:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59962547/steakbar.0.jpg)
After two years, SteakBar, the restaurant/bar from the owners of neighboring Benchmark — with a menu created by Brendan Sodikoff’s Hogsalt Hospitality — closed on Sunday in Old Town. The two-floor spot will reopen on Saturday under the same ownership — the company formerly known as Four Corners Tavern Group — with a new name. From Saturday on the restaurant at 1500 N. Wells Street will be known as 80 Proof.
When SteakBar opened in 2016, it was the first restaurant Four Corners opened in collaboration with Sodikoff. It represented a change for partygoers in Old Town with the owners of Benchmark placing more of a focus on food. At the same time, they sold kegged drinks like a Fireball Manhattan catering to the post-college crowd.
Just like Benchmark, which experienced a quick remodel last month, Four Corners is attempting to refresh another of their bars along Wells. They’ve tapped Siren Betty Designs for the revamp. There’s new furniture, art, plus a pool table, according to a news release.
The menu also gets an update with new bar bites (toasts, grain bowls and salads), a new hot fried chicken sandwich, Portabella fries, and drunken goat cheese with fig jam are some of the highlights.
New drinks include a Gin Basil Smash and a another, the “Get Rhythm Rye” is served in an 80 Proof-branded flask. A large-format drink, “Rebel Rosé” (peach vodka, elderflower, lemon juice, simple syrup and rosé) is served in a fishbowl.
Four Corners will only have six days for the renovations before Saturday brunch service. Stay tuned for the rebirth.
