Chicago's $20 cocktail era may be coming to an end
The big picture: In some cases, drink prices have soared above the $20 threshold, but in recent weeks, high-profile restaurants, like Avli in River North, have announced they are modifying their cocktail menus, bringing them down to more reasonable prices like $14 or, in some cases, less.
This trend is exemplified in Lettuce Entertain You's latest venture, Gus' Sip and Dip, which offers classic cocktails for $12.
Reality check: The price reduction is not just altruistic. The strategy is to get customers to hang out longer and order more cocktails.
The latest: Logan Square restaurant Daisies just announced it is opening an all-day cocktail bar, called The Radicle, in its old space on Milwaukee. It will open this fall with $10 aperitivo-style cocktails.
The other side: Restaurants are hoping the strategy works because it's already been a rough year with increases in labor costs, plus many are paying much more for expenses like appliances and ingredients.
While it's still just a handful of restaurants adjusting their cocktail prices, many others are putting more energy into happy hour menus, hoping to bring in customers during off hours.
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Axios
7 days ago
- Axios
Chicago's $20 cocktail era may be coming to an end
Chicago restaurants and bars are adjusting the price of cocktails. The big picture: In some cases, drink prices have soared above the $20 threshold, but in recent weeks, high-profile restaurants, like Avli in River North, have announced they are modifying their cocktail menus, bringing them down to more reasonable prices like $14 or, in some cases, less. This trend is exemplified in Lettuce Entertain You's latest venture, Gus' Sip and Dip, which offers classic cocktails for $12. Reality check: The price reduction is not just altruistic. The strategy is to get customers to hang out longer and order more cocktails. The latest: Logan Square restaurant Daisies just announced it is opening an all-day cocktail bar, called The Radicle, in its old space on Milwaukee. It will open this fall with $10 aperitivo-style cocktails. The other side: Restaurants are hoping the strategy works because it's already been a rough year with increases in labor costs, plus many are paying much more for expenses like appliances and ingredients. While it's still just a handful of restaurants adjusting their cocktail prices, many others are putting more energy into happy hour menus, hoping to bring in customers during off hours.
Eater
01-07-2025
- Eater
The Daisies Team Will Liven Up Milwaukee Avenue With a New Seafood Bar
Joe Frillman and the gang from Daisies are opening a second restaurant in a familiar Logan Square space. This fall, the team will open a restaurant and bar called the Radicle in Daisies' original location. The space at 2523 N. Milwaukee Avenue has been vacant since 2023 when Daisies uprooted its operation down the street to a larger location that quickly became a neighborhood anchor with daytime coffee and pastries and dinner fare like pasta at night. Daisies has appeared on numerous Best Of lists and was Eater Chicago's 2023 Restaurant of the Year. While Daisies is routinely busy during the day, the Radicle takes a different route in leaning into nightlife along a once-bustling nocturnal stretch of Milwaukee Avenue that pre-pandemic housed the Mega Mall across the street. Late in Daisies' tenure there, the space housed COVID-era weekend markets selling goods and produce from Frillman Farms, owned by Joe Frillman's brother, Tim. 'For the first three years we were there, it was bananas out front,' Frillman says. That's not to say Logan Square is devoid of bars, but several variables have contributed to a change, and that includes prices. Frillman recalls a golden age when cocktails hovered around $10. Back then, Frillman and his Daisies staff engaged in experiments using fruit scraps and other clever techniques. New drinks include a Sunday Negroni (gin, pomegranate, Campari, myrrh, sweet vermouth), Sbagliatto Rossini (Lambrusco, Mick Klug Farm strawberries, Campari, rose vermouth), and non-alcoholic drinks like the Peach Fizz (farm peaches, basil, fermented whey soda, egg white). Bartender Nicole Yarovinsky, who heads the bar program at Daisies now will also handle beverage duties at the Radicle. Expect a big selection of sparkling wines and Champagne. Daisies opened in 2017, and looking back, Frillman is in awe at how his staff functioned in a small kitchen. Prior to Daisies' debut, a bar operated in the space, and returning to those roots was the best use of the location, Frillman says. The space isn't going to get a big overhaul, but local firm Debaun Studio will polish the space up. The team will repurpose the old tables, employing the same commitment to the environment that earned Daisies Michelin's Green Star the last two years. Though beverages are the focus, Frillman's got some serious chef pride. Food won't be an afterthought: 'I'm there — if I'm showing up every day, the food's going to be great,' he says. Radicle will serve more seafood compared to Daisies, with creative uses of sardines and anchovies to punch up flavors. Still, there's an eye on affordability. 