Photo: Provided by Kiel Erdelac
Binski’s Bar is set to open in Camp Washington on March 6, 2023.
The idea behind Binski’s is simple: “to meet the needs of a community,” says Kiel Erdelac, the owner of Camp Washington’s latest addition, Binski’s Bar. Speaking with local businesses and individuals about the neighborhood’s missing piece, the response was resounding: They wanted a bar and felt that there was a lack of evening attractions to complement Camp Washington’s coveted cafes and flourishing art scene.
On the corner of Colerain Avenue and Township Street sits Binski’s, a bright green building from the early 1900s — originally a saloon and boarding house (wink wink), and at one point a two-lane bowling alley, then in the ’90s, a record-keeping office. It’s since sat vacant, until Erdelac and his team gave the space a thoughtful overhaul, preserving its past whenever possible and leaving visitors to question just how long this place has been around. As a special touch, an Old Style sign will go out front — “a signal to anyone in Chicago you’re about to walk into a great bar,” claims Erdelac, who grew up in Chicago. Landing within the neighborhood’s Entertainment District, Binski’s was able to acquire a D5-J liquor license, making it a full-service bar.
Growing up in Chicago and throughout his travels in the northern Midwest, Erdelac became quite familiar with community bars dedicated to making everyone feel welcome. He was heavily inspired by classic mainstays like The Lincoln Tap Room — the spot where he first became a regular — along with Grumpy’s in Minneapolis and Bumbo’s near Detroit. These unassuming bars “cultivated a really great regular crowd” with their infectious style of service and no-gimmicks atmosphere — two characteristics that Erdelac is adopting at Binski’s.
Paying tribute to his Polish heritage as well, the bar is named after Erdelac’s great-grandfather, Alfred Kielbinski. When…
Read the full article here
