A Beautiful Rind

What fortune it is for us that the best cheese shop in Chicago also happens to be a fantastic wine bar and café, at which one can easily lounge oneself into a health condition by spending hours alternating Brillat-Savarin with Vin de Savoie – truly a place of the best kinds of indulgence (provided you’re not dairy-avoiding).

A Beautiful Rind’s food menu is expectedly geared toward exceptional cheese and charcuterie, with a great selection of conservas (tinned fish), pickles, and similar offerings. In addition, they have a selection of thoughtful sandwiches, plus a great happy hour where snacks and drinks are dangerously inexpensive.

For drinks, their menu is concise but interesting, with excellent options in every category, including beers, ciders, spirits, and on-tap vermouth. For the wine nerds, they also have a charming wine shop, where all of the bottles can be opened for service in the café.

To top it off, they excel at carry-out if you’re planning to walk the neighbourhood parks, and are locally famous for catering options in case you want to impress your next meeting. All in, A Beautiful Rind is the most skilled example of a neighbourhood-cheese-shop-meets-gourmet-watering-hole that I’ve experienced.