There he was, rattling in the pot. Pincers taped shut and useless, the one-pound lobster struggling to escape to nowhere. He was, after all, in shellfish hell: a raw bar — more precisely, The Raw Bar & Grill.
A longtime neighborhood fixture, the narrow little storefront is a combo hangout for locals and seafood restaurant. It’s got fewer than a dozen tables in its main room, with exposed brick walls, a panoramic window onto the streets, a colorful fish tank in back and a big, smudgy lobster tub next to the front door.
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Situated in the heart of Wrigleyville, The Raw Bar & Grill is one of the neighborhood’s odder residents. It’s a few doors from the Metro, where noise can still shake the rafters and cause locals to squeal, across the street (more or less) from Wrigleyville Dogs and the Annoyance Theater, and just doors from a comedy club, a Mexican restaurant and the home of the Cubs.
What makes The Raw Bar & Grill unusual here is precisely its modest dimensions, tasteful decor and discreet demeanor. No loud signs, no outrageously wild drinks, no greasy fast food, no specials for tourists and baseball fans, no pictures of Michael Jordan or John Belushi, no My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult fans waiting to shuck a couple of oysters before heading off for a show next door.
On any evening, there are a couple of guys from the block having Red Stripes at the bar, talking amiably with the help, while a couple here and there laugh it up, suck on a crab leg or tear through a lobster tail. It’s a perfect place for conversation, especially early in the evening before it gets packed and before music starts at the Ivory Lounge next door. The atmosphere is relaxed, the service quick and friendly and, even if everybody doesn’t know your name, kinda cozy indeed.
The menu offers deliciously perfect blue point oysters, stone crab claws, Alaskan king crab, Maine lobsters, blackened mahi mahi, grilled scallops and other seafood delights, as well as frog legs, a veggie eggplant for those who refuse to dip into sea life, and the occasional unexpected special, such as ostrich.
If you order the lobster, it’ll be fished out in front of your eyes and offered to you for inspection before its execution. The death rattle of the claws against the side of the pot is rather disconcerting, so be prepared.
At about 9 on most nights, the Ivory Lounge (accessed through The Raw Bar & Grill’s dining room) offers the same marine menu plus music. A grand piano crowns the east side of the room (woefully out of tune, but no one much seems to care) where about two dozen tables are comfortably spread out.
The Ivory Lounge is much more restaurant than bar, more formal, more group and couple oriented than the friendly solo and small group feel of The Raw Bar & Grill. The decor is more clearly thought out, less arbitrary (no stuffed ducks, as in The Raw Bar & Grill, nor charming posters from Grant Park concerts). Here it’s all neatly appointed, with wall decorations that aspire to or suggest art, and curious knickknacks that give the place a subdued Caribbean feel.
There’s a very hip jukebox, with Nina Simone and Luther Vandross selections that well represent the lush, dark atmosphere the room aspires to. In the very back, a pool table sits under a carefully hanging lamp, its perimeters of light perfectly embracing the table itself and not an inch more.
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Effie Mihopoulos is probably best known as an arts writer around town, with articles of all sorts gracing the pages of The Reader, New City, PerformInk, et al. But her voice comes through most dramatically in her poetry, which was showcased in two acclaimed books, 1993’s “Languid Love Lyrics” and 1991’s “The Moon Cycle,” which was adapted into a full-length play and ran for a while at different venues in town. Mihopoulos will be joined by poet Carolyn Paprocki for a free reading at the Logan Square Branch Library Saturday afternoon.
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Every day and night, 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for lunch (except on Saturday, when no lunch is served), 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. for dinner, but the bar stays open until 2 a.m., The Raw Bar & Grill, 3720 N. Clark St., 773-348-7291. Both The Raw Bar & Grill and the Ivory Lounge are wheelchair accessible, but the bar counter is not.
Saturday, 3 p.m., Effie Mihopoulos and Carolyn Paprocki, Logan Square Branch Library, 3255 W. Altgeld St. Call 312-744-5295. The library is wheelchair accessible.