Bartender and author Nick Kokonas has transformed a former neighborhood Polish dive bar into a historical cocktail bar in Chicago. Belmont Tavern is expected to open in Avondale sometime in February. Kokonas (not the previous co-owner of Alinea with the same name) announced an opening date earlier this month, but had to postpone due to licensing delays.
The bar lay dormant for decades, in a building built at the turn of the last century.
“It was a grocery, butcher shop and saloon pre-Prohibition,” said the new business owner. “And it ran as kind of a restaurant and delicatessen at one point until it was bought and taken over by a Polish family, who lived in the apartments upstairs, and ran it for roughly around 60 plus years.”
Brothers Mitchell Kaczmarek, who died at 81 in 2001, and Edwin Kaczmarek, who died at 87 in 2011, were the last longtime proprietors.
When the building sold in 2024, the new landlord put a for lease sign up in the blue-framed windows.
“I walked in not expecting to open a bar,” Kokonas said. “Immediately, it was like, I guess I’m opening a bar.”
An existing wooden bar was still there, under a copper colored tin ceiling that had been hidden by a dropped ceiling.
“The space was talking to me,” said Kokonas, who has silent investors who are all Avondale residents or business owners, except for one who used to live in the neighborhood.
Kokonas designed the interior himself, incorporating elements from the 1920s and ’30s, as well as the ’70s and ’80s.
“I want people to have the feeling like they are having a drink in an antique shop,” he said.
The original storefront from the ’20s or so had structural issues and needed to be replaced and updated to meet modern standards for accessibility and other compliance codes.
“We were able to save the original door with the original paint and original plate glass,” said Kokonas.
Phil Schultz of Chicago Sign Systems hand-painted a re-creation of the familiar blue-framed windows with the Belmont Tavern lettering and Old Style beer logotype.
Old Style is the only beer on tap on a drink menu featuring cocktails, nonalcoholic drinks, wine and bar snacks.
“The cocktail menu itself is a cross section of cocktails that I’ve created over my past 25 years,” said Kokonas, who was last at Avondale Bowl, another restored historic space, and previously at Queen Mary, Longman & Eagle and GreenRiver.
He also wrote a book called “Something and Tonic: A History of the World’s Most Iconic Mixer” with 60 original cocktail recipes.
“We have four cocktails that are going to be pre-batched takes on classics,” he said.
One of his favorites is the mint shrub julep.
“I typically find classic mint juleps cloyingly sweet,” said Kokonas. So he adds Kina L’Aero d’Or, a quinine liqueur and an Amontillado sherry to find “that balance between sweet, bitter and acidity.”
He will also have a nonalcoholic selection. The first house-made spirit-free drink will be a riff on one of the cocktails, but with peach, lemon, honey and tonic water instead.
There’s no longer a kitchen, where Irene Kaczmarek, who died at nearly 90 in 2013, once made a meal of the day.
“My goal was to get things that are shelf stable and work with local purveyors,” said Kokonas. One of his first thoughts was to reach out to Paulina Market about their smoked meat snack sticks. “We’re going to have a rotating selection of their meat products.”
He’s also working with Vargo Brother Ferments, the Black-owned pickle shop in Chicago.
For a sweet treat, Kokonas created an unusual dessert deviled egg, which is not a chicken egg, but a coconut milk and lime gelatin white, with pineapple and lime curd filling, featuring Tajín Mexican seasoning and fresh chives.
“It seems weird, because of the juxtaposition of the savoriness from the chives,” he said. “But everybody that’s tried them thus far has been like, ‘Oh, I don’t understand what I’m eating, but I like it.’”
Speaking of eggs, a number of Easter eggs, or hidden messages, can be found throughout the space, many referencing rabbits.
His friend and designer Ruby Western created the logo with a rabbit. Western explained to Kokonas that one thing that always reminds them of bars in Chicago is walking home in the middle of the night and seeing all the rabbits hopping around in different neighborhoods.
“And rabbits signify rebirth, which works perfectly with what I’m doing,” said the bar owner. “Also luck, which was great.
Kokonas kept as many existing elements in the bar as possible, including seven chairs and four tables that were left behind. Salvaged church pews, from the Fourth Congregational Church in Logan Square, serve as banquettes. There will be seating for 60 or so, with an expected occupancy of 98.
The lot adjacent was where the beloved Belmont Snack Shop once stood open for 24 hours all day and night, before burning down in 2020. The open space will become the Belmont Tavern patio by early to mid-summer. The outdoor seating area will be dog-friendly. Do note that human tavern patrons must be 21 or older inside or out.
Kokonas, who lives five minutes away, also leased and converted the four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment upstairs into an Airbnb. The space, steps from the dramatically canopied Belmont Blue Line station, has been open since October. He plans to offer the short-term rental to chefs and bartenders visiting from out of town for future pop-ups.
“I want to see this bar become something of a nod to its history,” said Kokonas. “But also pull it out of its 25-year dormancy and into a little bit more of the modern bar age.”
3405 W. Belmont Ave., belmonttavernchicago.com
More new restaurant openings, in alphabetical order:
Burl
Chef Tom Carlin (Galit, Publican Quality Meats, Dove’s Luncheonette) and business partner/wife Rachel Canfora-Carlin (Hogsalt, Boka Restaurant Group, One Off Hospitality) have finally opened their highly anticipated wood-fired, farmer-driven first restaurant. Burl began burning in Evanston on Jan. 30. Their debut winter menu features a fish fry with crispy walleye and Kennebec potatoes; burnt honey ice cream with a honeycomb crumble; and The Windowsill cocktail with cinnamon and O.C.G. apple cider liqueur from Journeyman Distillery in Michigan.
2545 Prairie Ave., Evanston; 847-425-0177; burlevanston.com
HerBachi
Chef Marissa Terry (sister of The SoulFood Lounge chef and owner Quentin Love) has launched her own Asian fusion grill. HerBachi began firing in Chatham on Jan. 20. The signature item on the menu at the Black woman-owned business is the HerBachi Bowl with your choice of noodles, fried rice, or half and half with proteins and vegetables; plus there are Korean rib tips and Gangnam shrimp.
522 E. 79th St., 872-303-3100, herbachi.com
In restaurant fire news:
Leon’s BBQ on Archer Avenue suffered a fire on Feb. 2, and remains temporarily closed, but the location on 106th Street is open, offering the same menu.
3309 E. 106th. St., 773-374-9663, theoriginalleonsbbq.com
Old City Pizzeria & Sports Bar (formerly known as Nancy’s Pizzeria on Golf, the last location owned by the family of namesake Nancy Palese, whose husband Rocco Palese invented stuffed pizza) also suffered a fire, on Feb. 3, and is closed temporarily, but repairs and cleanup are underway.
8706 W. Golf Road, Niles; 847-824-8183; oldcitypizzeria.com
Palace Grill, which suffered a fire two years ago this month, on Feb. 8, 2024, and has remained closed, is up for sale, according to a report by Crain’s Chicago Business.
In restaurant reopening news:
Bell Heir’s BBQ, which closed its original location in Canaryville last September, reopened the Black-owned business in the River Oaks Mall in Calumet City on Feb. 6.
River Oaks Mall, 96 River Oaks Center Drive, Calumet City; 773-786-3030; bellheirsbbq.com
Haru Haru by chef Junho Lee will take over as the first residency at the Coach House, after chef Zubair Mohajir’s last service at his restaurant on Valentine’s Day, with the new evolution beginning on Feb. 15.
1742 W. Division St., 773-697-8794, coachhousechi.com
Do you have notable restaurant news in the Chicago area? Email restaurant critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu at lchu@chicagotribune.com.
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