🍹 The cocktail lounge that appeared in a dream

Filipino bites at Frank and Mary's [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | May 10, 2024 Tita Tootsie’s came to Chris Inumerable in a dream on the massage table. Last January, the founder of East Humbdolt Park’s [Classick Studios]( was on an extended family vacation with his brother-in-law, DJ Coleman, a restaurant factotum who’d most recently managed the kitchen at Untitled. They’d been eating and drinking like gods at a swank resort on the island of Boracay in the Philippines, and had been particularly influenced by the array of tropical cocktails built around Filipino ingredients that they’d been fueling themselves on. As Inumerable dozed, he had a vision of a Filipino cocktail lounge transported back home to Chicago, with relaxed tropical vibes and food to match—and one named for his late mother, Maria Villacarlos Inumerable, aka Tita Tootsie. “Everything that I've gotten into, what I do to this day, stems from my mom,” he says. “I got into music because of my mom. I started my studio in my house because of my mom. I learned how to cook from my mom.”  Once back home, they hit the ground running, enlisting Warlord sous chef Bryan Collante to visualize food that would speak to first-generation Filipino Americans kids. That manifested in bites like a tocino fried chicken sandwich with charred scallion aioli and cheddar; and a longanisa chopped cheese sandwich with giardiniera, banana ketchup, and Kewpie mayo, inspired by the NYC bodega classic. These they debuted at their first pop-up in February at Roundhouse, followed by another at Blind Barber in March, and a third in April at Arbella. Meantime, they’d casually begun scouting for a brick-and-mortar spot to cement [Tita Tootsie’s]( legacy. “We want those soft lights,” says Coleman. “We want the nice velvet couches, the pretty cocktails. We want really good music. Nothing crazy. We want straight-up vibes. We want a grown folk situation.” “We want to do halo halo in a fishbowl,” says Inumerable. It’s all coming, they say, but in the meantime, Tita Tootsie’s are bringing straight-up vibes to their fourth pop-up at the next [Monday Night Foodball]( the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at [Frank and Mary’s Tavern](. This time they’re bringing their signatures, the longanisa chopped cheese, and the tocino fried chicken sandwich, along with lemon-pepper adobo fries with that charred scallion aioli and spicy banana ketchup. Walk right in starting at 5 PM at 2905 N. Elston in utopian Avondale. After that, just one more Foodball—central Texas-style smoking from[Shaker Barbeque]( on May 20. That’s right before the new summer schedule drops. [a caramel dessert on a plate with blackberries]( [Tita Tootsie’s brings vibes of paradise to the next Monday Night Foodball]( Check out the future Filipino lounge at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s Tavern. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [Gỏi vịt (duck salad) at Nhà Hà ng Vietnam Restaurant]( by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [fooddrink@chicagoreader.com](mailto:fooddrink@chicagoreader.com?subject=Reader%20Bites&body=). [Best of the Blackout Diaries: Will work for beer]( May 2016 | The difficulty of hiring while under the influence. by [Chicago Reader]( | [Read more]( → [a man is holding a plate of food]( [SoloSam: The Jack of All Arts]( December 2023 | The People Issue by [Jonah Nink]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, May 2, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 15]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616