Level Sporting Club, Ann Sather Wicker Park, and a Le Bouchon Rotisserie Heads to Bucktown

🍽 ON THE PLATE

Level Sporting Club is opening on Clark Street. Clarissa Flores — Whitney Young grad, former Northwestern guard, two decades in Chicago hospitality (most recently director of operations at Tao Group) — is putting the city's first dedicated women's sports bar at 3343 N. Clark St., a few blocks south of Wrigley in the old Lowcountry seafood-boil space. The team is targeting a May open. It's a two-level, 5,632-square-foot space with a basement lounge, walls of TVs, elevated bar fare from chef Amanda Barnes of Le Colonial, and a roster of women investors. The timing isn't subtle: the WNBA All-Star Game is in Chicago this summer. There are only a handful of bars in the country built around this premise — Portland's The Sports Bra is the original — and Chicago's are Babe's in Logan Square and Whiskey Girl Tavern in Edgewater. Level is the most ambitious of the three.

Ann Sather is closing on Belmont after 80+ years — and reopening in Wicker Park in July. Owner Tom Tunney (44th Ward alderman 2003–2023) confirmed Tuesday that the flagship at 909 W. Belmont will close in late June to make way for an apartment building, and the new Ann Sather will open in July at 1819 W. Division St., the old Yolk space on the Wicker Park-West Town border. It seats roughly 150 inside plus a 40-to-50-seat sidewalk café in warm months, and the cinnamon-roll bakery counter is staying. This is technically Ann Sather's return to Wicker Park — they had a Milwaukee Avenue location from 2001 to 2007 that closed when adjacent construction destabilized the building. The Broadway location in East Lakeview (3415 N. Broadway) and the Granville location in Edgewater (1147 W. Granville) remain open.

Chez Poulet is bringing rotisserie chicken — and the Le Bouchon legacy — to Bucktown this summer. Brothers Nicolas and Oliver Poilevey, sons of the late Jean-Claude Poilevey (the chef who built Le Bouchon at 1958 N. Damen into one of the country's best French restaurants before he was killed in a 2016 multi-car pileup), are turning the old Taqueria Chingón space at 2234 N. Western Ave. into a counter-service rotisserie chicken spot. Whole free-range birds spinning over potatoes that catch the drippings (very French), bread from Mindy's Bakery in Wicker Park, French-leaning desserts (chocolate mousse, crème brûlée), and a small temperature-controlled wine shop tucked into the back. Weekend menu adds wraps and banh mi; pot pie joins in winter.

📅 MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Lincoln Park Mayfest starts tonight on Armitage. Fifth annual edition. Armitage Avenue closes between Racine and Sheffield: Friday 4–10 p.m., Saturday noon–10 p.m., Sunday noon–9 p.m. Two stages, this weekend's lineup runs from local rock to a U2 tribute (Into The Heart, Saturday 4:15 p.m.) to ABBA covers — Friday night closes with Chronic Flannel at 8:45 p.m., Saturday with 16 Candles at 8 p.m., Sunday with Simply Elton at 7:30 p.m. Plus the Spring Fine Art Mart, a pet parade, arts and crafts vendors, kids' area, and neighborhood restaurant activations. $10 suggested donation supports RANCH Triangle, the all-volunteer association that's run this part of the neighborhood since 1963. ranchtriangle.org/mayfest

🏗 PERMIT DESK

Stage 773 is gone, and a 40-unit apartment building is going up in its place. A construction permit was issued Tuesday for 1215-1225 W. Belmont Ave., the former home of Stage 773 — the off-Loop theater that ran in the old North Lakeside Cultural Center for two decades before closing during the pandemic and never reopening. JAB Real Estate, designed by Moth Architects, is putting up a five-story, 40-unit residential building with about 2,200 square feet of ground-floor retail, parking for 24 cars and 40 bikes, a fitness center, a rooftop deck, and a small resident lobby. All 40 units are two-bedrooms; eight are designated affordable. Demolition cleared in late March; foundation work is imminent.

QUICK HITS

See you next Friday — The 60614