SOUTHERN reconstruction COOKING

Damn yankees preaching peas and hominy in the capital of the Union:  CHICAGO.  It means we've tweaked tradition for a healthier take on Southern cuisine.   No engineered processing--we cut our vegetables by hand;  smoke our briskets and pork; bake our cornbread, biscuits and desserts and slow cook our beans and greens.   It's the closest you'll come to home cooked without taking off your shoes at Grandma's.

Traditions we've kept iinclude choosing your own fresh sides with a main dish and a casual hospitality that favors friendliness.  This is the progressive South we grew up with in North Carolina, but there's some Lousisiana, Low Country, Piedmont and Soul to round things out.  

We offer specials every day for breakfast, lunch and brunch and have many gluten free and vegan dishes to make all our friends happy.  There's also plenty of catfish, yardbird, premium hickory bacon, grits and corn cakes to answer any comfort food crave.

Even more remarkably, we've been offering made-from-scratch food at diner prices for nearly 25 years--catering to families, gays, tattoo artists, musicians, community activists and business networks--of all ages, color and income.  (Creeds are expected to have humor or be checked at the door!)   Come taste the South for yourself.  . . . You'll be back!


DINNERS RETURN AUGUST! with favorites and small platters to share at the bar.

HISTORY

Wishbone Restaurant opened in late June 1990 on the near west side of Chicago at the corner of Grand and Wood with 28 seats.  The intent was simple: to serve a healthier take on Southern cooking with all fresh ingredients, sophisticated technique, no pretension or country kitsch . . . and prices artists could afford.

Within months we expanded to dinner service and quickly became a popular eatery for all the printers, photographers and businesses that had sprung up along the Carroll industrial corridor and Wicker Park. A year and a half later we opened a second location at 1001 W. Washington Blvd.  With 175 seats and central placement between Chicago’s north and south sides, Wishbone became a dining room for the widest array of locals and tourists of every color, class and background found in the Midwest.

At the end of 1999, the staff from the original small Wishbone was moved north to a larger restaurant bordering Roscoe Village and West Lakeview. With many of the same recipes, a few of our original kitchen staff, lamps by brother Greg and more artwork by friends, we continue our mission to create community through democratic dining.