Meal Ticket has your sneak preview of The Blockley Pourhouse (38th and Ludlow), which opens today at 4 p.m. with DJ Sammy Slice.

We had info on the place back in March as well as in this week’s Feeding Frenzy, but here’s a refresher: Owners Ned Taddei, Patrick Hughes and chef Ross Essner have revived a U-City space that’s been a number of things, from the Chestnut Cabaret to the let’s-not-talk-about-it Koko Bongo. Doesn’t really matter, though, because any semblance of the past has been scraped to make way for the new kids. The polished 800-capacity bar, pub and music venue features ample bar room, raised platforms with picnic table-like seating and high standing tables/casual couch seating around the stage.

Twenty-four beers on tap, some crafts, some big-box brews. Daily drink specials: $2 Lions Head, $3 Bud Light, $4 Wild Turkey/American Honey (that’s 71-proof bourbon blended with honey) and $5 Three Olives vodka drinks.

Construction on Mary Oaks (see Set 1, Pics 8-9), a smaller gastropub on the south side of the building that’s accessible from the Blockley through a heavy sliding fire door, is complete, but they want to get their feet at the Blockley before rolling out this slightly more upscale beer- and wine-friendly concept. Should be open in the first week of August.

Chef Essner’s affordable menu after the jump. Dish IDs for the food pics above, in order:

• Jerk chicken “nuggets” with charred pineapple chutney
• House-smoked pulled pork with maple-poblano BBQ sauce, pickle slaw and house-cut fries
• Crispy fried oysters with spinach, carrot and pickled red onion, blue cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce
• Crispy fried chicken with buttermilk biscuit, spicy sausage gravy, mashed potatoes
• Buffalo chicken salad with iceberg lettuce, crispy boneless “arrogant” chicken, bacon, celery, tomatoes, creamy blue cheese
• Pork chop schnitzel with grain mustard green beans, German-style potato salad

Click to enlarge

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Menu Time, Openings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.