LOGAN SQUARE — Opening a bar or restaurant always comes with unforeseen obstacles, and in the case the new Logan Square eatery, Reno, it was those pesky circadian rhythms.
"This is our first shot opening something for the morning hours," said Reno partner Jason Normann. "Myself, I'm just getting used to getting here at 6 a.m."
A little sluggishness is to be expected from someone like the 36-year-old Normann. After all, as co-owner of Telegraph, Bluebird and Webster's Wine Bar, he and partners Tom MacDonald and Janan Asfour are bar people — the type of folks more likely to be going to bed at 5 a.m. than waking up then. But after being open a week and readjusting sleep schedules, Normann is confident they'll be perky and ready to go in time for their first official weekend brunch starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The new restaurant, which runs the gamut from pastries and bagels in the morning, to pizza and pasta at night, caught some flak from first-week reviewers about slow service and disorganization, but Normann said he and his partners are on their way to becoming honest-to-gosh morning people.
"We ironed out a lot of the glitches we had on opening weekend," he said. "People take their bagels seriously."
And Reno is taking them seriously, too, by repurposing the wood-fired oven they got when they bought the old Ciao Napoli space to toast them, and then keeping it fired up for pizza at night.
The restaurant's slogan is "Morning, Noon, Night," and its menu reflects that: on Fridays, for instance, Reno will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., slinging bagels and quiche from a counter in the morning, then slogging on into the sandwich menu for lunch, pizza and pasta menu for dinner, all the while offering a full bar with a lengthy beer, wine and liquor list.
When all is said and done, Normann said he just wants Reno to be "a very casual, friendly, neighborhood-friendly, kid-friendly place to hang out."
