You’ve probably got South America on the mind this week.
What with John Manion’s new Argentine-inspired restaurant that just opened in the West Loop and all.
And the Olympics. Those, too.
But back to that first, more pressing matter: the restaurant is called El Che Bar, it’s equal parts sexy and funky, and it’s your new destination for braised lamb ribs, swordfish steak and other such things cooked atop a wood-fired hearth. The slideshow will reveal all.
Whether you know it or not, you’ve been waiting two long years for John Manion (of La Sirena Clandestina) to get this place up and running. Now, you can express your excitement to him personally. Or…
You can arrive with a date or friends or whoever (it’s that kind of vibe), walk along the tinted glass dividing the two dining rooms and make for the back table, which looks directly into the open kitchen.
You can order roasted cherry bomb peppers (an Argentine specialty), as well as herbed Parisian gnocchi and a ribeye with yerba mate hollandaise.
And you can top it all off with a bowl of Los Pinguinos Punch, a fruity concoction of small-batch pisco and draft fernet.
It serves four, so do with that what you will.
