Darwin's in Bucktown?

Several months ago, Darwin's closed due to some liquor license something-or-another (Probably not the best thing to happen to a bar.) And I missed its presence.

For better (taste) or worse ($$) I had my first Maudite there and the food was solid (gastropubbish?). At the time, the servers were great and the jukebox had a great selection.

Metromix says its to open early Sept, but I've yet to walk by there to confirm. Anybody the wiser?

Thanks,
Zee

Darwin's
1935 N. Damen Ave.
773-252-8530

Not open yet (walked by yesterday) unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to its return as well.

There's a sign inside that says "soon" but who knows how long it's been there?

FYI

Yesterday, we noticed a sign that said something along the lines of "Open..under same management."

Zee

Darwin's is part of my daily stroll to/from the blue-line, as of yesterday it didn't appear open, but it was a Monday...so who knows. Their # listed in the phonebook is still "disconnected", which would make me think they're not open yet--although they may have had to change their phone # since they were closed for so long. I'm eagerly awaiting their re-opening as there are very few places around here where I can get GOOD food and a beer when I get home from grad school @ 9:30 at night. I've been forced, I am ashamed to admit, to go to Bar Louie's on occasion....oh, the shame. :oops:

I spoke to the manager there yesterday, and they have reopened, so those of you who like your burgers with bacon, leeks, and Brie can satisfy that particular craving once again. Note that though the bar is open late the kitchen closes at 10 every night.

Darwin's
1935 N. Damen
773-772-3719

We went to Darwin's for dinner last night, where we were greeted with a chalkboard sign outside: "Get your butts in here."

The place is, thankfully, much of the same. The menu is as it was before the closing (e.g. bacon and brie burger), with a few additions (e.g. stuffed porkchops).

Yesterday, we knew not of cholesterol. Fried calamari were perfectly done, served on some greens with a garlic-lime dressing and some lemon wedges. Solid. Bacon and brie burgers were large, juicy, but manageable. No need for any additional dressing up. Bacon cooked in with the meat. Slice of brie. Toasted (and buttered?) bun. This burger used to come with sauteed leeks on top, but ours didn't last night (not missed). The fries were good too, but perhaps not to everybody's liking. Thick cut and then fried in some kind of batter/coating. I'm not usually the biggest fan of fries in general, but these were fried textbook -- crunchy outside, fluffy and potato-ey inside.

Although we hadn't met the servers before, they were friendly and on top of things. A couple of Maudite's apiece didn't hurt our impression of the re-opening either.

So, I've got plenty of praise for Darwin's. I think it's a great neighborhood place.

Zee

I had a late nite dinner at Darwin's last night which was quite impressive. Myself, a grad school colleague and my hubby sauntered in at about 9:30 and found them still in the full swing of things, which is good---there's nothing worse than going to a late dinner and feeling like you're getting the bottom-of-the-barrel offerings, or having the kitchen already be half closed. Hubby was intrigued by the old-school nintendo at the bar. Guess I know where to find him if he's not at the Map Room, now.
We were seated by our genial (though not annoyingly so) waiter and immediately given menus and water--hooray! Something many fine dining establishments fail to get right.
We ordered an order of the calamari to share which was pretty darn good--our waiter "snuck" us over a little vial of their special "crack sauce"-a chipotle aioli, to dip the lime-y, perfectly friend and tender pieces into. I know now why they call it crack sauce. I think I may have just rubbed some of it on my gums once the calamari was gone. A great, flavorful house-made aoili--order some to smear on whatever it is you're getting, you won't be dissapointed. Only complaints is that the calamari may have been a tad bit over-limed, as it got a little puckery towards the end, and I wouldve enjoyed more "tentacle" pieces as I find them the most flavorful. But, for what is essentially a jazzed-up bar, one of the best orders of calamari I've had in that setting.
It beat the skanky, chewy pants off of the calamari I unfortunately, and shamefully, shared with a friend at Bar Louie recently. Yes, Bar Louie is basically TGI Fridays, but it was her choice, and she had just gotten dumped, so I wasn't about to get all foodie on her.

Moving on to the entrees--
My friend had the bacon/brie burger--which did seem devoid of leeks though weren't missed. Cooked perfectly medium rare to her specifications, nestled on a very nice bun which seemed to be actually baked recently and locally, as opposed to chemically congealed in some factory somewhere in Gary, IN, as is the case with so many hamburger buns.
Hubby went out on a limb and ordered the lobster/shrimp risotto. Though it had no lobster meat, but a lobster stock, the shrimp was flavorful and the risotto itself damn near perfection. Put about a half cup of lobster meat in it and move it across the street to Scylla and they'd charge $26 for it--but, ha ha ha, it's $12 at Darwin's and enough for two meals!
I had the veggie burger, which sounds really unexciting except that the veggie patty is house-made, brimming with vegetables, corn, sweet potatoes. Yum. Sort of like a big, griddled pakora. Also, the bun was the same fluffy delight.
A word on fries: Darwin's has two kinds, sweet potato and regular. The sweet potato version were okay, but don't waste your time on them--the regular fries are where its at. Battered in some magical tastiness consisting of parmesan cheese, some herbs, and something else unidentifiable, they are truly addictive. Potatoes are hand cut, large but not so large as to be baked-potato-ey a la steak fries.

