The Grid Nabs Dirk Flanigan For Tavern Consult

The Grid, formerly the downstairs bar of recently shuttered Baume & Brix, is taking over the entire space and will be rechristened as a tavern. Owners Jeff Krogh and Steve Tavoso have brought on Dirk Flanigan, formerly the executive chef of Henri, to craft a menu of "more upscale tavern food," something along the lines of what he did at the Gage (Henri's sister restaurant)," Crain's reports.

The chef has consulted with a few other restaurants since leaving Henri and the Gage, but is still in the process of opening his own restaurant in the Fulton Market district with his wife.

Flanigan will present his menu to Krogh and Tavoso soon, but revealed a few items, including crab toast with white bean, chili, lemon and arugula, and a fried chicken and oyster sandwich topped with sambal, peanuts and bok choy. There will also be pizzas and flatbreads coming from a wood burning oven in the building's former elevator shaft, and a six-to-eight seat pizza bar in which to eat them at.

The Grid will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and seat around 90 people in the main dining area. The restaurant is undergoing cosmetic changes, the addition of more booths and high-tops in the dining room, couches and ginormous TVs for the bar and lounge area, as well as an entrance connecting the downstairs (which will still have a clubby feel and will feature deejays) and upstairs spaces.

The owners are targeting the River North crowd and are eager to pull in families and plan to open around the middle of September. "Baume was too high-end for the area," says Krogh, who adds that the "feel and vibe was kind of boring."
· Dirk Flanigan helping to remake the Grid [Crains]
· All Coverage of Baume & Brix and The Grid [-ECHI-]
· The Grid [Official Site]