Imagine my surprise today, walking down LaSalle Street in Chicago, when I saw this:
The sign is in the window of the new Gino’s East location at LaSalle and Illinois. The three-story restaurant, which opened just last month, features two bars and has a gigantic 600-person capacity. It’s in the building that was most recently LaSalle Power Co and Michael Jordan’s Restaurant before that.
Eater Chicago recently noted the new Gino’s East would offer local craft beers from the likes of 5 Rabbit, Revolution and Temperance. Perhaps offering craft beer wasn’t enough?
One thing is for sure — pizza and pale ales go hand in hand like nearly nothing else, so a new Chicago brewpub/pizzeria seems like a pretty good pairing to us. In fact, it’s kind of surprising that no one has thought to do it since Piece came onto the scene so many years ago. And since Piece focuses on New Haven style pizza, the Gino’s deep dish/craft beer one-two punch will be a unique new addition to the city’s beer scene. We’re looking forward to it.
We’ve been in contact with the PR firm for Gino’s East and hope to get more details soon.
Update:
Thanks to Twitter, we have confirmation of the forthcoming Gino’s East brewery over the weekend:
Further Updates:
More coverage here from Eater, Crain’s and Karl over at TOC tried their beers.