Mixologists

Prodigal Bartender Peter Vestinos To Return To Chicago

Peter Vestinos.
Peter Vestinos. Photo: courtesy Facebook

312DiningDiva reports that another of our prominent mixologists is about to make a move— and no, they aren’t all going to join Paul McGee’s tiki wonderland. Peter Vestinos, who made his name at Sepia when it first opened, and then as inhouse beverage guy for Wirtz put his stamp on cocktail programs all over town as the cocktail renaissance caught fire here, is coming back from San Francisco to become mixologist for Belly Q, the Asian bbq project in the former One Sixty Blue space that’s a partnership between Bill and Yvonne Cadiz Kim (Belly Shack etc.) and Cornerstone Restaurant Group (uh, One Sixty Blue). Mike Sula has this account of why Vestinos is important from when he left in 2010 (note the skeptical commenters; this is why we can’t have nice things, cocktail-wise). That’s despite the picture at the Reader which makes him look like he’s playing in a summer stock production of The Music Man (“Why, we’ve got bitters! Right here in Onion City!”)

Prodigal Bartender Peter Vestinos To Return To Chicago