toria wrote:I'll be going to the Whistler on Monday evening. I need some recommendations. I understand they do not serve food. Any good restaurants nearby?

Longman & Eagle, Revolution Brewing, Lula and everything else in Logan Square are between 1 and 2 miles north.

good advice. I'm thinking I'll order something light and refreshing and my companion could order a carbonated water type drink with some kind of fruit syrup and a slice of citrus. Something like an Italian soda. Good to know there are places to get something to eat. Possibly I'll go to El Nandu for empanadas.
Do you think the tamale man might show up at The Whistler?

toria wrote:Do you think the tamale man might show up at The Whistler?

Pretty sure I've seen him there before.

=R=

As it turns out the young people running the Whistler are very low key and accomodating. They made us a non alcoholic mojito which was very refreshing. The vibe was very low key and like a private party which kind of it was but entry to the bar was not off limits to anyone. We had empanadas at El Nandu and several in our party brought them back to eat. There is no pressure to buy drinks seemingly which was refreshing. No vendors showed up. Thanks to all for advice.

yeah, the whistler is most definitely low key, it feels like drinking in someone's house. Especially when you go out to the back porch and drink alongside the aluminum siding.

The backyard bar opened this evening on the patio, offering 3 different swizzles for your summer sipping pleasure. As a result, things seemed to be somewhat calmer inside tonight. Business was steady, but I sat and chatted with Paul for a couple hours, and I've never really known that to be possible on a Friday night. I had 3 fantastic dealer's choice cocktails (including a "Black Cat"...didn't get the full ingredient list here, but it had Vida Mezcal, Ransom Old Tom, Sherry & Grapefruit, a drink from Dram in Brooklyn I think he said, which was one of the best drinks I've had in some time) and some great conversation. I seem to love the Whistler more with each visit.

kl1191 wrote:The backyard bar opened this evening on the patio, offering 3 different swizzles for your summer sipping pleasure. As a result, things seemed to be somewhat calmer inside tonight. Business was steady, but I sat and chatted with Paul for a couple hours, and I've never really known that to be possible on a Friday night. I had 3 fantastic dealer's choice cocktails (including a "Black Cat"...didn't get the full ingredient list here, but it had Vida Mezcal, Ransom Old Tom, Sherry & Grapefruit, a drink from Dram in Brooklyn I think he said, which was one of the best drinks I've had in some time) and some great conversation. I seem to love the Whistler more with each visit.

Wholeheartedly agree. I stopped in for about an hour on Friday evening, between dinner at Aroy and a nice session perched at The Office. I'm told I just missed you but ran into LTHers Laikom, Turkob and their spouses. A lovely stop and Paul and staff were as gratious as ever. I chatted with partner Rob, who was manning the patio bar but didn't have a drink back there. Upon a longer visit, it'll be requiste, though. I too, love The Whistler more with each visit.

=R=

Was back at Whistler on Saturday and took a few pics of the new Patio Bar . . .


7:15 pm - just getting rolling



Rob preps for the next round



This night's offerings

I had the #1 and it was delicious. I tasted the #2 and it was also mighty fine. The Patio Bar should be a very nice addition to what is already one of the finest bars in Chicago.

=R=

Does Whistler still offer cocktail lessons? And does anyone know if any other of our many fine drinking establishments offer the same?

Vitesse98 wrote:Does Whistler still offer cocktail lessons? And does anyone know if any other of our many fine drinking establishments offer the same?

Cocktail classes will resume this fall. Check their web site for details. Not sure if anyone else in town does this.

=R=

I love the kind of crude minimalistic look of the whistler. the back yard bar space looks very homespun and they do pour some good drinks.

Book Club/Tiki Night last Wednesday was a phenomenal experience, as Paul McGee created a menu of 12 original recipes, as well as an illustrated 'zine called "The House Without A Key," which contained several of the recipes featured at the event. It also included some great drawings of Paul, created by his wife Shelby . . .


