Untitled Seduces With Speakeasy Allure
By Kyle Thacker in Food on Jun 22, 2012 7:40PM
The gorgeous expanse of Untitled boasts elegance and antiquity from the moment you step through its unmarked doors. The speakeasy-inspired bar, hidden beneath the fluorescent hum of the neighboring CVS, harkens back to prohibition-era America for its theme and atmosphere.
Leading you down to the underground bar is an impressive staircase, the length of which gives you ample time to contemplate what it is you’re entering. It’s not so romantic or hyperbolic as saying you’re walking into the past, but it is a bit like breaking the fourth wall and entering a scripted scene - all the markings of a post-World War I America, as informed by television and movies, are present and pulsing. From a live swing band and the accompanying raised dance floor, the vest and fedora-clad employees, to the bathroom attendant administering cologne and hand wipes. At Untitled, it’s easy to imagine yourself having a nickname like “Bugs” and driving a car with whitewall tires.
The bar/restaurant/lounge is massive. 18,000 square feet of gorgeously designed space holds its four separate bars. The large main room hosts live jazz and swing music and dancing, along with cocktail lounge styled seating and plush VIP areas lining either side of the room.
The food options, which includes a raw bar, cheese and charcuterie selections and a full menu of large and small plates, were created by former Mercat a la Planxa chef Joseph Heppe. Cocktails are by Matthew "Choo" Lipsky, formerly of The Southern and Morso (and creator of our favorite libation of 2011). Morso fell apart fairly suddenly last year, and it's great to see Lipsky back behind a great bar.
Untitled also has a separate whiskey “library” and its own champagne room. The whiskey room is where we spent most of our night. It offers a bit of seclusion and intimacy in an establishment that has so much to offer. The “library’s” back bar is an impressive site, with nearly 300 hundred bottles of whiskey that are backlit to cast an amber glow onto the bar.
As of now, each of the four bars offers the same cocktail list. The cocktails are between $11-14 a drink and include a selection of “classic” cocktails like the Applejack Rabbit with Laird’s applejack and maple syrup, to more exotic house cocktails like the Pistol Smoke, a drink served neat with scotch, chamomile tea and pipe
tobacco. How often do you get to try applejack in the presence of a swing band?
Untitled, though in its infancy (it open just last week), already has a strong identity with its ambiance and theme. As for bars in River North, it simultaneously fits right in and detaches from the norm. It will be an interesting bar to follow in the future, its ambition is impressive, and hopefully there are a enough flappers and bootleggers in the city to keep the prodigious space filled.
Untitled is located at 111 W. Kinzie St; (312) 880-1509; Open Monday-Saturday at 4:30 p.m.