Drew's Eatery

Several people noted it's immanence, but I don't believe it's been posted on since it opened.

A perfect addition to the strip on Montrose south of Wells Park.
Owner/operator Drew is personable and apparently trying to do a few well-chosen things well.

Six different "dogs" make up the meat side of the menu. Most are Applegate Farms and the "fire-roasted red pepper & jalapeno, organic chicken and turkey sausage" entry, called the Red Dog, had none of the sawdust quality I associate with poultry masquerading as real sausage, along with a very piquant bit of heat and spice.

I believe the brat, and possibly the signature grass-fed beef dog, are from somewhere else, and as a punishment for posting so long after the fact, I have forgotten the name of the producer.
He doesn't have a fryer, so the dogs come with chips.
There are also 3 soups: roasted tomato and peppers (Mrs. B. liked it),
a daily special, and beef chili. Only the chili is described explicitly as "homemade." Not sure where the others are from.

Ice cream is from Traderspoint Creamery and quite good. The coffee is not the intense espresso flavor bomb that I prefer, but a lighter, yet very real cafe au lait flavor.
Baked goods are from Sweet Dreams, but a can no longer call up a specific memory of the one I tried.

Drew is very generous with tastes, and even provided a whole kid-sized ice cream portion gratis 2 times we were there. (I don't know if that means kids always get free dessert, or we just caught him in a good mood.)
There is also a "kidz" section of the menu with PB&J, a kid sundae, and oragnic Italian soda (99 cents).

For grownups, a variety of organic sodas, waters, teas, and coffee drinks.

It's friendly, clean, cheerful, cheap, and I imagine with the warm weather, there will be a line all weekend long.

2007 W. Montrose
773.463.7397
www.drewseatery.com

I thought for sure I had stumbled on something new and unexpected in a hot neighborhood today when my sons and I found Drew's at lunchtime.

No, Mr. Barolo was there first (but no one since). And he had much the same reaction as me. Suspicion toward the idea of a good-for-you nitrite-free dog on a whole wheat bun-- I ordered the chili dog, on the theory that even if the dog had no flavor, at least the chili probably would-- but happy surprise that everything was actually quite flavorful, from the dog to the quality condiments. And as noted, Drew is a very friendly proprietor.

The dog won't replace more normal dogs in my pantheon, not least for being skinless and cooked in one of those rolling grill things like they have at the movies, but it has its own flavor in that more substantial whole wheat bun, different and interesting on its own terms, and the chili was quite robust and tomatoey. The only thing that I wasn't wild about was the cheese-speckled fries, but it was a seriously muggy day, they're probably better when they stay crisp. Okay, I wasn't wild about my choice of mango ice cream from Trader's Point Creamery, either, but that was my fault. Big points for having Zota Raspberry Green Tea, though.

A few years ago I was going to Welles Park all the time with the boys, back when they could play on monkey bars for three hours at a time, and other than Mimi's, there was nothing around there of any great note-- Taqueria El Asadero (didn't impress me that much then, I know some speak highly of it now), nondescript Vienna-signed dog/beef placess, Eastern European places with names like Cafe Aloha. Now there's Meinl, Apart, this place, Indian and sushi and whatnot up Lincoln... how quickly they grow up. These neighborhoods I mean.

Drew's is currently closed, but will open for one last meal on Saturday and then will be permanently closed.

I liked the idea of Drew's and am sorry that it did not succeed.

Ronna

Sad to hear this. It was a perfect stop for something small with kids during a day in the park. It had a clear focus and did what it chose to do well. I hate to see that sort of place go under.

An article in today's Sun-Times says Drew claims Groupon did him in:

http://www.suntimes.com/9330727-417/lin ... t-him.html

We covered this heartbreaking story of a good gluten-free and vegan restaurant closing.

http://www.centersquarejournal.com/news ... bad-choice

How often has a Groupon brought you back to a restaurant for a second time?

vouchey wrote:How often has a Groupon brought you back to a restaurant for a second time?

It has for me on several occasions - in addition to remind me to visit spots I haven't been to for a long time.

If a restaurant signs up for Groupon or similar site, they need to be prepared both physically and financially. Blaming Groupon for a restaurant's demise is BS.

To be fair, he isn't blaming the deal sights. From his Facebook page:

I want to say that I don't blame the deal sites. It was my decision to do them.

And from his initial statement that he's closing:

We accept full responsibility as nobody forced us into Groupon or any other deal.

I'm not sure what else he could say to get the "don't blame Groupon" crowd off his back.

In the Center Square article he refers to the discount deal trend as the "silent killer."

Right. The full quote is

Trying to keep up with our competitors we began working with the online deals (groupon, plum, kgb, living social, reward network, price bunch, and others) We soon realized that these deals are not what they seem but yet are silent killers and only build false hope. We accept full responsibility as nobody forced us into Groupon or any other deal. We stopped doing any future deals in October and had hoped we could recover, but it was too late.

It's easy to pile on him and say that he should have done things differently. But to say that he is blaming deal sites seems like a misinterpretation of what he's saying.

Really. Given what he put into the place and what he's lost, his remarks seem very restrained to me. He discovered that it doesn't work as he'd expected and he accepts that he made the decision. Didn't accuse anyone of fraud, but I'd be willing to bet that the downside would be hard to predict given that the whole model was new and it's all just starting to shake out now as to how it can work either for or against a business.
Bottom line: I felt that his business made my neighborhood a little better and I'll miss it, and I feel bad for what he lost.

I read the suntimes story this morning and thought that the headline "Lincoln Square vendor says daily-deal websites cost him" was misleading at best. He does accept responsibility for his decisions in the story.

Anyone go to the last-day sale yesterday?

I hate to be the one to beat a dead horse here, but thought there were a couple things worth mentioning. In the sun-times article it is stated that the company had not profited in 1.5 years. It seems as if the deal-a-day stuff was clearly a last ditch effort on the owners part. Another thing that really struck me as odd is the quote of the owner saying “If I had figured out the math, I would never have signed the paperwork,”. Not only did he say he did not personally blame the deal-a-day site, his quote very clearly shows his own negligence, and is frankly quite surprising to me that he did not do the math. For the newspapers to spin the story (or at least the headlines) is disgusting, though not surprising.

I think most businesses understand that they will lose money on the visit where the coupon/deal is used -- these are not mild discounts. The question is whether the people do not come back and pay full price on subsequent visits beause the meal was not memorable or because they are just cheapskates who move on to the next deal regardless of their experience.