Nine Bar
Located in the former dining room of longtime neighborhood restaurant Moon Palace, Nine Bar is a moody, Blade Runner-esque space with a killer menu of cocktails and bar bites that owners Lily Wang and Joe Briglio have dubbed “Asian-ish".
The menu at Nine Bar will focus on specialty cocktails, including the Chu-Hai, a shochu highball with baijiu, Midori, and Calpico; a mai tai with Chinese almond cookie orgeat syrup; and the Good Fortune, an Old Fashioned made with Japanese vodka, Medjool dates, plum brandy and infused with barley tea that mimics the characteristics of whisky. There will also be non-alcoholic cocktails, plus a modest selection of beer, wine, and sake, and shot-and-beer combos.
The snack menu will be brief, about 10 items, half of which will be vegan, all devised by Elvis Mom, a chef who formerly worked at the Spinning J bakery and soda fountain in Humboldt Park. He won the job at Nine Bar when he told Wang and Briglio that he’d been working out a way to make vegan milk bread. That bread will be served in the style of Hong Kong-style French toast, bruleed with palm sugar and served with a drizzle of coconut condensed milk.
There will also be fried cauliflower in orange chicken glaze; a McKatsu sandwich made with Japanese pork katsu, American cheese, and spicy bulldog sauce on a sesame seed bun; and fries covered with Moon Palace’s mapo chili sauce.
- Google Rating: 4.7/5.0
- Price Range: $13 - $ 15
- Opening Hours: Wed & Sun 5:00 PM - 1:00 AM (Next day), Thu to Sat 5:00 PM - 2:00 AM (Next day)
- Phone: +1 312-225-4081
- Website: https://www.ninebarchicago.com/
- Address: 216 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60616
