Monday, September 26, 2011

Neat Lounge Opens in Former Edge Space at 1700 W. Division St.

**UPDATE: As of December 2011, it doesn't look like this place is opening after all. The for rent signs are back up in this building.

Still no word on what's going on behind the mysterious wooden boards covering the old Makisu building, but directly across the street in the former Edge space (1700 W. Division St.) is a new cocktail lounge and restaurant - Neat Lounge.


Neat Lounge doesn't officially open until mid-November, but this past weekend they had a preview event to test out certain drinks and recipes for their food menu. At this point not much has changed since Edge in terms of decor, but they have plans to build it out into a full-blown lounge "concept."

The drink menu is heavily gin- and whiskey-focused, with lots of options for vodka, champagne and rum. Just about everything we saw there was served in a champagne saucer after a fairly extensive mixing process - you can definietly get a G&T here if you want, but they're positioning themselves as more of a place for high-brow, artisan-style cocktails. There are also quite a few American craft beers by the bottle  (Two Brothers, Great Lakes, Allagash Brewing Co., Dark Horse) and Belgian ales like Delirium Tremens and Chimay Preimere Red.

A few of the signature cocktails included:

The Neat Manhattan with High West double barrel rye, Carpano Antica and Peychauds
The Bourbon Smash, with bourbon, fresh mint, fresh lemon juice and Marie Brizard orange curacao
The Lazy Sunday with El Jimador Reposado Tequila, house made apple nectar and cardamom

In terms of eats, they are focusing on stuffed gourmet burgers featuring all-natural, grass-fed beef and high-fiber whole-wheat bread thins. There were quite a few ways to order your burger ($10), which included:

Stuffed with chorizo, grilled jalapenos and chihuahua cheese
Stuffed with goat cheese, spinach and sundried tomatoes
Stuffed with feta cheese, grilled onions, tomatoes, olives and mushrooms
Lean ground turkey meat stuffed with mushroom, tomatoes and swiss cheese.

Do you think this new spot is strong enough to survive in the doomed Edge space?

2 comments:

  1. I don't think Neat is going into the Edge spot after all...For Rent signs are now on the building. This great location is completely cursed!

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  2. Just came back to update this post -- totally agree about it being cursed!

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