Repeat performance

Crispy sweetbreads with crushed zucchini, green-olive tapenade and sherry gastrique

Food Styling: Liza Brown

The Bristol | 2152 N Damen Ave, 773-862-5555

After the basement butcher at Manhattan’s popular Café Boulud taught Chris Pandel the ins and outs of breaking down whole animals, the young chef knew it was a practice he’d make paramount once he opened his own restaurant. Now, that chance is just around the corner, as he and partners John Ross and Phillip Walters get ready to unveil the Bristol in Bucktown. Ross and Walters boast plenty of front-of-the-house chops, with recent stints as GMs for one sixtyblue and N9ne, respectively. So while they are keeping busy with the overhaul of the former Il Covo space, amassing a wine list with plenty of organic and biodynamic bottles, and selecting brews for the half-dozen taps (all local), Pandel has been crafting a menu he hopes will be as amorphous as possible.

A chalkboard will list “fifth quarter” (head, hooves and offal left after an animal is quartered) charcuterie. The sausages, terrines and pâtés will reflect his progress as he works through the whole hogs that will arrive weekly. More accessible snacks of cheddar fritters with scallion mustard and sausage-stuffed olives can be had at the bar, while those in the dining room get choices such as roasted organic chicken with stone-fruit panzanella and an heirloom-tomato-tart. Perhaps most important about the straightforward, seasonal eats are their price tags-—with entrées under $20 and small plates averaging $6, there’s hope that training from the highest of echelons can still translate to the hungry masses. —Heather Shouse

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