Mark Steuer’s new German restaurant isn’t named for his teenage all-accordion Krautrock cover band—though I wouldn’t be surprised if he could pull something like that off. It is, however, a long-awaited return to the main stage by a chef who’s veered all over the culinary map since his first days in Chicago, handling the savory side of things at Hot Chocolate, and then moving on to the Gage. Since leaving behind the nominally “midwestern” Bedford and then the South Carolina low-country wingding at Carriage House, he hasn’t been idle. He manned the parilla as John Manion’s chef de cuisine at the Argentine El Che, and created an underappreciated fried mortadella sandwich (among other things) at the late Orbit Room. He was even behind the tomato soup and grilled cheese and other upgraded bar foods at Albany Park’s Surge Coffee Bar & Billiards, something the short and to-the-point menu at this spiffed-up pool hall that replaced the late, great Marie’s Golden Cue inexplicably fails to mention.
The latter, even when accidentally applied to a smoked half chicken smothered in summer squash, crowder peas, and tomatoes in a silky but powerfully rich and tangy Alsatian Riesling sauce, demonstrates that an uptight attitude about southern and/or German food closes one off to the possibility of embracing gemütlichkeit, or any pleasure at all.
The beer-hall aspect of Funkenhausen is realized with nine German imports in various varieties (kolsch, pilsner, gose, dopplebock, etc) and a focused but fascinating collection of the underserved wines of Austria and the French-German border in particular, put together by GM (and former Carriage House sous chef) Joseph Carnahan.
1709 W. Chicago 312-929-4727 funkenhausen.com
