The Radicle

Chicago Restaurant Favorite Daisies to Open Radicle, a New Seafood Bar | Eater Chicago

"Joe Frillman and his Daisies team are returning to Daisies’ original Logan Square space (vacant since 2023) to open a second restaurant and bar this fall in the 2523 N. Milwaukee Avenue location. The spot, which previously housed a bar before Daisies opened in 2017 and later became a neighborhood anchor with daytime coffee and pastries and dinner pasta, also hosted COVID-era weekend markets selling goods and produce from Frillman Farms (owned by Joe’s brother Tim); Frillman recalls that "For the first three years we were there, it was bananas out front." The new project leans into nightlife on a stretch of Milwaukee Avenue that pre-pandemic once buzzed with activity across from the Mega Mall, but it will retain the environmental commitments that earned Daisies Michelin’s Green Star the last two years: the team will repurpose the old tables and local firm Debaun Studio will "polish the space up." While beverages are the focus — with bartender Nicole Yarovinsky, who "heads the bar program at Daisies now," handling beverage duties and an expected big selection of sparkling wines and Champagne — Frillman stresses that food won’t be an afterthought: "I’m there — if I’m showing up every day, the food’s going to be great," he says. The bar program builds on past experiments (Frillman remembers a golden age when cocktails hovered around $10 and staff "engaged in experiments using fruit scraps and other clever techniques") and will feature new drinks such as the Sunday Negroni (gin, pomegranate, Campari, myrrh, sweet vermouth), Sbagliatto Rossini (Lambrusco, Mick Klug Farm strawberries, Campari, rose vermouth), and non-alcoholic options like the Peach Fizz (farm peaches, basil, fermented whey soda, egg white). The kitchen will emphasize seafood — "more seafood compared to Daisies, with creative uses of sardines and anchovies to punch up flavors" — while keeping an eye on affordability: "We’re definitely going to have more opulent things, but we’re still trying to make it so that a seafood restaurant makes sense in the Midwest," Frillman says. Opening-menu items will include deviled eggs with trout roe, fried lake perch with whitefish tonnato, pizzas with a farmer’s touch (toppings such as fennel sausage and fresh peaches), chilled seafood like prawns with Campari aioli and smoked mackerel served with pretzels, and crab dip accompanied by Ritz crackers; Frillman also hopes to get a few days of service out of the back patio this year. On staffing and pay, the team plans to carry lessons from Daisies — which uses a service fee that Frillman says "has helped retain personnel, even after some customers initially didn’t understand and complained" — aiming to provide stable wages, benefits, and growth opportunities while still finalizing a service model appropriate for a bar versus a full-service restaurant. Amid broad uncertainty, Frillman says cooking keeps him grounded and that he wants to give customers a simple respite: "I just want to sit back and relax, enjoy a drink, have some good food, and escape for a little bit," he says." - Ashok Selvam