Publican Anker - Brunch

While there are independent restaurants and bars around, in many cases it does help to be part of a group.  A restaurant group can take care of the administrative side, human resources, accounting, and legal matters, while leaving the responsibility of what the restaurant will look like, what service will be like, and what will be on the plate (or in the glass in the case of a bar) to the chef and the front of house manager.  There are cases when the partners in the group try to add their decisions to the management of the restaurant itself, which can complicate things and possibly lower the quality of the food and drink served, but that doesn't always have to be the case.  One Off Hospitality Group is one of the better groups in Chicago.  Consisting of 11 restaurants and a cocktail lounge, it is headed by Chef Paul Kahan, who is listed as the executive chef for all of the restaurants.  The thing about that is that as another chef recently said, the higher you move up, the less you actually cook.  Paul Kahan may come up with the concepts, but he is an excellent manager in that he has been able to find the right talent to run his places and leave them to it (though he does have final say as to the menus).  While each concept is independent and different, there are several that fall under their most popular restaurant, The Publican, which I have been to several times.  Besides The Publican, there is Publican Quality Meats, the butcher and deli for the group, Publican Bread, Publican Tavern, and their newest concept in the Publican envelope, Publican Anker.  Located in the heart of Wicker Park (and next to three other One Off concepts, Dove's Luncheonette, Big Star, and The Violet Hour), it benefits from a lot of walking traffic.  The corner has glass walls with an anchor painted in the window and notes whole fish, wine, and fresh vegetables painted on the bricks above the window.  This is the focus of Publican Anker (it also has a good selection of oysters).  While The Publican itself has a good selection of vegetables and oysters, it is, at heart, a beer hall focusing on beer, pork, and oysters.  Anker occupies the corner of Milwaukee and Damen, with entrances on the corner, and on both Milwaukee and Damen.  The bar is on the corner and is bent around the corner with seating in front of the bar and down the hall that runs down the Damen side.  We were seated in the back of the restaurant near the Damen and Milwaukee entrances.  Aside from the large windows at the front corner and the glass doors in the back, lighting was provided by the same hanging globes used in The Publican.  The kitchen was located along the hall on the Milwaukee side with a large window for service.  The chairs were steel with the tables made from heavy wood, like an old sea ship and anchor, extending the motif implied by the name.

 

The restaurant serves cocktails and beer for brunch as well as coffee.  I was not in a cocktail mood, so I drank coffee (and water), which was very good.  For my brunch, I had a Prosciutto Scramble with Dill Havarti and Pickled Shallots, and served with Toast.  On the side I had Frites with Garlic Aioli.  The scramble was very good.  The eggs were cooked perfectly.  They were light and fluffy, just on the edge of being undercooked and seasoned well with salt and pepper, with plenty of Prosciutto and Dill Havarti, which itself was very light and added a great dill flavor.  The toast looked homemade with plenty of large airholes and grill marks.  It was firm enough to easily eat the eggs and added a nice hominess to it.  Frites could easily be confused with fries, but I would argue that because they are double fried, once at a lower temperature to blanch and a second time at a higher temperature to brown, they are different.  These were lightly browned with a crispy outside and a fluffy interior and served, in the French or Belgian-style, with Garlic Aioli.  They were crisp, crunchy, fluffy, salty, and a great accompaniment to the scramble.

I really enjoyed my brunch here and the experience in general.  It stands up to its reputation as a One Off Hospitality restaurant generally and specifically, a Publican restaurant.  I will definitely have to return at a future date for brunch again and/or dinner.