Openings

Melman Country Concept Partners With Joe’s Bar Founders

RJ Melman plans to open an opry.
RJ Melman plans to open an opry. Photo: courtesy Lettuce Entertain You

The logic behind RJ and Jerrod Melman putting a country and western bar into the block best known for Frontera and Topolobampo got a little clearer today when they announced that they were partnering with Ed Warm and Tom DiSanto of Joe’s Bar. That Weed Street nightclub is one of the top country music venues in the north and was named Nightclub of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (which is, one should note, based in LA). So music is clearly going to be a key draw for this venue. In typical Melman bros. we-know-everybody fashion, the announcement somehow manages to randomly work in the name of a Bears football player (“The Melmans became fans of country music in part due to their friendship with former Chicago Bears tight end Greg Olsen, who is a big country music fan and a longtime supporter of Joe’s”). But the name that is conspicuously absent is Paul McGee’s, so it remains to be seen if the much-beloved former Whistler bartender’s partnership with the Melman bros. will be in the country venue (it frankly seems unlikely now that he’d be pouring for a crowd seeing a show), or something else entirely they will be announcing in a coming announcement.

Melman Country Concept Partners With Joe’s Bar Founders