Iron Fist Pale Ale, a hoppy American ale. Aside from their own beer, Revolution also had a really extensive list of other beers they serve, including some from other Chicago brewers like Goose Island and Half Acre. We only drank the house-made beer, but it was nice to know we weren’t limited to just 5 choices.
We will definitely be back to Revolution Brewery. We may wait a little bit to let the crowds die down, but we will definitely be back!
[Read more →]
