Bar Esmé

Bar Esmé is the intimate, 16-seat à la carte bar adjoining Esmé, the one-Michelin-star Lincoln Park restaurant opened in 2021 by chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo. Where the flagship serves a tasting menu, Bar Esmé offers a more casual, walk-in-friendly room with French-inspired small plates, an extensive wine and spirit list, and bartenders who build cocktails to a guest's preference rather than from a fixed list. Its non-alcoholic program flows from the same team led by beverage director Tia Barrett, who designs spirit-free drinks intended to stand alongside the food rather than imitate cocktails. Across Esmé's menus her named zero-proof creations have included a plum horchata, a banana Manhattan, an apple shrub, the carbonated "Sandwich & Soda," and "Dents de Lions," a dandelion-root distillation with turmeric and clementine. The program was featured in the MICHELIN Guide's roundup of the best spirit-free drink programs in America.

“I take offense to it, because it's saying I am mocking a cocktail, that I am giving someone the lesser version.”

— Tia Barrett, beverage director

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Non-alcoholic brands they serve

House-crafted NA cocktails

Location

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