LAKEVIEW — Credit this year's dreary winter with inspiring the ambiance of new restaurant mfk.
Husband-and-wife team Scott Worsham and Sari Zernich Worsham want the new seafood spot, 432 W. Diversey Parkway, to be "a place that feels like summer all the time," Worsham said.
"We’re trying to make it as light and summery feeling as we can," Scott Worsham said. "It might be kind of a subconscious reaction to the winter we just had."
A lot of people in town veer toward dark woods, bourbon and pork — and he doesn't have anything against that. But they wanted the small, 28-seat mfk. to focus on light, fresh seafood and wines to bring a different flavor to the city.
Think fresh prawns, anchovies and veggies instead of big fillets of sea bass, he said.
"It’s going to be very unfussy and simple, clean interpretations," he said.
Most of the wines will be "biodynamic," or wine made from grapes grown in a self-contained farmland, without pesticides, said Worsham, a former sommelier. Once the grapes go to the winery, no chemicals are added.
Not adding chemicals to wines has an added benefit — it doesn't give people the typical red wine headache.
"Big wineries have to make wine taste exactly the same. The only way to do that is to load it up with a bunch of stuff," he said.
No chemicals, no headache. Or at least it's worked from what Worsham's seen from his research.
"That seems to do it with pretty much everyone I know that says red wine gives them a headaches," he said.
All wines will be available by the glass. Dishes will likely start at $6 and be as high as $40 for bigger, shareable plates.
The couple plans to open the restaurant, named after food writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, in June.
"We want to keep it light," he said. "A place where you can stop in and have dinner with a couple friends."