'We're definitely going to have more opulent things, but we're still trying to make it so that a seafood restaurant makes sense in the Midwest,' Frillman says. Frillman has frequently visited Italy, falling in love with the Adriatic Coast, a region he envisions would be a pretty sweet place to retire. At Daisies, the focus is Italian cuisine through a Midwest lens, and sometimes that doesn't leave room for Frillman to cook other items. The Radicle allows him to scratch that itch. Opening menu items include deviled eggs with trout roe, fried lake perch with whitefish tonnato, and pizzas come with a farmer's touch. Toppings include fennel sausage and fresh peaches. Also, look for chilled seafood like prawns with Campari aioli and smoked mackerel served with pretzels, and crab dip accompanied by Ritz crackers. Frillman hopes to squeeze a few days of service out of the back patio this year. Daisies employs a service fee, which Frillman says has helped retain personnel, even after some customers initially didn't understand and complained. He wants Radicle to foster that same type of environment for his workers, where they have stable wages, benefits, and opportunities to grow. But he's also mindful that a bar provides a different level of service compared to a full-service restaurant like Daisies, and thus hasn't yet finalized the service model for the new project. Still, with swirling uncertainty — well, everywhere in the U.S. at this moment — Frillman feels cooking helps ground him, and he wants to share that joy with his customers. 'I just want to sit back and relax, enjoy a drink, have some good food, and escape for a little bit,' he says. 'And I feel like the whole world needs some of that right now.' The Radicle, 2523 N. Milwaukee Avenue, planned for a fall opening . See More:
Chicago Tribune
10-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 10, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 175 years of the Chicago Tribune: How the newsroom — and city — has evolved since June 10, 18471847: The first copy of the Tribune was published, but no copies of that original exist. They were lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 1922: The Tribune Tower design competition was announced as part of the newspaper's 75th birthday celebration. In the words of co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson, it was to be 'the world's most beautiful office building.' They offered $100,000 in prize money. First prize of $50,000 went to New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who designed a soaring Gothic skyscraper with a spectacular topside treatment. 1961: Bill Veeck, who bought the team in 1959, sold his Chicago White Sox holdings to Arthur Allyn Jr. Veeck returned as owner in 1975. The Rolling Stones in Chicago: A timeline of the band's 55-year fascination with the city's blues1964: The Rolling Stones recorded in the United States for the first time, at Chess Records studios in Chicago. 1971: RJ Grunts — the first restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You — opened at 2056 Lincoln Park W., Chicago. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises: How the Tribune reviewed 50 years of the restaurant group's concept debuts'That might have been one of the worst restaurant names of all time,' Rich Melman, co-founder and chairman of the board of Lettuce Entertain You, told the Tribune in 2021. 'R was for Richard and J was for Jerry. He had a girlfriend Debbie, who was terrific, and her nickname was Piggy. She used to make these guttural sounds when she ate. That's where the name came from, the R and the J and the sound pigs make grunting.' Also in 1971: Ten people were killed and more than 100 injured when Amtrak's southbound City of New Orleans passenger train derailed near downstate Salem. 5 things you might not know about Chicago native Ted Kaczynski — the 'Unabomber'1980: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski struck again. Percy A. Wood, United Airlines president and chief operating officer, was injured after opening a book inside a package that had been left in his mailbox at his Lake Forest home. He suffered burns and lacerations to his face, body, left hand and left leg. In a coded entry in his journal dated Sept. 15, 1980, Kaczynski wrote, 'After complicated preparation I succeeded IN INJURING THE PRES. OF UNITED A.L. BUT HE WAS ONLY ONE OF A VAST ARMY OF PEEPLE WHO directly and indirectly are responsible for the JETS.' 2016: There was fear that Lionel Messi wouldn't play in the Copa América Group D match against Panama at Soldier Field because of a lower back injury. So when he entered during the 61st minute, the crowd erupted in cheers. 'Every time he touched the ball, it was hard to hear yourself think,' the Tribune reported. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to playSeven minutes later, Messi had his first goal for Argentina. Two more followed, for a hat trick, during his short appearance. Argentina won and advanced to the quarterfinals. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
