Chalk It Up
Pork and Beer in Bucktown

You always head out for the evening with a game plan. You just never write it in stone. Chalk gives you so many more options.

That's why you're going to like The Bristol, opening tomorrow in Bucktown. And we don't just mean because it literally has one entire chalk wall devoted to changing specials (items like Taco-Stand Corn on the Cob and Grilled Whole Fish with Sour Cherries).

We're not referring to the staggering variety of pork options, either. (Butchering its own hogs, the Bristol uses everything but the oink, from a bacon-and-egg sandwich to a pig-ear terrine.)

We simply mean that when it comes to social versatility, this place has your back.

On a weekday evening, your entourage can take over one of the handcrafted communal tables and throw back burgers and sides of duck-fat fries. Though an argument is bound to erupt over which of the 60 beers you'll order, you'll settle it soon enough with a few 750ml bottles of something suitably Belgian.

But on more intimate weekend nights, when you need a post-date glass of wine and something shareable, find seats at the cast concrete bar and order the savory monkey pull-apart bread.

From there, the game plan should take care of itself.