The Alley Cat - a New Wicker Park Neighborhood Bar with $12 Specialty Cocktails - Will Open Monday, May 11

The Alley Cat - the new Wicker Park neighborhood bar - will open to the public on Monday, May 11. The Alley Cat (2013 W Division St) is the first project from the newly-formed Tung & Cheek Hospitality Group of Derrick Tung, William Ravert, and Tony Dezutter. The trio have worked together for years as owners, operators, and partners of the Paulie Gee’s locations in Logan Square and Wicker Park. They will continue with their respective roles at Paulie Gee’s while also owning and operating The Alley Cat. 

The Alley Cat will be open seven days a week. Its hours are 5pm to midnight Sundays thru Thursdays and 5pm to 2am Fridays and Saturdays.

All 10 cocktails on The Alley Cat’s opening menu will be $12. Ravert and his bar team’s menu is about half classic cocktails and the other half are riffs on classics. Eight of these cocktails are batched and available on draft. The Alley Cat’s bar menu also features Miller High Life handshake specials with different shot options starting at $7.  A 16-bottle wine list (with 14 available by the glass), a few domestic and craft beers in bottles and cans, spirit-free and THC/CBD beverages, and curated back bar round out the beverage program. 

On the food side, Dezutter leans into comfort with about six bar snacks, but the menu is intentional in standing out with non-traditional preparations and dishes. Some food menu highlights include:

• Crispy Taters - fried potato wedges with green curry aioli and chives
   
• Pork Skewers - soy-garlic glazed pork skewers with dukkah, cilantro, and fresno hot sauce
   
• Fish Sticks - gluten-free smoked whitefish fish sticks -  think a potato croquette and a brandade merging together in fish stick form. Served with an herby remoulade sauce punched up with tarragon, chives, and dill.
   
• Bread & Butter - bread served with a Tomato compound butter and also an Italian Beef & Giardiniera compound butter.
   
• Girl Dinner - house-pickled veggies, cheese, bread and the “Girl Dinner Gibson”. The “Girl Dinner Gibson” is one of the specialty cocktail riffs on the beverage menu featuring Prairie Organic Gin, Lillet Blanc, House Pickle Brine, and Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub Bitters.

Other cocktail riff highlights include:

• Don’t Cry for Me, Margarita with Gran Centenario Plata Tequila, Aperol, Agave, Lime
   
• Blue Moon Over Wicker - a rum punch with a playful Heated Rivalry nod to the banana and blueberry smoothies served on the bit show featuring Denizen Aged White Rum, Banana Liqueur, Appel’s Blueberry-Lime Cordial.
   
• Grip It & Sip It - an Arnold Palmer/John Daly riff with Rare Tea Cellar tea with fresh-squeezed lemonade. Guests can order this as an NA cocktail as is, add a THC simple syrup, or add bourbon or vodka to make it a cocktail.

Other classic cocktail riffs include a blood orange mezcal paloma and a blackberry bourbon daisy. Classic cocktails on the menu include an Espresso Martini, the gin-forward tiki cocktail Saturn, and a Negroni (which is Dezutter’s favorite cocktai).

There will be about 12 seats at tables in the “mid lounge area” that feature 60” high “green pasture” color tufted booths along with a vintage 250-pound chandelier hanging overhead that was previously a focal point at the Chopin Theatre - located a short distance from The Alley Cat. The front of The Alley Cat will feature approximately 23 bar seats at a long espresso stained oak bar along with a few two-top high-top tables. The Alley Cat’s total occupancy capacity is 121 guests.