Spex Announces Official Grand Opening Event

Spex just announced an official grand opening event scheduled for Thursday, September 20^th from 5-8pm. This grand opening marks their nineteenth location at 5408 N. Clark St., Chicago; 773 275 2020. The store opened May 1st but now hosts a celebration for fans, friends and Andersonville customers. Guests will enjoy light bites and refreshments with a twist. Swag bags valued at $100 will be given to the first 25 guests. A trunk show featuring hand-made Lafont eyewear and sunwear collection will be showcased during the festivities.

Manager Lesley Bramson looks forward to officially launching the new Spex location: “We’re bringing ‘Spex appeal’ to Andersonville! Our team is pretty excited to welcome our new neighbors; the community response to our initial opening has been amazing. We’re carrying some really great eyewear for that on-trend customer though our collections are across the board; we’ve got a frame for just about everyone! Many of our customers appreciate what we’re bringing style-wise to the neighborhood.”

Clients shopping the new Andersonville location will discover a wide variety of eyewear styles and preview collections from Beausoleil, l.a.Eyeworks, Lafont, Lindberg, OGI, and Seraphin as well as Tom Ford, David Yurman, and Ray-Ban sunwear to note but a few available collections. Spex also offers the SpexWellness Exam – a state-of-the-art comprehensive eye exam, from an in-house optometrist to complete the experience

Taste of Andersonville Hightlight: Welcome Johnny Brown Bag and Marigold!

Nothing says storefront Italian restaurant like an espresso machine and chalkboards!

The Taste of Andersonville Dinner Crawl is next Wednesday, August 15, and we have a stellar lineup of delicious food from some of your favorite Andersonville restaurants.  You can choose from one of two routes: one more vegetarian friendly (the SALT Route), the other for the meat eaters among us (the PEPPER Route).  Or you can chose both with a specially priced WHOLE ENCHILADA ticket (quantities limited).   If you don't yet have your tickets, I highly recommend getting them soon!  This event will sell out.  Click here to see the routes and order your tickets.

Something exciting about this year's event is it features two restaurants that as of this writing are not yet open.  Marigold Restaurant was renowned in Uptown for serving delicious and inventive Indian fare, and they are set to relocate this fall to the former Ole Ole space at 5413 N. Clark.  For the dinner crawl, they will be serving their famous Murg Makhni (Butter Chicken) at Urban Orchard.  The second restaurant, which will be serving the addictive and delicious arancini (fried rice balls), is Johnny Brown Bag at 5306 N. Clark. By August 15 they will  be open and able to serve out of their storefront just north of Balmoral.

I recently sat down with Johnny Brown Bag owner John Scalzo in his beautifully renovated space and got the scoop on the new causal Italian spot and why Andersonville reminds him of growing up in Italy.  Read more after the jump!

Welcome Square Nail to the Neighborhood

Recently opened at 4860 N Clark Street, Square Nail is the newest addition to the Andersonville family of awesome home furnishing and custom retailers. In case you have not had a chance to stop by yet and meet the amiable brothers/owners of Square Nail the ADC has a little bit of information about what it is they are up to in their retail space and workshop.

Square Nail makes new furniture from old wood.  Resourcing materials from old barns, the brothers of Square Nail find the reclaimed wood to have a beauty and character that new lumber lacks.  Their reclaimed wood materials are typically walnut, white or red elm, oak, or pine.  Each piece of knotty, warped, nail punctured wood adds personality to a custom made piece. 

The brother are constantly challenged to find ways to incorporate interesting items into their furniture.  Copper tubing, rusty metal, copper plates, aluminum dragons, and an old sink have found their way into recent designs.  In addition they utilize the skills of a stained glass artist, hand wood turner, and welder to assist in these creations.

At Square Nail you will find an assortment of lamps, benches, and tables that include pub, coffee, sofa, end and kitchen styles, all created from reclaimed wood. All items are unique designs that range from clean and sleek to rough and industrial. Current pieces in the shop also include a butcher block island, a bathroom vanity and mirror, and stools. The shop will regularly have frames, framed mirrors and framed stained glass as well as smaller accessories such as vases, bowls, and other items hand-turned from reclaimed wood.

By far the most unique aspect of Square Nail is that it is divided into a showroom and woodworking shop.  A charming reclaimed barn door divides the space while still welcoming curious customers to take a peek in  the woodworking shop. While the brothers have created a number of pieces to speak to their skill and adventure for design, they would love to work with new clients to create custom pieces.  For clients, everything is done on-site and the customer has an opportunity to engage in every step of the process.

Take some time to stop by the shop and see what Square Nail has to offer, it is certainly worth a look just to see what the brothers are working on now!