Menu cover from Book Club At The Whistler - 2011.08.03

Paul's fluency with spirits and his passionate obsession with Tiki were readily apparent, as these were some of the finest Tiki drinks I've ever enjoyed. I tasted all 12 drinks on the menu (ordered 4 of my own) and definitely enjoyed each one of them. My favorites were the Lost Lake, which impressively combined campari, rhum agricole, light rum, maraschino liqueur, lime and pineapple. It was amazing to me the way the sweetness of the pineapple and the bitterness of the campari meshed together to immediately transport me to that mythical "tiki place." The White Whale was another creation from Paul that had a profound emotional effect. In this drink, cachaca, rhum agricole, passion fruit syrup, vanilla syrup, spice tincture, lime and Angostura bitters came together perfectly to create a tropical, refreshing and balanced cocktail. The Clipper Sky-Way was comprised of light rum, yellow chartreuse, lime and watermelon. In this drink, the complexity of the chartreuse married up excellently with the savory notes of the watermelon. I also loved one that Paul named after yours truly -- Captain Kaplan's Grog -- which was made with Jamaican overproof rum, ruby port, Angostura bitters, Peychaud's bitters and lime.

There were so many more on this brilliant and varied menu and none that I didn't enjoy. More than anything else, it was clear that Paul spends a lot of time thinking about and fine-tuning his original creations. As much as I enjoyed the last couple of Tiki nights, this one blew the other incarnations away and made me realize how truly fortunate we are to have someone of his steep ability here in town. If he were a chef, The Whistler would be the restaurant that everyone would be talking about.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Vitesse98 wrote:Does Whistler still offer cocktail lessons? And does anyone know if any other of our many fine drinking establishments offer the same?

Cocktail classes will resume this fall. Check their web site for details. Not sure if anyone else in town does this.

=R=

It's not quite the same as live classes, but the online curriculum Barsmarts Wired is being offered for free this summer. Just use the promo code Summer2011 when registering. There's a lot of great information for would-be bartenders and enthusiasts alike in the various modules.

kl1191 wrote:I had 3 fantastic dealer's choice cocktails (including a "Black Cat"...didn't get the full ingredient list here, but it had Vida Mezcal, Ransom Old Tom, Sherry & Grapefruit, a drink from Dram in Brooklyn I think he said, which was one of the best drinks I've had in some time)

The Black Cat can be found in Beta Cocktails - I think it's Punt e Mes, rather than sherry. It's the brainchild of one Nicholas Jarrett of Dram (among many others).



PS. Hi! New to Chi, new to LTH. Fittingly, I heard about it while at the Whistler

retzie wrote:

kl1191 wrote:I had 3 fantastic dealer's choice cocktails (including a "Black Cat"...didn't get the full ingredient list here, but it had Vida Mezcal, Ransom Old Tom, Sherry & Grapefruit, a drink from Dram in Brooklyn I think he said, which was one of the best drinks I've had in some time)

The Black Cat can be found in Beta Cocktails - I think it's Punt e Mes, rather than sherry. It's the brainchild of one Nicholas Jarrett of Dram (among many others).



PS. Hi! New to Chi, new to LTH. Fittingly, I heard about it while at the Whistler

Hey, welcome.

Thanks for the pointer, I had managed to forget about this drink in the month between the time I had it and when I picked up my copy of Beta Cocktails, so I guess I didn't even recognize it in the book. I'm relatively sure the drink had sherry when Paul made it, so maybe he was making a variant or maybe the drink was still a work in progress when he had it at Dram...now, I'll have to try it with PeM.

Grubstreet is reporting that Paul McGee is leaving The Whistler

Now that he's gone, is this place still worth a stop?

kathryn wrote:Now that he's gone, is this place still worth a stop?

I had a very pleasant stop there earlier this week. The owners and staff are still notably hospitable and they're still taking great pride in what they do. I only had one cocktail but I'll definitely be back for a longer session soon.

=R=

I'm sad to report I had my worst trip to the Whistler last night. They appear to have a stricter door policy now and we were forced to wait outside for 20 minutes at 9:30. When we walked in, the place was 2/3 as full as it usually is, so it seems they're trying to decrease the head count. Or artificially give it the appearance of being popular, which is a bad idea since they lost 8-10 customers while I was waiting. Either way, the door man was kind of a dick, which gave us a bad taste before we even set foot in the bar.

The drink menu has changed. There are some more challenging cocktails on the menu now like the one with malort and mezcal that I ordered and a black manhattan that my friend ordered. Both were completely out of balance and unpleasant. Our group also ordered a hemingway daiquiri that tasted mostly of soda water. To top it off, many of the cocktails now cost 10 dollars, up from the standard 8 dollar drinks I've been ordered at the Whistler for years.

