{"id":438,"date":"2010-04-29T12:30:55","date_gmt":"2010-04-29T17:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=438"},"modified":"2018-02-06T14:27:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:27:23","slug":"first-look-the-fountainhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/first-look-the-fountainhead\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: The Fountainhead"},"content":{"rendered":"

For starters, let me say that for the most part, I disdain the writings of Ayn Rand<\/a> and the tenets of her Objectivist<\/a> philosophy.\u00a0 (Strange way to start a bar review, right?) So it interested me — and irked me just a little — that a taproom I was very much looking forward to would be named after, or at least reference, Rand’s first major novel<\/a>.\u00a0 The fact that I can get past that and move forward should be testament to how much people in the neighborhood and beer geeks such as myself have been wanting to check out The Fountainhead, in the makings for 18 long months, located at Montrose and Damen.<\/p>\n

Considering we’ve been keeping our eyes on the corner back when it was an abandoned drugstore, just starting to be rehabbed, it’s safe to say we’ve been chomping at the bit for this joint to finally throw back the doors and say “Yes!\u00a0 Enter!\u00a0 Enjoy us and imbibe heavily!<\/em>”\u00a0 We wandered down to the corner, and surprise — there it was.\u00a0 A little birdy had told me they might be up and running, and lo and behold, they were.<\/p>\n

\"FOUNTAIN1\"<\/a>I stopped in for a beer and to see if, on first impression, The Fountainhead would objectively (get it?) live up to my expectations.\u00a0 Let’s take a quick look:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First off, these are just observations and should be considered a simple snapshot of a place we’ve been looking forward to hitting up.\u00a0 I don’t want to be in the habit of rushing to be the first outlet to write something, anything about a new joint in town.\u00a0 Any location takes a while to get up and running and shake out the kinks, so we won’t be focusing on what’s necessarily right or wrong or anything like that.\u00a0 Capice?<\/em><\/p>\n

That said:\u00a0 What about the effing beer, man?\u00a0 Tell us about the BEER.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we heard that Fountainhead had peeled off Phil Kuhl, who basically built the Beer School bar at Sheffield’s in Wrigleyville<\/a> (which is basically the only reason to go to Wrigleyville aside from the seemingly rebounding Risque Cafe<\/a>, more about that later) to be their beer director, we got extremely interested in seeing what he’d bring to the North Center neighborhood.<\/p>\n

There are lots to like.\u00a0 Two beer machines offer cask-pulled brews, one of which was New Holland’s<\/a> Dragon’s Milk.\u00a0 Others included local favorites Metropolitan<\/a> with their small-release I-Beam, Two Brothers’<\/a> Long Haul, another small-batch beer, Three Floyds<\/a> Topless Wytch, and another beer brewed just up the street, Half Acre<\/a>‘s Davey Totes stout.\u00a0 I enjoyed a pint of the Half Acre for $5, while looking at the rest of the expansive bottle list.<\/p>\n

Surprising to me, The Fountainhead is not just a beer bar.\u00a0 The wine list is larger than I had expected and their spirits menu is even larger, focusing on whiskeys and a ton of scotch.\u00a0 I spied a fruit press behind the bar, seemingly for fresh juices usually used in craft cocktails, but I didn’t see a single mixed drink on the list – but of course, I might have missed it and the menu distinctly specified that they were featuring a slow rollout of a limited menu for the time being.<\/p>\n

Actually, it was the whiskey list’s layout that I found the most interesting, because it seemed to be aimed directly at my tastes.\u00a0 Set up with three prices – one for a shot, one for a drink, they also have a category that highlights the Manhattan.\u00a0 (Not all whiskeys are available in all categories.)\u00a0 As someone who defers to a good Manhattan — and good Manhattans can be hard to find — it’s nice to see a focus on my particular drink of choice for when I opt away from brewed beverages.\u00a0 I don’t recall being consulted about the menu, but if Fountainhead chose to stick that nozzle into my subconscious without me knowing, I really can’t complain if they’ve got selections like this.<\/p>\n

While I didn’t partake from the food side of the menu, I did peruse.\u00a0 It’s laid out in sections of Starters<\/strong>, Salads<\/strong>, For Sharing<\/strong> and Not For Sharing<\/strong>, and a few desserts.\u00a0 The Not For Sharing<\/strong> appeals to our sense of selfishness – another subtle Rand reference? – but the For Sharing<\/strong> section seems destined to be the real go-to section for drinkers, made to graze on a la<\/em> tapas.<\/p>\n

A couple of the For Sharing<\/strong> plates include a sampler of sausage with braised cabbage and rye bread, and a pate\/rillete combo with compote and grainy mustard, both $14.\u00a0 The Fountainhead’s staff page<\/a> says that chef Robyn Marfurt spent time in both Germany and Spain, which seems to point directly to these dishes.\u00a0 Like I said, I didn’t order anything last night but I certainly saw a lot of people enjoying food equally as much as just drinking quality beer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fountainhead has been promising a rooftop deck for seasonal enjoyment, but it’s not open as of yet and while it’ll be a draw, we really see ourselves deferring to the also-not-yet-open rooftop at Gene’s Sausage Shop<\/a> up the street.\u00a0 (Mostly because it’s closer.)\u00a0 To be honest, the prospect of staring at either the Le Sabre diner across the street, a strip mall or the head banging Metal Haven kitty corner to The Fountainhead doesn’t exactly set our hearts alight, but perhaps the view is better than we imagine.<\/p>\n

Long story short, speaking from a beer-centric mindset, it’s like they picked up everything we liked about Sheffield’s, added a more ambitious and a bunch more whiskey and moved it a few Brown Line stops closer to my Albany Park\/Lincoln Square abode.\u00a0 And let’s face it – we’ve been to Sheffield’s Beer School bar for enough events or special releases and spent enough time there to know that we can trust Phil Kuhl to pretty much take care of us as he sees fit, and we’ll say “thank you” and ask for more.<\/p>\n

Fountainhead, we’ll be seeing you again soon enough, and next time I’ll bring my dog-eared copy of this<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After months and months of waiting, Karl finally gets in the doors of The Fountainhead. Was it worth the wait?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[986],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Look: The Fountainhead<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After months and months of waiting, Karl finally gets in the doors of The Fountainhead. 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