Filling the sprawling lobby of the nine-story Chase Apartments in Rogers Park is the new Chase Cafe, a multipurpose facility that’s part coffee shop, part art gallery, part live-music venue, and part health club. Phil Tadros, who briefly owned Don’s Coffee Club on Jarvis, has converted this unusual web of rooms–the building was originally an elegant hotel–into a neighborhood hangout. There’s a lot going on: one room’s a computer lab/copy shop doubling as a cyber cafe; another contains a pool table and a gift shop, separated by beaded curtains; and the most spectacular is the octagonal ballroom, where the stage is already booked through the next several months with live music and improv theater. Romano Machiato, an artist who lives in the building, painted the ballroom walls with a mural of the sky, which changes from dawn to dusk as it wraps around the room. In a bright cheerful space just off the ballroom, Tadros has brought in workers from Evanston’s Center for Muscle Therapy to offer hourly massages; also in the works are yoga and tai chi classes. The last room, the only one that allows smoking, is a sitting area with couches, chairs, and a fireplace. The small but accommodating staff will fix panini, homemade soups, or a variety of vegetarian salads or heat up muffins brought in from Little Miss Muffin. Feel free to BYO; there’s also a fresh juice bar and an espresso bar serving Intelligentsia coffee. Chase Cafe is at 7301 N. Sheridan, 773-743-5650.
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Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Newberry.
