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Roadhouse 66 to Reopen Nine Months After Fire Gutted Original Bar

 Roadhouse 66 expects to open a new location Tuesday after the original bar burned down last fall.
Roadhouse 66
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LAKEVIEW — Matt Warner said watching his Wrigleyville bar burn to the ground was "very surreal."

Roadhouse 66, formerly at 3330 N. Clark St., was gutted in October when a fire ripped through the building — destroying a Thai restaurant, hookah bar and the 5-year-old Roadhouse.

"My partner Casey [Bloemke] called me and said, 'You gotta get down here now. We're on fire,'" Warner said. "I was like, 'You mean we're having a fire?' He's like, 'No. We are on fire. The place is going to be burned to the ground shortly.'"

Warner arrived 45 minutes after the fire started, and his bar was already gone.

Co-owners Warner, Bloemke and Drew Lynch quickly assured regulars they'd "rise from the ashes" — a promise they hope to make good on next week when Roadhouse 66 is expected to reopen Tuesday at 3478 N. Clark St.

The corner lot at Clark and Cornelia is "a big upgrade," Warner said. It has a patio, more natural light and "one of the best smokers money can buy" courtesy of former tenant Sweet Baby Ray's, which closed in December.

Roadhouse 66 has a 2 a.m. liquor license, but hopes to focus more on food in its new locale. A menu consultant designed "American classic" dishes with Southern and "foodie" influences, Warner said.

Earlier this year, Roadhouse 66 agreed to aim for at least 40 percent of sales from food in its new location after residents complained about adding yet another late-night bar to that stretch of Clark Street.

Locals said they'd back Roadhouse 66 if it acted more as a restaurant than a stereotypical Wrigleyville bar.

"I hate to punish you for [other bars'] history, but it's enough," resident Jenna Kraig said at the time. "We've hit a threshold."

"The more we sat down and looked at our future, it kind of made sense for us anyway," Warner said. "Carving out our identity as more of a restaurant is what's going to give us longevity in this neighborhood."

Warner said Roadhouse 66 was already pulling about 30 percent of its sales from food before the bar burned down last fall. The new location will close its patio an hour early every night during its first year to keep noise down.

The bar opens at 4 p.m. daily, with the exception of game days, when it opens two hours before each game. Weekend brunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting Aug. 2.

Regular menu items will include truffle-oil deviled eggs; a smoked pork belly slider on sweet Hawaiian bread with Asian slaw; grass-fed bison burgers; and an arugula salad with prosciutto, fig, goat cheese, pine nuts and homemade poppyseed dressing.

Healthy sides like roasted butternut squash or turnip puree will be alternatives to the standard mashed potatoes and fries, Warner said.

A kids' menu will keep it simple with mac 'n cheese and apples. Brunch will bring banana-bread French toast, smoked pork belly benedicts and biscuits with "red eye" gravy — that is, gravy made from coffee, cayenne pepper and black pepper.

“The goal was always to reopen" after the fire, Warner said. "We established ourselves in this neighborhood."

He hopes Roadhouse 66 will become a great neighborhood brunch option and a place for "people to eat, not just go out to Clark Street and drink."

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