The Old Irving neighborhood was pretty much a nonentity on the food scene before Smoque opened and started drawing grateful lines. More recently Al Dente has opened, and now comes an artisanal, farm-to-table restaurant and shop called Bread & Wine opening in January in a former laundromat at 3732 W. Irving Park. According to owners Lisa Fosler Kelly and Jennifer Wisniewski (a veteran of Naha and Cafe Absinthe) and chef Curtis Gamble (who worked at Pittsburgh’s Six Penn Kitchen), the mission is locally grown comfort food intended to reflect the ethnicities in the area, from chorizo tacos to duck confit pierogi. The market side will have goods from farmer’s market favorites such as Chicago Honey Co-Op and Pasta Puttana. And now you can see your favorite dish up in lights— well, chalk, anyway. They’re looking for comfort food ideas; send a description of your favorite comfort food from childhood, college, whenever, and if they like it, Chef Gamble will class it up (hey, that’s what chefs do) and feature it on the menu, and you’ll win a gift certificate for dinner. (It’s also a pretty smart idea to figure out what their customers will really want.) Send your comfort food fave to info@breadandwinechicago.com.
