Lone Wolf (806 W. Randolph St., 312-600-9391), in dissonance with the implication of its name, spawned from collaboration. The team consists of Heisler Hospitality (Trenchermen, Nightwood), the team behind Barrelhouse Flat, and Art and Chelsea Jackson of Pleasant House Bakery.
Open since last week, the tavern serves the Jacksons’ food, including their well-known savory pies. The hand-pie-size pastries include Cowboy Queue (smoked brisket and beans), Steak and Ale (self-explanatory), and Mac Daddy (the mac-and-cheese, bacon, and onion concoction they served at Baconfest). Welsh rarebit features in the menu’s snacks category.
“We make beer cheese [with] red Leicester cheese,” Art Jackson explains. “We use a nice slab of rustic country sourdough bread. We toast that, spread the cheese on it. Broil it. Douse with a bit of Worcestershire sauce, and it makes a handy-dandy snack.”
Stephen Cole designed the cocktail menu, including three instantiations of the sorbet- or granita-enhanced drink called a sgroppino. Lemon, gin, and lavender with a lemon twist combine in its No. 1.
Lone Wolf abuts Oon and sits a hand pie’s throw from Au Cheval and Girl & the Goat. The owners hope some customer exchange generates from the proximity. After all, no wolf is an island.