River North’s Dart Bar Switches Chefs Before Opening and More Intel

—River North’s upcoming dart bar, Point & Feather, opens November 9 at 113 W. Hubbard Street, but there’s already a chef change. The new kitchen head is Ryan Wombacher. He’s familiar with the neighborhood. The chef’s worked at Hampton Social and Bar Siena, as well as Brass Monkey in Fulton Market. It didn’t work out with Rick Rodriguez, who was named P&F’s chef in September. Rodriguez will instead focus on building his WHISK brands and will apparently serve as a consultant.

—Employees at Dusek’s/Thalia Hall and the upcoming S.K.Y. woke up on Tuesday morning along 18th Street in Pilsen to find their restaurant windows vandalized with anti-gentrification graffiti. Pilsen is no stranger to seeing vandalism as a way to get people talking about gentrification, DNAinfo noted. This comes a week after a group of young Latinos confronted S.K.Y.’s GM outside the restaurant, peppering him with questions and insults. Check out this Reddit thread, which discusses the group’s strategy. While that group was affiliated with LA activists, a local group put out a statement on the matter. ChiResists insists that its members are not the “bad guys.” The group writes that they’re not directly responding to S.K.Y.’s opening, but the reaction is a more general one to gentrification: “We are not the ones that have displaced more than 10,000 residents from Pilsen.” The group did not endorse or disown the graffiti. And while gentrification is a complex and nuanced issue that many attempt to tone police, the group didn’t seem to care that S.K.Y.’s chef-owner is Filipino, and that the restaurant is named after his wife, who is Chinese. Meanwhile, 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis is on dial-up speed and has yet to comment publicly on the matter. He is meeting with restaurant owners.

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—Staying in Pilsen, Dusek’s has announced a pop-up series featuring Roberta’s, a trendy Brooklyn pizzeria. The New Yorkers will take over Dusek’s wood-burning ovens November 11 and 12, and Dusek’s will pair the thin crusts with beer cocktails and beers.

—Natural disasters have ravaged three different parts of America, as forest fires burn in California and residents in Texas and Puerto Rico rebuild after hurricanes struck both regions. Chicago’s restaurants are raising money to help victims. The Tribune has a rundown on efforts from Ryan McCaskey of Acadia, who will host a chef’s dinner on Monday, November 6, benefiting Northern California victims. Chefs like Abe Conlon (Fat Rice) and Jason Vincent (Giant, Ace Hotel) are helping out. Tickets are $85. There’s an a la carte dinner on November 9 at Animale in Bucktown benefiting Puerto Rican victims via Unidos Por los Nuestros. The fare will be a fusion of Italian and Puerto Rican. Meanwhile, over at Boarding House, Alpana Singh’s only Chicago restaurant, they’ll host a dinner November 6 for $60 per person. It’s called “Somms & Song” and benefits Puerto Rican victims.

—Parachute in Avondale is hosting its own pop-up on Wednesday, November 8. Seattle chef Rachel Yang will take over the Korean restaurant as she support her new cookbook, My Rice Bowl. Signed books are available, but reservations will only be taken over the phone at (773) 654-1460. Yang was a 2017 James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef Northwest.