The folks over at Last Call Tavern Group have recently acquired a new building in Lake View, located at 3734 N Southport Ave.
The property, which has been vacant for 12 years now, was once the home of Blue Bayou bar. Owner Alex Zupancic has had his eyes on the property since its vacancy and has recently acquired it through what he calls a freak occurrence. Zupancic couldn’t provide any additional details regarding the new property to What Now Chicago. He says he still needs to figure out the historical angle that will serve as the bar’s foundation, a practice he has undergone through all of his bars, including The Butcher’s Tap, which is only a few blocks away.
Zupancic and Last Call Tavern Group take pride in creating high-end sports bars that bring the area’s history into the concept of the restaurant. A recent example of this comes from the group’s next opening, Willie Lill’s. The new Park West bar, which is expected to open in Summer 2022, was named after an English immigrant who landed in Chicago in 1835 after walking over 300 miles from Louisville, KY, to bring his southern distilling knowledge to the windy city. Zupancic says he will take some time to look into the past of the building and area to create a concept that fits its history.
What is known is that this will be another upscale sports bar with a scratch kitchen. Zupancic, who loves to compete with nearby restaurants to bring high-end meals to its establishments, says the scratch kitchens will provide alternatives to bar food instead of commonly found greasy food. Zupancic also tells What Now Chicago that the new bar will likely align with the new Willie Lill’s theme, focused on a Southern style.
