Garcia’s Chicago
Night club · Near West Side
1001 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607
Highlights
Concert venue & restaurant with eclectic menu and jazz club vibe
Concert venue & restaurant with eclectic menu and jazz club vibe
"Fans hoping for dancing bears, tie-dye, and Cherry Garcia Ice Cream may be disappointed: the new West Loop restaurant, bar, and music venue lacks those elements often associated with the lead singer of the Grateful Dead. “If you go too far, it becomes, you know, a schtick, it becomes a parody,” says Jeffrey Tascarella of food and beverage consultancy Lowder-Tascarella Hospitality. “We really wanted to create a place, like, if Jerry was still around, would he dig this place?” Tascarella’s firm and chef Ivy Carthen, with an assist from Garcia’s daughters — Trixie and Annabelle — created the menus, which opened last week. Architect Bob Quellos of FC Studio transformed the former Wishbone into what he describes as a “tight urban jazz venue,” with a parking garage above the space that eliminates columns and preserves clear sightlines for roughly 300 visitors; designer Tristam Steinberg says those clear views help “bolster a psychological connection between the music fan and the band, which may encourage them to leave their seat and move as if they were attending an outdoor musical festival.” The design team purposely aimed to harken to yesteryear when patrons wouldn’t be dependent on their phones and would dance in the aisles; Steinberg adds, “I think if you go into any jazz club — in New York, Chicago, LA — your normal experience is almost as a sardine jam-packed into a can, sitting at small tables that are uncomfortable at best, but allow the venue to pack as many people into a show as possible,” and Quellos says he designed a floor plan “that is actually going to promote participation.” The venue is a collaboration with the estate and Peter Shapiro’s Dayglo Presents (Shapiro, a hands-on partner and owner of the Brooklyn Bowl chain, suggested shaving about two inches from the tables to free up aisle space). Designers also engaged the psychedelic artist community — a mural on the back wall by Violet Oliphant and Ellie Terrell is one example — and prioritized sound and lighting that “put people who care about music first and foremost,” deliberately avoiding bright, Instagram-optimized lighting: “If we did ‘Instagram moments,’ this space would then maybe… we would have had to do the Grateful Dead bear or some obvious Jerry Garcia thing,” Quellos says. Food and drink are meant to work in harmony with the music rather than upstage it: cocktails skew toward lower-ABV and spirit-free options alongside several large-format drinks and a retro soda-shop/milkshake element (a strawberry-vanilla shake and another featuring Yoo-Hoo, after forensic research into Garcia’s likes). Menu highlights tie to his Spanish heritage and Bay Area roots — conservas from Fishwife Tinned Seafood, a San Francisco-style hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with onions, peppers, and sriracha aioli (meant to contribute to Chicago’s encased-meat scene rather than “engage in a wiener war”), a double-patty smash burger based on one of Garcia’s favorite old San Francisco diner items, a fried chicken for two, and a roast beef sandwich reminiscent of a French dip served on San Francisco Dutch crunch bread. Tascarella relays Garcia’s own line about choices: “The best part about being a rock star is that I don’t have to choose.”" - Ashok Selvam
"Garcia’s is a West Loop restaurant and concert space named after Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Aside from hosting jazz and bluegrass musicians and, of course, jam bands, Garcia’s also has an eclectic menu of dishes like hummus, shrimp chowder, fried chicken, and roast beef sandwiches. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists." - John Ringor
"The long, strange trip to open this West Loop music venue concludes with an announced opening on Friday, March 21 at 1001 W. Washington Boulevard; the full opening concert lineup was pushed from March 6 and bands will be announced Monday, March 10. Peter Shapiro, a Northwestern grad and longtime Dead fan who runs Dayglo Presents and owns venues including Brooklyn Bowl (New York and Las Vegas), the Capitol Theatre and Bearsville Theater, speaks about the project and his attachment to Chicago: “I love Chicago. I wanted todo the Dead 50 thinghere, because I knew how people would respond,” Shapiro says during an interview while sitting in a green velvet booth; “It was so fulfilling — and I really wanted to do this here.” He adds, “Jerry and the Dead is bigger than ever,” describes the property as a “unicorn building,” notes there’s ample room to “groove” (he wants staff onboard with the possibility of dancing in the aisles), and later reflects, “You know, things happen for a reason.” The venue is a collaboration with the family estate of Jerry Garcia and Shapiro’s promotion company, and the Garcia family has contributed culinary input: executive chef Ivy Carthen (formerly Last Call Tavern Group) says family members have shared some of Jerry Garcia’s favorite foods and that the kitchen will bring influences from San Francisco and Spain. “That was a long time ago,” Carthen says of his earlier days at Eddy Clearwater’s Reservation Blues; “To get back into the music venue scene and seeing something like this is great.” Menu highlights developed with Lowder-Tascarella Hospitality include buttermilk-brined fried chicken and cod, milkshakes as a major menu focus, and phased-in global flavors such as a jerk chicken slider from Jamaica; Carthen says he doesn’t want entrees to be too heavy so customers will still want to get up and dance. A mixed coffee roast — half dark and half light — will be shipped from the Bay Area, and brunch service (possibly buffet style) with live weekend music is planned. Designed by Tristam Steinberg, the space takes inspiration from a jazz club for its layout and stage, includes ADA-compliant lifts, and benefits from an attached parking lot and a former life as the Wishbone restaurant so there are no columns impeding stage sightlines. As a gag, a life-sized skeleton dressed like a Dead fan was stuffed into a ceiling beam (it will be gone by opening day), and subtle references to Garcia are woven through the interior. Shapiro says the pandemic nearly derailed the project — he even considered pulling the plug while at a Dairy Queen in New Haven, Michigan — but his love for Chicago and the property kept him committed." - Ashok Selvam
"A music club and restaurant developed by promoter Peter Shapiro in partnership with the estate of Jerry Garcia, first announced in 2019, is nearing its much-anticipated 2025 debut. The project occupies the former Wishbone space at 1001 W. Washington Boulevard, has been promoted via Instagram and local fliers, and Shapiro says they’re hopeful for a spring opening." - Ashok Selvam
"A live-music venue from Peter Shapiro (of the Brooklyn Bowl chain) developed with Jerry Garcia’s estate at a West Loop site that required Wishbone to relocate. Construction, which stalled during the pandemic, has restarted and Shapiro says the project is back on track with a hopeful spring debut." - Ashok Selvam
Brandon Laterveer
Stephen Grybowski
Jeff Belmonti
A L
Joshua Skolnik
TJ Bachmeyer
Stan Pszeniczka
