Today I’ll be giving my full review on Bottlefork Bar and Kitchen.
Bottlefork just opened last month in late February. It is located in River North in the space that was previously occupied by another Rockit Ranch restaurant, Dragon Ranch Moonshine and BBQ. Dragon Ranch was an awesome BBQ joint that unfortunately caught fire a couple of years ago and closed.
Bottlefork is an American bar that focuses on locally sourced and globally inspired cuisine. The restaurant itself is long and narrow, seating about 100 guests. There is a long bar counter for seating as well where you can watch the bartenders concoct their house made cocktails. The ambience is dark and very trendy feeling. The menu is designed for sharing which is a concept I feel a lot of restaurants are adapting to. I love shareable plates because it allows you to taste more of the menu in one sitting.
For drinks, Kevin tried one of their cocktails called the Losna which he loved. Their cocktail menu is definitely unique and not ones you will find on any other menu.
Coruba Dark Rum + Amaro Nonino + Movie Night Tea Syrup + Lemon + Peychaud’s Bitters + Kidnapped by Vikings IPA
We started off with a snack our waitress recommended called the “Bag” of Crisps + Eggs. For this dish, a brown bag of potato chips with malt vinegar powder are brought to your table, a poached egg is added, and then the waitress shakes the bag so that the egg breaks and the yolk coats the chips. Sounds totally strange and disgusting but is exactly the opposite! This snack was so delicious we ate the entire bowl!
Crisps + Eggs + Malt Vinegar Powder
Next, we split the Grilled Kale Salad. This salad contained two of my current obsessions: kale and burrata cheese. The kale had an incredible smoky flavor. I will definitely be grilling kale this summer!
Kale + Heirloom Squash + Almonds + Saba +Burrata
Lastly, we each ordered something off of their Knife + Fork menu which contains dishes of more entree sized portions. The pasta lover in me ordered the Fresh Cavatelli Pasta which was so tasty! It had bread crumbs baked on the top which added a nice crunch to the dish that I loved.
Cavatelli +Rapini + Breadcrumbs + Spicy Chicken Sausage + Espelette Pepper
Since we went on a Friday during lent, Kevin wasn’t eating meat. The menu still offered plenty of meatless options so he wasn’t limited. For his meal, he ordered the Grilled Organic Salmon Cured & Smoked. I actually never tried it, but Kevin said it was really juicy and flavorful with a smoke taste to it. He also ordered the Kennebec Fries which neither of us could stop eating! The fries came with this incredible malt vinegar aioli which absolutely made the dish. I love vinegar which is probably why I loved both the chips and the fries so much! We joke that if I ever opened a restaurant it would be named “The Vinegar” because that’s how much I love it.
Salmon + Fennel + Blood Orange / Fries +Malt Vinegar Aioli
Unfortunately, we so full from our food we didn’t have any room for dessert (also Kevin gave up sweets for lent). They do have an amazing looking sundae menu and a rotating hot and gooey dessert of the day.
To sum up, Bottlefork is a perfect date night spot or night out with friends. It would be great for after work drinks as well. We will definitely be going back in the near future.
Bottlefork is located at 441 N. Clark St. in Chicago’s River North neighborhood
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