Bucktown's Newest Spots Were Built for the Cold Months

A tall Old Hickory rotisserie stands by the front window at 2234 N. Western Ave. It holds about 50 chickens, and someone wrote "Eduardo" on it in Sharpie when it was delivered. Nobody knows who. Chez Poulet opened around that machine on Tuesday, August 25, at the height of patio season. The building was really planned for the months after it.

The same is true of most of what opened in Bucktown this summer. These are small rooms built around carryout, a counter, or one shared table. Brothers Oliver and Nicolas Poilevey designed Chez Poulet around a space with almost no indoor seating. A wine bar on Milwaukee gave up shelf space for a community table. A cafe on Damen was built to feel like someone's kitchen. In July those choices looked modest. By October, with patio weather behind us, they look like good planning.

A Chicken Shop Designed Around a Missing Dining Room

Chez Poulet is in the original Taqueria Chingón building. The Poileveys closed Chingón in November 2024 and first tried to sell the building. The only interest came from large corporate developers, so they took it off the market and started planning a new restaurant. Seating was the main problem. With so few seats inside, they needed a dish that traveled well, and Le Bouchon needed more prep space too. Their parents opened Le Bouchon nearby in 1993. "Rotisserie chicken was always something we really enjoyed, so when we were thinking of a takeout-specific operation for this space that's what we kept coming back to," Nicolas told Eater.

That makes Chez Poulet the carryout side of the family's Bucktown business. Le Bouchon's own site says it is open for dine-in Monday through Saturday and doesn't offer pickup. You can now get French food to go from the same family on Western.

Everything about Chez Poulet is built for the walk home. The birds are Ivory Amish chickens from a small Pennsylvania farm. They're brined for a day and air-dried in the cooler for crisp skin, and every bird comes with four sauces: chimichurri with cornichons, garlic toum, salsa macha from a Taqueria Chingón recipe, and chicken jus. Mindy Segal of Mindy's Bakery bakes a "chicken bread" for the shop, somewhere between naan and flatbread. She also makes a baguette from a recipe she used at Hot Chocolate, her former Bucktown restaurant. The wine list is all French: four by the glass and eight by the bottle, which Nicolas described as "a little lighter and a little less expensive." The blue-and-white striped tote bag from local design group Secco Studio has separate pouches for a bottle of wine and a baguette.

The side patio seats 40 when the weather allows. The Infatuation's August 26 review listed Chez Poulet under "Serious Takeout Operation." The reviewer noted that even dine-in orders come in to-go containers, and that staff will bring a chiller for a bottle you buy there. Once the patio closes, the to-go setup is the whole restaurant.

The hours have changed since opening week, so check them before you go.

On weekends, Sunday dinner now means picking up in the afternoon. Note the "or sellout" on every line.

The Wine Bar That Traded Shelves for a Table

At 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave., Friends & Neighbors took over the space where Red & White operated until it closed last fall. Owners Arin Butzon and Joy Johns both live a few blocks away. Their main change was to replace part of Red & White's bottle shop with a large community table. They still sell some wine to go, but they set aside less room for retail than Red & White did. "There's not really a place that represents me, as a mid-30s mom in Bucktown, and everyday wine drinker," Johns told Block Club in April. The plan then was to start with charcuterie and snacks and expand the food later.

That table now anchors the fall schedule. The events page currently lists a "Spooky SZN" lineup:

• Spooky SZN Kick off! Scary Movie Bingo
• Coven Craft Nite with Chicago Clay Club
• Spooky Dance Mode with Tiny Tunes!
• Neighborhood Night School: The POP Heard 'Round the Neighborhood

The bar also books private gatherings, including community meetings, book clubs, birthdays and showers. Its site says some events don't require a rental fee. In the cold months, that makes it one of the few Bucktown rooms where a block club or a book club can meet without hosting in someone's living room.

