Old Town Social
455 North Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Tel: 312-266-7223
Designer: Brian Willette 

Chicago’s restaurant and bar scene is defined by the quality and innovation of its product, and to a much lesser extent, design. In a city with a sports bar on every block, Old Town Social, a self-defined “sporting parlour,” marries quality food and drink with a richly designed and thoroughly branded interior. Photographer-turned-designer Brian Willette juxtaposes contemporary concepts with a handcrafted feel: antique sofas and chairs, amber filament bulbs, and cabinetry that disguises flat-screen TVs (it is a sporting parlour, after all). From the low-key facade and entrance, the room opens onto a high-ceilinged, converted space supported with arched wooden trusses. Varying elements divide the room into a more approachable scale, and allow for mixed social settings: a fireplace lounge, two bars, elevated booths for watching sports events, and a charcuterie bar. The latter is the most handsome, in a corner just beyond the entrance. Modeled after a sushi bar, the counter is covered in small ceramic tiles and under-lit with green lights, seating a half-dozen lucky patrons who can sidle up to the house-cured meat.