50% Off Dakota Blue
The Scoop: Grant Park’s go-to neighborhood restaurant and bar, with honest, home cooked food: known for famous fish tacos and authentic Cuban sandwiches. They pour a wicked margarita and never fail for an ice cold beer. But they’ve also got a pretty sweet weekend brunch that comes without the requisite wait. And the frontman to this local joint has quite an interesting past.
The full story: After some moderate success in Athens, local garage/punk band ‘The BBQ Killers’ signed a major record deal and went on tour to promote their newest album. Long story short, they ended the tour in debt and in need of a Plan B. Growing sick of a perma-empty bank account, band member Alan Conner did what any fed-up member of a moderately successful punk band might do -- he got his CPA. Shockingly, he just didn’t find a good fit in the accounting world, so he gave up the steady paycheck and started Dakota Blue (after many years of supplementing music with restaurant shifts, he knew just the kind of restaurant he could be proud of). Now he walks to work every day with his wife and his kids go to school around the corner. And that, my friends, is the makings of Grant Park’s neighborhood restaurant.
Dakota Blue has become a go-to spot for resident families, yet somehow remains a haven for hipsters (with their Tuesday $4 PBR pitcher and $1.25 PBR pint nights). It’s also a safe place for vegetarians to get a good meal. Alan’s wife Gigi, who works just next door as a realtor, also founded the local Charter Schools. With the hard-living road-touring punk-rocking days behind him, it sure seems like Alan and family have not only taken to feeding the neighbors, but to making Grant Park’s community better on the whole... one fish taco at a time.
And while lunch and dinner and pleasant sidewalk dining are what many folks come to Dakota Blue for, Alan says “[their] brunch seems to be a hidden secret -- never a line, but first-timers seem shocked this kind of meal doesn’t come with a wait time.” He recommends their Crab Cakes Benedict, the new Huevos Barcelona (a hearty beer-braised brisket served over an english muffin).
The full story: After some moderate success in Athens, local garage/punk band ‘The BBQ Killers’ signed a major record deal and went on tour to promote their newest album. Long story short, they ended the tour in debt and in need of a Plan B. Growing sick of a perma-empty bank account, band member Alan Conner did what any fed-up member of a moderately successful punk band might do -- he got his CPA. Shockingly, he just didn’t find a good fit in the accounting world, so he gave up the steady paycheck and started Dakota Blue (after many years of supplementing music with restaurant shifts, he knew just the kind of restaurant he could be proud of). Now he walks to work every day with his wife and his kids go to school around the corner. And that, my friends, is the makings of Grant Park’s neighborhood restaurant.
Dakota Blue has become a go-to spot for resident families, yet somehow remains a haven for hipsters (with their Tuesday $4 PBR pitcher and $1.25 PBR pint nights). It’s also a safe place for vegetarians to get a good meal. Alan’s wife Gigi, who works just next door as a realtor, also founded the local Charter Schools. With the hard-living road-touring punk-rocking days behind him, it sure seems like Alan and family have not only taken to feeding the neighbors, but to making Grant Park’s community better on the whole... one fish taco at a time.
And while lunch and dinner and pleasant sidewalk dining are what many folks come to Dakota Blue for, Alan says “[their] brunch seems to be a hidden secret -- never a line, but first-timers seem shocked this kind of meal doesn’t come with a wait time.” He recommends their Crab Cakes Benedict, the new Huevos Barcelona (a hearty beer-braised brisket served over an english muffin).
