bom bolla - cava bar

I did not see a thread for this place...

bom bolla lists themselves as a cava bar throughout the interwebs, but it's actually more of a cava, sherry and vermouth bar... and a tapas restaurant in one. It's done by the folks from Pop's For Champagne. I did not explore the beverages much, but I did order quite a bit of food, everything was fantastic.

This is the kind of place in Europe that you would hear a chef talking about. Half of the menu is just straight up product - different kinds of olives, almonds, cheeses, and not only several different types of ham, but several different types of Jamon Iberico (both shoulder and thigh). The other half is comprised of small bites (like a chicken liver pate on toast with grilled onion on top, mussels with tomatoes and caviar on toast, salt cod on toast, etc.), plated courses like octopus, and a pork special that happened to be available that night, and some bocadillos/sandwiches.

What I really like is that there is some randomness thrown in, that isn't traditionally Spanish, like the chicken liver, or the shishito peppers. That's fun; and it's nice that they don't take themselves too seriously but seriously enough to source out real Jamon.

Everything we tried was fantastic, not one bad dish. Special mention of the cheesecake. It was absolutely fantastic. Camembert cheesecake! I can only dream of it with a Pedro Ximenez (I wasn't drinking that night).

Really fantastic little place. I am so smitten with all these little niche places around Chicago lately. As dining gets more and more decorated around Chicago, I hope to see more places like this in terms of uniqueness.

bom bolla
1501 n milwaukee
chicago, il 60622
(773) 698-6601

Nice write-up, thanks. I haven't been but every single friend who's been there has enjoyed it and made comments that line up with yours. Looking forward to checking it out sooner than later.

=R=

went to bomb bola last weekend and just did not experience the greatness everyone else is reporting.

Big fan of tapas, no requirement that they’re authentic, but if you’re going to go for non-authentic, Wicker Park prices on the items, hoping for something special. Manchego, sure, good, you’re paying for a solid 12 mo cheese, and it’s tasty, but it’s nothing unique on that front.

Pinchos with another cheese was fine, with no more detail really necessary or deserved…even if you like mushrooms, and if you don’t, you probably are going to dislike the charred approach here.

Escalivada was one of the more traditional items, unique in that it often gets edited out of tapas places, but not executed in a “I’ve missed this so much kind of way”. More in a, “Oh, this is oft used in Catalan cuisine as a condiment…which makes sense since this one is bordering on oily after a few minutes when it comes up to warm temperature.

A beef bocadillo was the best thing I ate throughout the evening, a small street sandwich, that while a bit greasy, was delicious and hit all the right notes of what you’d expect from that sort of thing.

We were still at “hit and miss, but good-ish” until the final/main course of the evening. Hungry for some sort of meat, my friend asked what she could get that would fit the bill. Apparently there was some special that night, I believe it was the Secreto but not certain…anyways, came as described, a large cut of pork, served semi-rare, and was meaty because there was a lot of it, so for $30 that made sense. Unfortunately, seasoning was inconsistent across the piece, and by half way through the plate, neither of us wanted any more. Very unclear some of the preparation choices with this dish, and since it was definitely not at all as hyped up to be, left the night on a bad note.

Cavas were fine, but an otherwise friendly tour of some of the bartender’s recommendations did not yield anything that made me want to hurry back for a glass and a small plate or two. I’ll give it another shot, and I guess I’ll have to deep dive on a few ibericos and maybe try some of the less traditional dishes: shisitos, liver pate, some of the other things mentioned above…but then I start to wonder, wow, those are all pretty standard dishes at other, non-Spanish places, so what’s really the point?

Donna and I have gone there a couple times now and really liked it both times. All of the plates are pretty small, but are also priced appropriately, so it makes it easy to try a lot of things. Dishes that have stood out for us have been Manila Clams, the pork fat fried almonds, and the Beef Bocadillo. The hams, cheeses, boccarones and olives have all been solid as well.

Bom Bolla, the highly-regarded new Spanish cava wine bar and restaurant on Milwaukee Avenue from the Pops For Champagne folks, is likely closing two days before Christmas due to financial woes, partner and operations manager W. Craig Cooper confirms. The spot has been open for just less than seven months.

http://chicago.eater.com/2015/12/18/106 ... money-woes

Wicker Park is a goddamn shark tank now. Restaurants on that stretch might as well be considered extended pop-ups at this point. It's a shame because Bom Bolla was on my list of places to try.

I was surprised to hear this news, as while I have not eaten here, I have heard good things and it has popped up on a hot restaurant lists. Are operating costs in Wicker Park just too high?

botd wrote:I was surprised to hear this news, as while I have not eaten here, I have heard good things and it has popped up on a hot restaurant lists. Are operating costs in Wicker Park just too high?

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151105 ... e-many-out

I think too that stretch of Milwaukee is just odd. There are lots of those HUGE furniture places, a bunch of empty store fronts that are not well kept up, scaffolding on buildings, and things close up after dark. It's about half-way between Division and Damen, and people don't want to walk too far from the L. It's not yet a destination.

Rents are high, but the owners of Bom Bolla admit to biting off more than they could chew. And people from the neighborhood who went there said that it was not what they were expecting (I quote, since I've never been there):
- seating was mostly at a bar, which isn't good for groups
- the food was less small plates like Cafe Iberico or Ba Ba Reeba and more one-bite items like what you might really get in Spain, but not tasty enough to justify the price, and not easy to make a meal
- they had early hours but weren't stroller friendly