Bub City, the barbecue and bourbon shack from the Melman kids, opens tomorrow

408.rb.eo.jo.BubCity

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  Bub City

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  Bub City

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  Bub City

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  Bub City

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Bub City

Photo: Martha Williams

RJ, Jerrod and Molly Melman have made a career opening Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants that aren't always very Lettucelike. But their newest venture, Bub City (435 N Clark St, 312-610-4200), which opens tomorrow, is a departure. Kind of.

Bub City is a re-launch of a former Lettuce spot, Bub City Crabshack and Bar BQ, which lived from 1988 until 1998 on Weed Street. How will the new Bub City compare to the old one? Nobody under the age of 30 will ever know. But here are some crucial stats about the new spot:

- The chef is Doug Psaltis. (We're pretty sure the old Bub City didn't have a Ducasse protegé at the helm.)

- The drinks are by master bartender Paul McGee, who put together a list of 125 whiskies, a bourbon-heavy cocktail list and had the balls to make one of those cocktails—the Mexican Firing Squad—frozen.

- Psaltis's menu focuses on barbecue (bone-in short rib, baby back ribs, burnt ends, pulled pork, house-smoked pastrami) but also branches out with a shellfish bar (shrimp cocktail, crab claws, oysters). Finally, there's a lot of southern food on this menu: po' boys, hot links, mac-and-cheese, etc.

- Ed Warm and Tom DeSanto, the guys who own Joe's on Weed, curate the live music, which will, naturally, gravitate towards country music.

The final thing that differentiates this Bub City from the previous one? This one has a soon-to-open tiki bar in the basement...