Food and jazz being two of life’s three great sensory pleasures, it’s surprising how few places offer the right mix of both. Most jazz clubs that serve food, such as Andy’s on Hubbard, offer routine bar fare to accompany the local, middle-of-the-road jazz groups. The now-closed Jazz Buffet in Logan Square tried for a richer mix but never really got off the ground, despite some fine acts. Green Dolphin Street, on North Ashland, is a special case. It has a superb–but quite high-priced–New American restaurant in one cavernous room. The jazz room is separate, across a corridor; on a visit earlier this year they actually piped recorded music into the restaurant. With your dinner you get free access to the club, where you can catch some interesting local groups and often an intriguing traveling band. You can eat in the club, if you insist, but you’re better off taking the dining and jazz in sequence.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
This past spring, however, Wayne Segal and some associates opened Joe’s Be-bop Cafe & Jazz Emporium, a near-ideal combination of food and jazz at just the right price–it’s at Navy Pier, of all places. The menu centers on authentic heartland barbecue with a few New Orleans specialties tossed in, and the music ranges from late New Orleans to hard bop, with blues and Latin beats along the way.
“When I was a little kid I remember dad putting speakers in our windows and people in the neighborhood stopping to listen to Charlie Parker,” he says. “We kids weren’t allowed to listen to anything else. One time we put on a Beatles record, and dad came home early and took the record off the machine and threw it out the window. ‘This is my castle,’ he’d say, ‘and we’ll play my kind of music!’”
Also commendable was the brisket platter, served with the house sauce and barbecue beans–a Kansas City and Texas favorite ($12.50). The ribs ($16.95 for a full slab, $10.95 for a half) and chicken platter ($9.95) again offered that vital, savory taste you get only with this kind of smoke cookery.
