Brunch Bites: The Bar on Buena and Seven Lions

In this week's batch of brunch bites, The Bar on Buena joins the brunch fray in Uptown and Seven Lions roars into business in the Loop. 

 

The Uptown area is already home to some great brunch staples (Tweet comes to mind), but there's nothing quite in the spirit of The Bar on Buena. This casual neighborhood bar is a local keystone in the Buena Park sub-hood, and they're now offering a comfortable new brunch option for the north side. Chef Cleetus Friedman adheres to his seasonally and locally sourced culinary ethos for the brunch program, which includes dishes like bi bim bop with jalapeño rice, egg- and cheddar-filled tortas, brunch burgers with bacon and egg, and chilaquiles. To drink, there's the spicy B.O.B. Bloody Mary, brunch Manhattans, and Irish coffee, along with brunchy beers. 

From corner bar to Michigan Avenue Mecca, Seven Lions made its grand debut this past week across the street from The Art Institute of Chicago. Alpana Singh's second restaurant after The Boarding House, Seven Lions serves as her homage to nostalgic American clubhouse fare, with menus presided over by chef Chris Curren. The all-day restaurant features brunch as part of the program, which starts with copious pastries like blueberry finger sandwiches, malt shoppe donuts, caramel bacon eclairs, and chocolate cherry coffee cake. Other dishes include caramelized apple and pear Dutch babies, crab cake Benedict, duck hash, Brussels sprouts and Burrata toast, a chicken and duck club, and more. Micheladas, Bloody Marys, mimosas, and other specialty brunch cocktails round out the weekend repertoire. 

- Matt Kirouac