Adventures First, Explanations Later (Part Deux)

Part Two:

The Adventure:  A Bite of Nostalgia:

                The Duce

I'll never judge a restaurant by it's exterior... again.

The Wares:

The Grub:

 

 

The Soda Fountain...

 

  

More Wares:

 

The Attraction: 

The Explanation:

     It's a restaurant, a bar & lounge, a soda fountain, a news stand, a mini-theater complete with bleachers salvaged from St. Mary's High School, a produce & dairy market, a retail store, a vintage bike shop, and yes, an old-school gym at $5 a workout!!!  In fact, the owner himself was pumping irons on-sight when we came in!

     Chicago natives Steve and Andi Rosenstein revived the old 1928 brick warehouse, originally called "The Deuce" by local cops in the roaring 20's as it "housed produce purveyors by day and speakeasies by night" back in the day.  Today, The Duce, despite being only a month old since it's opening, has already begun its course into becoming a well-loved neighborhood joint.

     The Duce boasts a menu of what they call "endangered recipes" served straight from a 1965 Airstream converted into a kitchen.  The food is fabulous and I highly recommend the brisket sliders, freshly baked organic potato chips and the baked cinnamon pecan french toasts.  The complementary iced, fresh fruit-flavored water was delightfully refreshing!

     "The Duce houses the original bar from Chicago's Black Orchid Jazz Club, which boasted such greats as Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack and exclusively serves prohibition era cocktails mixed with fresh squeezed juice from local organic citrus."(theduce.net) Definitely a good reason to come back on a Friday night.  And the best part as Steve says, is that kids have fun watching Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Three Stooges while the grownups have a good time sipping cocktails and tapping their feet to the local live band!  And for that, we're sure to come back!

     It's amazing when you set yourself out for an adventure.  Because, more than likely, it's exactly what you're going to get.  Whoever thought that the search for a little grub would turn out to be the perfect bite of nostalgia!