Starbuck’s Roastery, Coffee and Cocktails

Starbuck’s Reserve Roastery (646 N. Michigan), I’m guessing, offends as many people as it pleases. I’ve heard citizens complain about the long lines and the lack of electrical outlets, and I’ve heard others gush about the food and, of course, the coffee.

Walking into Starbuck’s Reserve Roastery is like walking into Eataly years ago: there’s an excited sense of exploration in the air, as people discover and learn about new foods and beverages.

It’s pretty cool, if perhaps somewhat too self-consciously Insta-ready (a criticism that could be made of many restaurant offerings, museum exhibits, etc.)

There’s a dramatic interactive coffee roasting demo, with the roaster tenders talking about their craft, giving smells of the roasted beans to passersby, building people’s awareness of the coffee bean, all with a kind of Disney-esque, Up with People, unrelentingly positive attitude.

We looked around, marveled at some of the coffee stations, and were momentarily intrigued by the vacuum pot coffee makers. The food didn’t look that interesting (not bad by any means, just not that compelling: ham and cheese croissant, the usual assortment of pastry, that kind of thing). Pizza smelled and looked pretty good, as did the big ovens in back, which sit over wooden logs, suggesting wood-burning ovens, but no: the ovens are built to just appear woodburning, “just for show,” said one of the servers who, I suppose, will one day be replaced by an animatronic docent.

We put in our names at the bar, and in thirty minutes (seems like the normal wait time), we got a seat at the bar. I ordered the Roastery Boilermaker, a shandy-like beverage of Starbuck’s Reserve Cold Brew, grain whiskey, Malort, grapefruit (a slice, as well as juice and bitters), honey, club soda, and salt tincture…with a sidecar of Rhine Hall Bierschnapps. I took a few sips of the main beverage before adding the schnapps, and I liked it better without – schnapps brought down the brightness of all that grapefruit. The cocktail designers probably wanted to create a “boilermaker,” so they had to include a shot to complete the gimmick, but the flavors didn’t mesh as well as I would have liked.

Carolyn got a Sparkling Sakura Allure with green tea, Japanese whisky, prosecco, barrel-aged vanilla syrup and lemon. We both thought this was a good sip, more full-bodied than a sparkler alone, and probably a good pairing with a lot of the food we saw there.

This place has a reputation for being packed, and it was very crowded (at least so it seemed; a server told us it’s usually much more crowded, and when we’d walked by the place earlier, about 2pm, there was a big, big line just to enter the damn place). I can easily see how it would be a popular stop, especially for those working in the area. Let’s say you’ve finished the workday, and you’re beat and you want a drink before dinner but need to get your energy up; the solution is a Starbuck’s caffeinated cocktail that gives you a lift and mellows you at the same time, with more subtlety and sophistication than a Red Bull and vodka.

Sitting at the bar, with all the hustle and bustle of highly-caffeinated, very alert boozers all around us, and in the generally well-appointed surroundings, I felt vaguely that I was in a shopping mall, which is certainly not the vibe that many of us seek out in a bar but is certainly familiar enough to not offend most people.

Interesting. Thanks for the report, David. I've been to the Reserve Roastery in Seattle, which is smaller and reminded me more of a caffeinated Willy Wonka factory. Looking at photos of the Chicago version, our town's roastery definitely seems to match your shopping mall description. I think I'll wait until things calm down a bit before visiting, but it sounds like a fun addition to the Michigan Ave. tourist paradise. But it also sounds like at least an amusing stop for refreshment if one is walking around that area.

I've been busy.

I should have done this last year.

I went twice in the first 10 days. A couple of times in December, and warned friends off of it at the end of the year also. We sprinted over to Eataly instead.

But the views, food, and vibe are pretty compelling, at least at night.

Oh, it is an incredible, and expensive, cup of coffee.



https://share.icloud.com/photos/0lEeYxr ... aVhqpx1LmQ

pairs4life wrote:I've been busy.

I should have done this last year.

I went twice in the first 10 days. A couple of times in December, and warned friends off of it at the end of the year also. We sprinted over to Eataly instead.

What changed your mind about the place? Seems like you started out liking it and then something happened...

David Hammond wrote:

pairs4life wrote:I've been busy.

I should have done this last year.

I went twice in the first 10 days. A couple of times in December, and warned friends off of it at the end of the year also. We sprinted over to Eataly instead.

What changed your mind about the place? Seems like you started out liking it and then something happened...

I still like it a lot. Just not the crowds. I generally skip daytime and go at night when it is civilized.

The view from Michigan Avenue is lovely.

pairs4life wrote:I still like it a lot. Just not the crowds. I generally skip daytime and go at night when it is civilized.

The view from Michigan Avenue is lovely.

Going late is a good plan.

We had a blast of coffee after 6pm, which is usually unheard of, but we felt we had to, being around all that excellent brew. Just as Starbucks taught us not to blink when presented with a $5 cup of joe, so might this place be training some of us to take the plunge and have a cup a few hours before bedtime.

David Hammond wrote:
Going late is a good plan.

We had a blast of coffee after 6pm, which is usually unheard of, but we felt we had to, being around all that excellent brew. Just as Starbucks taught us not to blink when presented with a $5 cup of joe, so might this place be training some of us to take the plunge and have a cup a few hours before bedtime.

The Nordic country folks drink coffee all day, and night without issue.

pairs4life wrote:

David Hammond wrote:
Going late is a good plan.

We had a blast of coffee after 6pm, which is usually unheard of, but we felt we had to, being around all that excellent brew. Just as Starbucks taught us not to blink when presented with a $5 cup of joe, so might this place be training some of us to take the plunge and have a cup a few hours before bedtime.

The Nordic country folks drink coffee all day, and night without issue.

When Starbuck's opens a Roastery in Flekkefjord, it's bound to be a huge success.

pairs4life wrote:The Nordic country folks drink all day, and night without issue.

Fixed that for you.