River North’s Gallery Bar is an art gallery-slash-street food concept that specializes in Mexi-Asian-Caribbean-Polynesian fusion wraps called “Bonzai” and also serves a large selection of beer cocktails.
Alright. That sentence was probably a little stomach-churny for anyone with a low tolerance for the sort of unabashed trendiness and worldly urbanism that that simultaneously makes restaurants (and bars and clubs) into parodies of themselves and attracts a clientele that’s too busy watching The Bachelorette or whatever to realize it’s supposed to be rolling its eyes.
Alas, maybe the rest of us are the jerks, because Gallery Bar is actually pretty good. Located up a narrow flight of stairs in the space that used to be Highball Lounge, it seems like the place could be harmed as much by its relative invisibility as it could by the current ubiquity of off-street street food. Inside, it’s predictably dim and full of art, much of it street-inspired, including two graffiti murals. The lighting fixtures above the bar are decorated in dozens of black high heels—artsy and foot fetishy.
The “bonsai” in which chef Patrick Glatz specializes are described on the menu as “Boutique Street Rolls” (residual eye roll), but are basically wraps that you can also get destructed if you’re sharing. My dining companion and skipped the bonzai and went with the Wonton Ahi Nachos, a heap of crispy, deep fried wonton chips cut in a familiar triangular shape, topped with crème fresh-wasabi sauce, a sweet-spicy tamari sauce, gleaming pink cubes of raw tuna, and frazzled strips of sea weed. On the side are three different slaws, so to speak: warm sautéed cabbage, a day-glo green seaweed salad, and a sweet and nutty one made from jicama matchsticks. The tuna was fresh and pleasant in taste and texture, and each bite is different depending on what slaw you pile atop your chip. The dish looks like a fusion , but it’s really tasty. The duck tacos on the daily specials menu—wonton taco shells loaded with juicy, gamey shredded duck meat with sweet-and-sour cherries on top—were equally good.
The cocktails were somewhat less impressive. A beer cocktail made with peach lambic and St. Germain lacks the fizz that beer is supposed to impart on a liquor drink. A lemony gin and champagne drink on the craft cocktail menu has a mildly unpleasant dry, puckery mouthfeel. The Factory Girl, made with Woodford Reserve and pear liqueur is a serviceable bourbon cocktail.