Sporting a name that might make your grandmother blush, Son of a Butcher (2934 W. Diversey Ave., no phone yet) is scheduled to open within a couple of weeks in Logan Square. The name refers to the menu’s slant toward the cuts and leftovers butchers might bring home to their families, such as cheeks, oxtail, organs, and other things that might make your grandmother blanch.
“It’s like taking you to back of the house,” says Frank Valdez, the chef. “There’s no filet mignon or rib eye because the butcher would sell that, not eat it.” Pork cheeks, roasted bone marrow, and duck-heart nuggets show the loose-ends direction of the food. And despite the restaurant’s carnivorous focus, Valdez promises thought-out vegetarian options, such as a slow-cooked-mushroom sandwich with house-made giardiniera. “An Italian beef without the beef,” he says.
Valdez hopes to serve spit-roasted pig by the pound on weekends. And in-house smoking will produce ham that customers will receive on a board with pickles when they sit down for dinner or a drink, sort of like tapas in Spain. “They would give you something to eat to entice you to drink,” Valdez says. Those drinks focus on simple whiskey cocktails, such as Manhattans and old-fashioneds. “Like an old-man cocktail bar,” he says.
Adolfo Garcia, actually the grandson of a butcher, envisioned the restaurant, adding it to a stable that includes Pearl Tavern, Black Bull Tapas, and Hubbard Inn. Maybe it could start a whole line of familial-occupational restaurants. Actually, it seems amazing no one has yet opened a place called Midwest Farmers’ Daughters.