It's probably too soon to sound a down hill alert. The new team is still figuring things out. But I can say that the change since Paul's departure is noticeable and Whistler will not be the same bar it's been under his leadership.

turkob wrote:I'm sad to report I had my worst trip to the Whistler last night. They appear to have a stricter door policy now and we were forced to wait outside for 20 minutes at 9:30. When we walked in, the place was 2/3 as full as it usually is, so it seems they're trying to decrease the head count. Or artificially give it the appearance of being popular, which is a bad idea since they lost 8-10 customers while I was waiting. Either way, the door man was kind of a dick, which gave us a bad taste before we even set foot in the bar.

The drink menu has changed. There are some more challenging cocktails on the menu now like the one with malort and mezcal that I ordered and a black manhattan that my friend ordered. Both were completely out of balance and unpleasant. Our group also ordered a hemingway daiquiri that tasted mostly of soda water. To top it off, many of the cocktails now cost 10 dollars, up from the standard 8 dollar drinks I've been ordered at the Whistler for years.

It's probably too soon to sound a down hill alert. The new team is still figuring things out. But I can say that the change since Paul's departure is noticeable and Whistler will not be the same bar it's been under his leadership.

I was also there last night and had a great experience. Of course, I arrived much earlier than turkob, at around 5. If I ever end up at a bar at 9:30 on a weekend, I'm pretty sure something has gone wrong. Honestly, even when Paul was behind the bar, by 9:30, I was almost always long gone by then.

In any case, I think the new menu is great, and the cocktails I had last night were very tasty. No longer being limited to $8 drinks means that the menu has more range. It's tough to continually come up with worthy cocktails when you have to restrict your costs so strictly. Removing that cap allows for the use of ingredients that might not ever make it into an $8 drink. The current menu offers ten cocktails. Of those, seven cost $8 or less (There is one $5 cocktail, one $6 cocktail and five $8 cocktails). Two others are priced at $10 and there's a $12 cocktail -- a Mezcal Last Word -- that incorporates Del Maguey Vida, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino and Lime. To me, this seems entirely reasonable and 70% of the menu is still at $8 or below.

My favorite cocktail from last night was the Bodega Buck ($6). It's made with Old Heaven Hill (bonded), Lustau Dry Oloroso sherry, honey, lemon, ginger ale and Angostura bitters. It was an immensely refreshing drink with an impressively long and nutty finish, which was imparted by the sherry. The more I sipped it, the more I liked it -- a very fine cocktail. Another one I enjoyed last night was a drink I wouldn't normally order but I'm trying to branch out. It's called a Red, White and Green, and it's made with Azul silver tequila, amaro Abano, lemon, honey and celery bitters. I loved the pepperyness and the grassiness of this drink. I don't drink a lot of tequila but I really loved this cocktail. I started out with a Voyager (El Dorado 5-year rum, Benedictine, Velvet falernum, lime, Angostura bitters), which was made very well. It was tart and sweet but not overly so on either count -- a very solid rendition. All 3 of these drinks were made by Eric, who understands the gravity of his position and takes it very seriously. He's got respect for the craft and it shows in his work.

A custom-made Old Fashioned, made by Rob, was pretty out there but damned tasty in its own right. Inspired by his recent trip to Spain (where rum is finding its way into Old Fashioneds), it was made with equal parts of Smith & Cross rum, Rittenhouse 100 rye and Hine Rare VSOP cognac. The S&C was very upfront but not overwhelming. I liked it a lot.

I'm guessing that issues with crowd control probably have more to do with the speed of drink-making than anything else. Let's face it, Paul McGee is a beast; an unnaturally efficient machine when it comes to making drinks. And he himself would tell you that his speed increased greatly during his tenure at Whistler. Eric's just getting started and I'm sure his speed will increase with time. But it's a small place and the way it's set up, there's only room for one person to be making drinks, so there are innate limitations that Paul's insane abilities helped mitigate.

I'll admit that I was concerned about The Whistler's fate when I learned that Paul would be leaving. And it's still very early. But one thing that's clear is that the culture of seroius cocktails that Paul brought to the Whistler is still very much alive there. The drinks are tasty and the new menu is just that, a new menu. I'm not comparing Whistler 2.0 to Paul McGee's Whistler. I'm comparing it to all the other cocktail venues in town and in my mind, it's still a top-tier destination.

=R=

Strong recommendations for the Standing Stone cocktail on the current menu: Isle of Skye Scotch Whisky, Laphroaig Single Malt Scotch, Angostura Bitters, Don's Spices #2, and Lemon Juice. Really unlike any other cocktail I've ever had - almost savory. It sort of tastes like worcester sauce.

