Aug. 19--GreenRiver (259 E. Erie St., 18th floor), the restaurant and bar opening in Streeterville in September, promises, among other things, a cocktail menu steeped in Chicago history.
GreenRiver is a collaboration between Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and The Best Bar in the World group, behind Irish bar The Dead Rabbit in New York City.
"The Irish-American community established itself more quickly in Chicago than in other parts of the country," said Best Bar in the World's Jack McGarry. "The name [GreenRiver] is inspired by the Irish American narrative flowing through the city, starting from 1871." Accordingly, the bar program will focus heavily on Irish-American Chicago history, naming cocktails after important characters in the period between 1871 and 1930.
Cocktails will be organized not by base spirit, as is typically done, but by the raw materials used in spirit distillation (rye, barley, corn, juniper, agave), eight categories all told. A brief history of each category is included on the menu, but head bartender Julia Momose stretched that it's not required reading.
"At the end of the day, the idea is to get a drink in the guest's hand," she said. "The way the menu is designed, there's an opportunity to read for 30 minutes, but you also can look at the menu, look at the price and order."
And for those interested in a more streamlined drink-to-customer experience, there will be an extensive selection of Irish and American whiskey, as well as Scotch whisky.
On the food side, the kitchen will be run by Aaron Lirette, a Berwyn-born chef with experience cooking at Alinea, mk, Duchamp and Celeste; he was most recently chef de cuisine at Acadia. Lirette's menu will be full of familiar-sounding dishes, but expect a lot of twists in the execution. Among the dishes set for the menu are crudites with harissa and scallion cream, Slagel Farms pork terrine and smoked Great Lakes whitefish tartine.
Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic.
pvettel@tribune.com
Twitter @philvettel
