Look at Sultry, Sexy Bavette's Bar & Boeuf, Officially Open

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• Get a craft cocktail at the gorgeous wood bar
• Welcome to Bavette's!
• Oysters anyone?
• Watch the action in the open kitchen
• Grab a group and settle into one of the red leather booths
• Feeling sexy? Head downstairs to the dark and sultry lounge
• No need to get drinks upstairs. The lounge has a full bar.
• The dining room has a great vibe with leather booths, dark wood and exposed brick
• A papier-mache bull's head in the lower-level lounge

[Photo: Jason Little]

While it has been open for about a week in soft opening mode, Bavette's Bar & Boeuf, the latest eatery from restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff (Maude's Liquor Bar, Au Cheval), officially opened for business earlier this week.

In true Sodikoff style, the space, just a few doors down from his first spot, Gilt Bar, is a stunner. With red leather booths, antiqued mirrors advertising culinary catches, exposed and distressed brick, a zinc-topped bar, a vintage sink subbing as a raw bar and dark leather couches in the lower-level lounge where papier-mache animal heads grace the walls, the space screams sexy.

The menu, first touted as a Euro-leaning steakhouse, actually feels more classic American with shrimp cocktail and de jonghe (served in a decadent garlic herb sauce with butter Texas toast), full raw bar, a classic wedge salad, short rib stroganoff, a rich pork-and-boeuf meat loaf, an oversized baked potato stuffed with cheddar, crisp bacon and sour cream and a smattering of prime dry-aged steaks.

The cocktail program rounds things out with classics like a French 75, Kir Royale and a Negroni coupled with their own Champagne Smash, which is an incredibly refreshing cocktail anytime of the year. Bavette's has a solid craft beer list and if you like your liquor brown, you're going to love the selection here. And come winter when you want to settle in with a big fat steak, a hearty glass of red and follow that up with a bourbon rocks, this space with its cozy vibe and jazz playing on the sound system, may be your new favorite haunt.

Bavette's Dinner Menu

Bavette's Cocktails

· Bavette's Bar & Boeuf "Soft" Open Now; Taking Reservations Starting Aug. 14 [~EChi~]
· All Brendan Sodikoff Coverage on Eater Chicago