If you haven't been lately, The Whistler's new patio furniture is a great update to an already great bar. The new wood benches match the bar's minimalist look and are much better for groups than the old table-and-chairs setup. Well done.

Stopped by the other night with a group of three and had a disappointing experience. Counted about 25 other heads in the place, but it took 10 minutes to get noticed at the bar, and another 20 to get our drinks. Another group walked in 5 minutes after us, used the same menus we used to make our selection, and somehow got their order in first. Once I finally ordered, I went back to sit with my group on one of the stage tables. One of the bartenders, came over and said, "just a head's up, we don't have table service, so you should wait by the bar in a couple minutes". I didn't assume they did, but just wanted to rest my feet as I knew there were at least 6 cocktails ahead of us. Anyway, I got up in 2 minutes, and waited for 18 more near the bar.

So 30 minutes from entering to drinking for $30 of cocktails for 3 . Not okay in my book. To verify the time (b/c the mind can play tricks when you're thirsty) we checked the time on some cell phone pics we took directly in front of The Whistler before entering.

Not posting to complain, just looking for someone to tell me this was a one-off (though my first experience there wasn't too dissimilar).

Similar experiences or simple bar mistake?

Sweetbread wrote:Stopped by the other night with a group of three and had a disappointing experience. Counted about 25 other heads in the place, but it took 10 minutes to get noticed at the bar, and another 20 to get our drinks. Another group walked in 5 minutes after us, used the same menus we used to make our selection, and somehow got their order in first. Once I finally ordered, I went back to sit with my group on one of the stage tables. One of the bartenders, came over and said, "just a head's up, we don't have table service, so you should wait by the bar in a couple minutes". I didn't assume they did, but just wanted to rest my feet as I knew there were at least 6 cocktails ahead of us. Anyway, I got up in 2 minutes, and waited for 18 more near the bar.

So 30 minutes from entering to drinking for $30 of cocktails for 3 . Not okay in my book. To verify the time (b/c the mind can play tricks when you're thirsty) we checked the time on some cell phone pics we took directly in front of The Whistler before entering.

Not posting to complain, just looking for someone to tell me this was a one-off (though my first experience there wasn't too dissimilar).

Similar experiences or simple bar mistake?

We had a stellar experience there on Saturday night, so hopefully what you described above was just a blip.

=R=

I was there last Monday night and had a great time (as always). There was a decent sized crowd for a Monday night, but we got our drinks quickly and grabbed a couple seats on the patio.

We went on Saturday night, arriving at 5pm. It was, of course, quite empty, so we were able to find seats easily for our group of 5. Due to the rain (monsoon? deluge?) the back patio was not open, but it never got crowded inside, and there were plenty of seats when we left around 8, perhaps because of the weather, or because the music wasn't slated to start until 10.

We each were given an "amuse" cocktail. Something spicy that was a riff on a Sidecar. It was tasty, but we wanted to try a lot of different things. The folks at the bar were also serving at tableside, and it was helpful when they quizzed us about what we liked and didn't - sweet vs savory, which types of liquor, strong or not so strong, etc. We had people trading off their drinks, tasting something else, liking this vs that, and so on, which was a lot of fun. I think our favorites were the (Pain? or something...) Killer, a rum drink with cinnamon in a tiki glass (off menu) and the Shrinebuilder, another off-menu drink made with their Verdita which I plan to make myself, at home - a lot. Just the Verdita over ice with some soda would be a great refresher.

I'm within walking distance (1.4 miles) and so will make this a destination in the future. I hadn't been before, but really enjoyed the time. Certainly part of it was the company (girls night out) but part of it was the atmosphere and the drinks, which we all thought were great.

Disclaimer: the group's drinks and snacks were paid for by Nike - we had won the "Cocktail Party" as part of their Summer Tour (http://gonike.me/ntcsummertour) - but opinions here are my own. I would willingly have paid for what we had.

We had a birthday party at the Whistler on Saturday. It was semi-private, as the ~30 guests filled up the patio from 5-8pm before the weekend crowd appeared. They allowed us to bring in food (catering by Smoque.)

Billy and the entire staff could not have been more gracious. Just a great experience.

Stopped for a cocktail yesterday evening. Don't recall the name and didn't jot it down. A riff on a Manhattan, but with an amaro I wasn't familiar with instead of vermouth. Really enjoyed it, but wasn't so thrilled about it being poured pre-mixed from a plastic bottle.

Just we are too old to get the music, bad disco that neither of us recognized. Not sure what the point of extremely loud disco music is if no one is dancing?