PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Grab a cold one by the bottle, glass or growler at Prospect Heights’ newest watering hole, Gold Star Beer Counter, which opened this week.
The new spot at 176 Underhill Ave. is “somewhere between a beer bar and a bottle shop,” said co-owner Joshua Van Horn, who opened for business on the Fourth of July with two dozen bottled beers and 16 on tap — all available to enjoy in the bar or at home.
“We can do all of our beer, whether it’s draft or bottles, to stay or to go,” Van Horn said.
The bar is the first effort by Van Horn and his wife, Maria, who both worked for years in the bar and restaurant industry in Brooklyn and in Chicago, where they lived before moving to the city.
They named the new bar, located across the street from their own apartment, after one of their favorite neighborhood hang-outs in the Windy City, hoping to recreate the friendly, low-key feeling they found in that Midwest bar.
“Ever since I moved [to the city], I’ve always had my eye on the space,” said Van Horn of the 35-seat Underhill Avenue location, which used to be a bodega.
In addition to their formidable bottle and tap lists, the Gold Star Beer Counter will also serve light snacks such as cheese, almonds, smokey fava beans and house-marinated olives. Plans are in the works to expand to sandwiches.
The bar is opens at 2 p.m. on weekends and 4 p.m. on weekdays, closing at midnight Sunday through Thursday and at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
