First Look: Branch 27

Photos:

Possibility lives in libraries. It starts when you’re a kid, sitting cross-legged between the stacks and dreaming of cavorting with Wild Things and traveling through magical wardrobes. It’s still there when you’re in college, getting you through all of the caffeine-fueled cramming. And the last time I went to a library, a Tuesday in November, there was a line of voters wrapping around the block and the air was filled with possibility.

So it’s fitting that Branch 27 owners Cary Michael, a former Rockit Bar & Grill general manager, and Howard Natinsky, who’s also behind Fat Cat, Five Star and Empire Liquors, saw something in the corner West Town building that was once home to the city’s 27^th Ward library. They went to town on the place, turning a brick-and-terra cotta shell from the turn of last century into a rustic, comfortable eatery for the turn of this century.   

It isn’t just a standard bit-of-exposed-brick-here, touch-of-repurposed-wood-there rehab. The three-room space is filled with thoughtful surprises: ornate mirrors, funky three-dimensional wall art crafted from scavenged parts of old printing presses, and a noisy main dining room that opens up into a calmer, atrium-like back room complete with pitched glass ceilings.

But surprises end with the decor. Chef Bob Zrenner’s menu is predictable, a sort of “best of the ’90s” compilation that moves without irony from tuna tartare to beet salad to grilled salmon. It’s comfort food for a new generation, so familiar that you almost expect a younger version of yourself, circa 1999 or so, to slide into the booth next to you and knowingly order a tuna burger without even glancing at the menu.

Yes, you’ve seen this all before: baked goat cheese ($8); flatbreads ($10-$11); flatiron steak ($22); flourless chocolate cake ($7); and so on. But the kitchen doesn’t aim to innovate. Branch 27 is a neighborhood place, and the goal is to please all who come this way.

That could be a daunting task. On opening weekend, the crowd included everyone from families with kids to young couples to groups of guys who gathered around the two flat-screen TVs in the front bar to catch NCAA Final Four highlights. We also spotted several tables of twenty- and thirtysomethings who were either way overdressed for burgers and beer in West Town or (more likely) stopping off for cocktails and a bite before hitting the clubs.

Branch 27 attempts to sate them all by sticking solidly to the familiar. But while familiarity has its perks—at some point, nearly everyone has craved a tuna burger, wasabi aioli and all—it also has drawbacks. The trouble with offering dishes everyone’s had dozens of times before is that unless execution is superlative, well, they’re just dishes everyone’s had dozens of times before.

Perhaps this is why Branch 27’s menu seems lackluster, from starters such as mussels ($12) in a dull white wine broth straight on through to desserts ($7), which have an assembly-line feel to them. (Everything we sampled—apple tart, cherry bread pudding and fudge brownie sundae alike—arrived topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and an identical drizzle of caramel or chocolate sauce.) Even the calamari ($10), a dish our server talked up, failed to impress, though the addition of pickled mild cherry peppers, fried along with the squid, added some interest.

 
A few dishes break up the monotony. There are sweet brown sugar-rubbed ribs ($10) in tart cranberry-apple glaze. There’s a reliable burger ($11), a white cheddar-covered 8-ouncer on a Red Hen bun with wholegrain mustard-barbecue sauce and crispy fried shallots. And there’s a boneless half chicken ($16) in its own jus, seasoned with lemon, garlic and herbs. The juicy bird, served with buttery skin-on mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts sauteed with hunks of smoky applewood bacon, is a clear standout—and helped us realize that maybe there’s still some possibility in this old library.

M. Kathleen Pratt is the Metromix dining producer. kpratt@tribune.com

Add a comment