- Julia Thiel
- The patio
By far the best reason to go to the Spoke & Bird is the patio. The inside of the cafe, which replaced Cafe Society in March, is cute and modern, full of reclaimed wood and flooded with natural light. But it’s the 2,500-square-foot space outside, partially shaded by trees and equipped with enough seating for 100 people, that makes the place stand out. In fact, even calling it a patio—which in Chicago is often applied to a few tiny tables shoehorned in between a sidewalk and a busy street—feels like an understatement. In light of the fact that the new owners, Scott Golas and Alicia Bird, have managed to obtain a liquor license and now offer 20-odd mostly local brews (six of them on tap), the term “beer garden” seems more appropriate.
