I have friends who say they can drink mezcal all night and never get hungover. Over the last couple months I’ve spent a bit of time testing that theory. Just as there’s something different about the buzz—tranquil, dreamy, and obliging—there’s something different about the morning after. There’s no question the spirit, distilled from any number of varieties of the agave plant, gives me fitful, restless sleep—but the tradeoff is vivid and absorbing dreams.
There are three dedicated mezcalerias in Chicago right now—including Mezcaleria las Flores and La Mez—and quite a few other bars have dedicated significant shelf space to it. The latest is Logan Square’s Quiote, a multifaceted concept from Dan Salls, former owner of the Salsa Truck, and former DNAinfo reporter Paul Biasco. Located in the space formerly occupied by Letizia’s, it serves coffee and conchas in the morning, tortas and tacos for lunch, and at dinner a full menu of Mexican and Mexican-ish dishes. But the heart of Quiote resides in the basement bar, accessed behind the restaurant, where more than 80 bottles are stocked, attesting to the diversity of agave spirits, all overseen by beverage director Bobby Baker, who was tending bar at a mezcaleria in Oaxaca City when he met Salls.
Quiote
Baker has conceived a number of intriguing mezcal-based cocktails, including a margarita with tart hibiscus, a sweet and smoky celery shrub, and a relatively straightforward mezcal old-fashioned. But to get a sense of the vast diversity of the bar’s base spirit you need to dive into the thick mezcal list broken down by agave varietals, from the common but wide-ranging espadin to the fruity bicuixe to more complex blends and “celebration” agaves distilled with fruit and nuts or pieces of animal protein—lamb, chicken, turkey.
The kitchen puts out a few other remarkable vegetable dishes: a substantial avocado salad given roughage with shaved brussels sprouts and quinoa; or chunks of sweet squash smothered in nutty pumpkin-seed mole and showered with soft queso fresco. There’s even an enormous Oaxacan-style tamale, unwrapped and dissected—this isn’t your street-corner breakfast after all—stuffed with meaty maitake mushrooms, its cakelike texture soaked with smoky morita chile salsa.
Correction: This article has been amended to reflect the true diversity of the bar program and the accurate topping of the aguachile.
2456 N. California 312-878-8571quiotechicago.com
