Evanston Lunch Group™ Cupitol Tue 9/13 12:30 pm

It’s a good time for the Evanston restaurant scene. Taco Diablo just reopened, underneath the rooftop restaurant/bar Five & Dime, and next to the soon-to-reopen Lulu’s Dim Sum. Amy Morton (of Found Kitchen and Social House, and daughter of some guy who named a chain of steakhouses after himself) is about to open Barn, in a former horse stable off an alley next to Smylie Bros. Brewpub. The former Dixie Kitchen location is now Ya Hala Inn Mediterranean Kitchen, a site for Lebanese food. But the Evanston Lunch Group™, being the cranky group that we are (and other cranky folks are welcome to join us) won’t be going to any of those.

Instead, we’ll be meeting up at Cupitol, a new all-day cafe and bar in half of the space formerly occupied by The Keg, a bar which was best known for serving booze to teenagers, even if they had especially bad fake IDs. (The Keg had other issues, too.) The other half of the building houses the northern outpost of Bangers and Lace, among the better beer and sausage places in the region.

nsxtasy posted the all-day menu last month on LTH, but the menu also includes all-day beers, wines and cocktails. Join us for sandwiches, breakfast/brunch fare, and probably other stuff Tuesday, September 13 at 12:30 pm, and we’ll share our crankiness with even the nicest of you.

Cupitol
812 Grove St. (just a few blocks south of the L’s Purple Line Davis St. stop, and Metra's Davis St. station)
Evanston

Cranky? Who's cranky? I will be there on my least cranky behavior.

I will be there.

I'll be there, cranky and all.

I may be cranky, but I won't be there, sorry - I'll be out of town. I will be having lunch out that day, here.

nsxtasy wrote:I may be cranky, but I won't be there, sorry - I'll be out of town. I will be having lunch out that day, here.

Sounds good. Will you be bringing back your doggy bag to share with the group?

Sure! If there's any left over, and it keeps. Maybe...

I am afraid we will be out of town, coming back from visiting our grandchildren. Have a great lunch!

Tarte tatin is planning on joining us.

EvA wrote:Tarte tatin is planning on joining us.

Great!

nr706 wrote:

EvA wrote:Tarte tatin is planning on joining us.

Great!

I'd like join
Will try to make it
Jimfoodie68

Jimfoodie68 wrote:I'd like join
Will try to make it
Jimfoodie68

We'll look forward to seeing you!

I'll be able to come this time; see you there.

I think it's fair to say that Cupitol made us more cranky than usual. It's attractive but LOUD in there with all hard surfaces. It's counter ordering (see the menu on their Facebook page) that includes egg dishes, salads, soups, and sandwiches at midday. We tried a variety of breakfast and lunch items, which ranged from disappointing to average. Saddest of all was the corned beef hash, served with poached eggs and toast. The eggs were very good, but the hash consisted of little crispy potato strings that did, once, sit next to some corned beef. The gravlax on baguette was fine, the patty melt kind of blah, the "cob" salad (what happened to the other b?) was okay, and the roast beef au jus lost most of its jus and all of the horseradish promised on the menu. We were not impressed by their coffee either. It was nice to see a good number of ELGers, including our newest member, Jimfoodie68, and we live in hope for the next lunch.

Sadly, I agree with EvA. It was surprisingly busy when we got there, especially considering that most of what we had was average, at best. To their credit, the beer list was well curated, including No Parking Pale Ale from Sketchbook Brewing, but the selections were all bottled/canned beer ... no taps. And Moetchandon said her $5 glass of "house-made lemonade" was watery and lacked lemon flavor. The noise levels approached those of Boltwood, before it put in a few acoustic, sound-absorbing panels. But maybe we're just cranky. And maybe they're just trying to work out the kinks that any new restaurant will have. Lots of work, many kinks. But I did like the Gravlax.