Bars

Small Bar To Sell Fullerton Location To Beer Bistro, Focus on Division

Justin White, chef of Small Bar.
Justin White, chef of Small Bar. Photo: Sky Full of Bacon

When we shot a Key Ingredient at Small Bar on Fullerton, they had recently hired Justin White, a veteran of Green Zebra and The Bristol, to upgrade the bar food at both of their locations (the third Small Bar, in Logan Square, has other owners). Shortly after Time Out Chicago named White one of its 20 young chefs to watch. But now, apparently, we know how that worked out: it worked at Division but it didn’t at the Fullerton location. As Chicagoist reported yesterday, the Fullerton location is being sold to the owners of West Loop tavern The Beer Bistro.

The reason, apparently, is that those DePaul kids were less interested in craft brews and White’s creative pub grub than dollar beer specials and burgers, and so the Small Bar team, which also includes mixologist Craig Hiljus, decided it was better to focus their attention on the bar where the concept was working than to fight it on Fullerton. Beer Bistro owner Bob McDermott, who for now is calling the bar Beer Bistro North, plans to keep most of the staff, make only such cosmetic changes to the brick interior (which was never especially a small bar, and which he describes as “kind of cold”), and keep much of the existing artisan beer list while adding the mass brands and simpler food that college kids like to consume. It will reopen May 10.

Small Bar To Sell Fullerton Location To Beer Bistro, Focus on Division