Half of this is not a shocker— we had heard from another chef that Mike Sheerin was looking at the Spring space a while back. Half of it is, but perhaps not really a surprise: Eater reports this morning that Patrick Sheerin, chef of The Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock building, has resigned his literally high-profile post to join his brother in opening The Trenchermen, Mike Sheerin’s long-discussed project (which had previously been Trencherman, singular, in everything we saw). They will partner with Matt Eisler and Kevin Heisner, who co-own Bangers & Lace, among other spots.
So far we have relatively few clues about what the food will be like— the only pop-up dinner was last December and was still in a relatively fine-dining mode, befitting Mike Sheerin’s background at Blackbird (where he was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2010) and WD-50 in New York. But since then Mike has been working at Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana (where we shot him in this Key Ingredient), and making much more accessible, porky comfort food than he had been doing at Blackbird. Pat, likewise, has taken advantage of opportunities to break out of the fine dining mold The Signature Room is known for with beer and mangalitsa pork dinners, and we recall his dish at one Green City Market BBQ was beef tongue in a brilliant green salsa, which we’re pretty sure is not standard fare 95 stories up. So both of them seem ready for a project that fully projects their personalities and interests, and we’re eager to learn more as The Trenchermen moves toward an opening next year. [Eater]
