- Credibility:
LOGAN SQUARE — A new bar with craft cocktails, tamales from The Tamale Guy and weekend DJ sets has officially joined the neighborhood.
Quality Time, a bar from the hospitality group behind Bangers & Lace, Spilt Milk and other popular spots, opened at 2934 W. Diversey Ave. last weekend.
The bar is now open 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 2 p.m. – 3 a.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. – 2 a.m. Sundays. It’s closed Tuesdays.
Quality Time took over a corner storefront formerly occupied by the bar/restaurant Son of a Butcher, which closed in 2019.
“We chose to open our newest concept on Diversey Avenue because we feel that this particular area in Logan Square/Avondale is underserved,” Footman Hospitality’s managing partner Jason Freiman said in a news release. “Quality Time hopes to breathe new life into a great neighborhood and a building that has been empty for years.”
The bar’s menu includes a rotating list of craft cocktails, local craft beer and a small wine list. Cocktails include the Frozen Vegas Bomb, a blend of Italian Apertifs, fresh grapefruit and lime, and the Rachel Goes To Saturn, a take on the Saturn cocktail from the 1960s containing Jamaican rum, passionfruit and velvet Falernum.
“I wanted to make a menu that screams summer backyard party in the sun,” Footman Hospitality partner Mike Van Meter said in the release.
Claudio Velez, the famed Tamale Guy, has a permanent residency at the new Logan Square bar, which means patrons will be able to get Velez’s signature tamales during the bar’s regular hours.
Velez opened his own restaurant in Ukrainian Village in 2020 after years of selling homemade tamales out of a cooler at Northwest Side bars. But just weeks after opening, Velez was hospitalized with COVID-19, derailing his plans. Velez then moved his operation to Lone Wolf in the West Loop before landing at Footman Hospitality’s Bangers & Lace, according to Eater.
Velez’s new home — Quality Time — has wood paneling, plants, tufted booths and vintage wallpaper.
Footman Hospitality’s partner Joe Dolan said they’re “setting the tone for an experience that feels familiar yet special and unique to the corner it sits on,” according to the release.
The owners will debut two outdoor patios in the coming weeks.
Quality Time is Footman’s second bar in Logan Square behind Spilt Milk at 2758 W. Fullerton Ave. The group also runs Little Victories, which replaced Division Street sports bar The Anthem, and Sparrow on the Gold Coast.
Listen to “It’s All Good: A Block Club Chicago Podcast”:
