Bavette’s old fashioned

Brendan Sodikoff has taught us that securing a glazed chestnut doughnut sometimes trumps showing up at work on time (Doughnut Vault); he’s proved that it’s OK—no, fantastic—to devour a fried bologna sandwich for dinner (Au Cheval); and at Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf, the white-hot restaurateur’s new steak house, he’s convinced even the skeptics that we fancy old fashioneds. In fact, while lounging in the horseshoe-shaped leather booths of Bavette’s handsome subterranean lair (a.k.a. the Parlor)—where I intend to reside all winter—with smooth hip-hop playing, candles flickering, a mounted ram sculpture peering down, and placid, vest-clad gents running the show, I realized there’s nothing finer than said cocktail. As you settle into a game of Trivial Pursuit, you may want to sample your companions’ picks—a lovely Oregon pinot noir or a textbook mint julep—but if you’re like me, you’ll be hooked on the soul-warming old fashioned. So tell us, Brendan, how will you enlighten us next? 218 W. Kinzie St., 312-624-8154.

Photograph: Anna Knott