“I’m not building restaurants to make everybody happy,” restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff (Maude’s Liquor Bar, Au Cheval, Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf, Gilt Bar) told Zagat last fall. “I think that’s a direct path to mediocrity.”
First-timers are given a gruff orientation by one of several bearded male employees (maybe it’s my imagination, but facial hair seemed as ubiquitous as brisket here). Basically: get your own water and food. And clean up after yourself. The menu doesn’t require any explanation. A large board suspended above the smoker is split between meats and sides, 13 of the former, seven of the latter; all the meats are served by the half pound. The smoked salmon and the half-dozen grilled oysters are the two high-dollar items, at $20 and $18 respectively, but most everything else is in the range of $6 to $11. Sides—mac ‘n’ cheese is conspiculously absent, which seems like a shame—are $4 each.
Green Street is summertime incarnate, from the smells to the cocktails—standouts are a sweet tea with bourbon that’s not overly saccharine for a change, and the Chartreuse Mule, a take on a Moscow Mule with gin—to the rows of outdoor seating, which seems almost cruel when we’re shivering in our damp parkas in April. But even in the unseasonable cold it’s an escape. And it definitely isn’t mediocre.
112 N. Green 312-754-0431 greenstreetmeats.com