Damen and Western, for the Hours in Between

Cafe Gimme opened in July at 2115 N. Damen Ave., on the stretch between Armitage and the Kennedy. Owners Courtney and Joe Gryzik live a few blocks away. They designed the long room around a large kitchen island where customers can sit and watch smoothies being made. "The main focus was to create this at-home feel," Joe Gryzik told Block Club. Coffee is from Metric, and in the evening there's a short list of spritzes, a Negroni and an espresso martini. Courtney Gryzik described the evening idea as aperitivo: "We're not trying to be a dinner location or a full-blown restaurant. Just somewhere to hang out, catch up." In July, Block Club reported hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday, closed Tuesday. The current online menu still lists summer watermelon items.

On Western, Bucktown Pizza sits at 1912 N. Western Ave., right under the Western Blue Line station, in the former Oromo Cafe space. Owner Joe Smith comes from the Newark area. The shop is counter service and hand-rolls its dough. In July it was open noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday with a short menu: cheese, Margherita, pepperoni, sausage and garlic white. As of a September 1 report, a liquor license was still only planned. Less than a block south, Jomon Sushi and Izakaya opened at 1858 N. Western Ave. in the former Wave Sushi space. Its izakaya menu includes ribeye and pork belly skewers, gyoza and tempura, plus sake.

The smallest kitchen in the neighborhood is a wooden box on a catalpa tree, about halfway down the 2000 block of West Churchill Street between Hoyne and Damen. Liz Tierney, who has lived in Bucktown since 2012, opened Batch Bakehouse before July's Bucktown Garden Walk. As of Block Club's August report, she posted the weekend's flavors every Thursday on a handwritten sign and on Instagram. At 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays she filled the box with 40 to 60 cookies baked that morning. They're free, one per person. That rhythm was reported in summer, so check her Thursday post before planning a walk around it.

The Calendar Through December

The Wicker Park & Bucktown Chamber runs these events across both neighborhoods, and several use the same commercial streets as the places above.

1. WPB Thrift Riot, Saturday, October 17, 1 to 5 p.m. It's free to attend. A paid shopping shuttle stops along Division, Damen and Milwaukee.
2. WPB Trick-or-Treat, Saturday, October 31, 3 to 6 p.m. Participating businesses along the Wicker Park and Bucktown corridors appear on a digital map.
3. WPB First Fridays. The chamber lists a free art walk on the first Friday of every month.
4. WPB Winter Wonderland & Tree Lighting, December 5. The day includes shopping, caroling, holiday rickshaws with stops like the North Pole and Whoville, and a hunt for holiday gnomes at participating businesses. It runs with the SSA #33 Wicker Park Tree Lighting.

What Opens After the Thaw

The next big Bucktown opening is a very different kind of restaurant. Trattoria Lo So is under construction at 2044 W. Armitage Ave., the former Jack and Ginger's. It comes from chef Sarah Grueneberg and partners Jaime Canete and Rob Mosher of Monteverde, and it's planned for 120 seats plus a 17-seat bar. Monteverde executive chef Bailey Sullivan will lead the kitchen, which will cook meats, fish and vegetables on a robata-style grill. The target is "early 2027." Lo So's bar alone has room for close to half of Chez Poulet's patio crowd.

Further east, the City Council approved $201.6 million in tax increment financing on September 23 for Foundry Park, on part of the former Lincoln Yards site. Some of the project extends west of the river into Bucktown. The money covers roads, parks, riverfront work, and a possible extension of the 606's Bloomingdale Trail over the Chicago River. Phase one plans include a central square that could host farmers markets and winter ice skating. Ald. Brian Hopkins called the whole development "a minimum 10-year project," and more realistically closer to 15. Until then, Bucktown's winter runs on what opened this summer, including a rotisserie on Western that now closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays or whenever the chickens run out.

At Dwell Wisely Group, we keep track of these blocks because what opens on Western and Damen shapes how a Bucktown home works through a Chicago winter. If you're thinking about your place in the neighborhood, or just want to talk about what's changing on your corner, Schedule a Free Consultation.