Lincoln Square’s desperate dearth of quality cocktails will come to an end sometime in the late fall, when the Fifty/50 Group and crack barkeep Benjamin Schiller open the Sixth, a bar adjacent to a second iteration of their Quad Cities-style pizza joint Roots. Schiller promises seven to nine house cocktails at $10-$12 apiece and a deep American whiskey collection with a special focus on bottles from defunct distilleries. “I’ve noticed a sort of ‘Aw shucks—we’re just a shot-and-a-beer joint’ approach in bartending of late,” he says. “Many bartenders have grown tired of being lumped in with the easy-to-make-fun-of ‘mixologist’ archetype that’s out there, so I think they’ve stopped trying to push forward in a lot of ways. Not us. We’re going forward as hard as we can.” What’s to eat to soak up all that booze? Doner kebabs and frites. On a trip to Paris four years ago Schiller was treated to his first taste of the ubiquitous late-night Turkish-European street food. “I ate my entire order before the rest of the guys finished putting theirs in,” he says. “Been hooked since.”
Expected to open in late fall. 2200 W. Lawrence, thesixthbar.com