Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Review: Owen & Engine

Can we hug? I'd been eyeing the renovation of this building across from the movie theatre for months, daring to hope for anything to break up the endless blight of fast food, empty car dealerships, and mechanics on Western. I thought it was a mirage Saturday night after our movie when I peeked inside the lovely wall of frosty French windows to see...tables set with sparkling glassware and linen napkins? A glimmering bar stacked four tiers high with premium alcohol? A late night menu...with a cheese plate? (Ok. I couldn't see the menu or the cheese. But I felt them like Yoda feels the presence of the Force.)

Me to husband: Do you wanna-

Husband: YES.

Inside, cozy heaven: candles twinkling in pubby darkness, servers in checky menswear outfits, the good vibes that come with excellent beer and wine circulating, an air of possibly authentic Britishness (although who cares on Western? I mean really), and a late night menu that reminds me of the Gage. Someone actually built a gastropub near Targhetto. And I love them.

The cheese included five stellar selections organized from mild to ballsy. They were accompanied by a pile of light savory crisps and rye bread, plus four relishes to smear it all together in dizzying combinations (honeycomb, vidalia onion, apple, and cranberry). My husband had the rarebit, which I always thought was related to rabbit. But then what do I know? It's what you eat when you don't catch any rabbit - i.e. good quality cheddar melted on rye bread with a few other goodies. Nice, cozy, simple food. Wallace and Grommet food.

Diverse wine list. Global selection of beers. Amazing cocktails. We're hooked.


Owen and Engine on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great review! Please "Like" our Facebook page.

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Chicago-IL/Owen-and-Engine/157234930982030

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  2. Are you serious when you said you thought rarebit was some sort of rabbit? Because I always thought that for a long time too! I'm embarrassed to say when I learned that it's not.

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  3. Yes. Am dork....and I should mention that I had a boyfriend from Manchester for like three years at one point. I just assumed everything with an odd name was meat - it was true in every other case!

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