All in all, a truly enjoyable meal @ 9:30 PM when one of the only other options is a Chipotle gut bomb burrito.

Go there, just don't tell TOO many people about it. I still want to be able to eat there, and, since I am only several blocks away, I shall call dibs. My Darwin's. The rest of you shall suffer chewy calamari hell @ Bar Louie. :)

As I walked by earlier this evening, there was a sign that said that Darwin's is under new management.

Did I misread the sign? If not, anybody know the story? Or more importantly, whether the change in hands has meant any substantive changes?

Thanks much,
Zee

Hmm. I don't live terribly far from there, but haven't been there since about October or so, I think. I generally have a meeting on Fridays at Caffe DeLucca...I'll poke by there and let you know what the scoop is.

Not to engage in rampant rumor mongering, but here goes...

A couple weeks ago the staff at Darwin's were particularly surly, which was fine as they were also being very generous with free drinks. Turns out they had just found out that the bar had been sold to the same people who own one of those 'K' bars in LP (Kincaids?, Kendalls?, something like that. Sorry about the details - free drinks and all).

BTW, the veggie burger I had that night was interesting (chopped vegetable patty breaded with panko and seared somehow) but not so good. Neither were the sweet potato fries.

MJ

vegmojo wrote:A couple weeks ago the staff at Darwin's were particularly surly, which was fine as they were also being very generous with free drinks. Turns out they had just found out that the bar had been sold to the same people who own one of those 'K' bars in LP (Kincaids?, Kendalls?, something like that. Sorry about the details - free drinks and all).
MJ

That's too bad if so. I can only hope they keep the same bartenders and servers... it's always a great bar atmosphere, even if the food quality was scaled a little back after the initial closing.

I walked by Darwin's last night (2/4/05) and it is open.

The rumor is true, Darwin's is owned by the Kincades's group now and in fact the manager is a friend of a friend. I was going to go there for superbowl yesterday but didn't. Should I relay the message to the manager to suggest keeping the servers and bartenders?

Agnes

Oooh! Tell him after they reopened they made the extra hot wings less hot. Make them hotter again please (after all, if it says hot ray of death wings, or whatever it does, it should make your bald spot burn)

Also we luuuuuuuuve the pumpkin soup. The pumpkin corn dogs, however, left a lot to be desired

I don't know Kincade's from Adam, but the idea of LP-type bar doesn't *sound* good. I do hope that they keep the staff and that the staff wants to stay, given whatever changes.

Guess we'll just have to bite the bullet and try them out again sometime in the near future.

Thanks for the info.

I have not yet been inside Darwin's, but driving by one night I saw Mike Tyson's Punch-Out on one of the televisions through the window. Any such establishment is clearly worthy of my hard-earned dollar.

Dmnkly wrote:I have not yet been inside Darwin's, but driving by one night I saw Mike Tyson's Punch-Out on one of the televisions through the window. Any such establishment is clearly worthy of my hard-earned dollar.

They have an assortment of Nintendo games at Darwin's, and there is a designated night of the week for game playing. That said, I've played games (and seen other folks playing games) on many non-designated nights too. It has only ever been a matter of asking.

E.M.

I have heard from former employees that the new owners are not keeping the old staff...

Erik M. wrote:They have an assortment of Nintendo games at Darwin's, and there is a designated night of the week for game playing. That said, I've played games (and seen other folks playing games) on many non-designated nights too. It has only ever been a matter of asking.

I take that back...

E.M.

They have a different chalkboard out front too, without the nifty sayings.

So Darwin's has had a personalityectomy, basically?

You know, we needed another totally generic yuppie bar. Hopefully they'll change the name to Claddagh O'Murphy's too.

Chicagoist has visited since the managment change. No more Nintendo.

http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2006 ... lution.php

Mike G wrote:So Darwin's has had a personalityectomy, basically?

Seems that way.

Me and the Mrs. went to Darwin's last night (~10pm) for a late burger 'n beer after a long day in front of a computer. Here's the PowerPoint review:

First Impression:
ugh: Candles on tables, but the place was bright. A bright bar?
ack: Out of Maudite!
oh no: Miller Lite shamrocks served as wallpaper/decoration.
huh: Person who seemed like manager was attentive, but we missed the old serving crew.

Second Impression:
Fried calamari were overcooked/chewy.
Bacon/brie burger was solid. Juicy, cooked to temperature, but a little smaller than I recall.
Fries were as usual (pretty good).
Handful of new items on the menu.

Summary:
It felt like a different/not-my-kinda place last night. To their credit, the food was only about 1/2 a click below normal.

z

PS: $2 burgers and/or PBR on Tuesdays exclude specialty burgers
PPS: Fat Tire Ale - what's everybody getting excited about?

Zeeshan wrote:

Mike G wrote:So Darwin's has had a personalityectomy, basically?

Seems that way.

I agree.

I had my usual soup/burger combo there, last week, and while the food was as good as ever, the atmosphere had really taken a turn for the worse.

And, I missed the former bar staff too.

E.M.

I'm bumping this thread because Darwins has gotten a substantial amount of decent press here and elsewhere that hasn't matched my recent experiences. The personalityectomy continues unabated. Not content with having removed the video games and every other hint of quirkiness that might offend the flat-line sensibilities of the drones to whom they now cater, the staff has apparently taken an interest in actively enforcing banality.

Before the change in ownership, my girlfriend and I had been semi-regulars. After the change, everything I read here suggested that the food was still as good as always, so two weeks ago we went back for the 2$burger/2$PBR Tuesday special. I don't know what was going on in the kitchen that night, but we both clearly indicated medium rare, only to receive well-done burgers (not a hint of pink, nearly all the juices cooked out) on stale buns with fries that had been cooked in old, dirty fryer oil (they had a distinct and disgusting fishiness about them). We talked about not returning, but convenience proved a strong draw (we live a short block away), so last night we went back for 1/2 price apps (Monday's special). The "Bitch 'n Hot Chicken Wings" were neither bitchin hot nor "jumbo," as advertized in the menu, but the "Nachos Average Nachos" were, as advertized, very average, with a paltry little spoonful of chorizo plopped down in the middle of a bland puddle of white-bean puree.

And then this: while waiting on our food and attempting to thwart the somewhat loud insipidity being pumped out by the automated song-selecter on the fancy new computerized Rock-Ola (UB40's "Red Red Wine," Bryan Adams' "All for Love," etc.), I stuck my debit card in the jukebox and selected 15 songs. Shortly after I sat down, my second song came on -- a not particularly abrasive Modest Mouse song -- and our server, WHO HAD JUST STOOD THREE FEET AWAY AND WATCHED ME PAY FOR MUSIC, rolled her eyes, went behind the bar to the sound controls, and turned the master volume down to the point that we couldn't hear any music at all over the chatter at the bar. A few minutes later my girlfriend politely asked her if she could turn the music back up since we had paid for it, to which she responded with a snotty "Sure, no problem," before very carefully turning it up about 0.1dB, to the point that we could just barely hear it, still far quieter than it had been before I selected music. Then she breezed back by our table and, without even stopping to hear our reply, shot us a look while asking "Is that good enough?" Her actions went far beyond a minor service glitch; it actually felt as if she was telling us to f*** off. Well, right back atchya Darwins. We won't be back.

nooteboom wrote:I'm bumping this thread because Darwins has gotten a substantial amount of decent press here and elsewhere that hasn't matched my recent experiences. [...] We won't be back.

I don't like the new vibe at Darwin's any better than you do, but I cannot attest to the the same decline in food quality.

Two Fridays past, I had the Primordial Soup and the Brie Burger with fries, and it was all as good as it ever was.

This past Sunday, I ordered the Wings and a few minutes later I was politely informed that the cook was concerned about their quality and would really rather serve me something else.* I then ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with fries, and even though it was new to me, I thought it was more than adequately prepared. My beers were served in the correct fashion, and the patron next to me at the bar asked me if I minded his smoke.

I'll save my complaints for the places which I feel are truly deserving.

E.M.

* I don't know how you feel about that, but I sure appreciated the honest and frank explanation.

Erik M. wrote:This past Sunday, I ordered the Wings and a few minutes later I was politely informed that the cook was concerned about their quality and would really rather serve me something else.

Of all the things that restaurants can do to ensure my return, this is as close to the top of the list as any of them (great food being number 1). I love when the waitperson steers me away from an item that's not prepared well, and when the cook decides that something is not good enough for a patron, that shows me that they take great pride in their food (even if liability concerns prompted the warning). Glad to be reminded about Darwin's because I haven't been there in a long time, but I think it's time I change that.

They changed their wings after they reopened last fall, they weren't nearly as fire hot as they had been before.

As we walked down Damen for our (dissapointing) first meal at Hot Chocolate, we peeked our heads into Darwins to scope out their draft beer.
The first incarnation of Darwin's had a rather impressive array of high quality beers on their dozen or so taps. This has certainly changed. They had only 4 beers on tap, although they were at least half decent selections.