Business & Tech

Kosher BBQ for a Good Cause Heads to North Broadway

Lake View's newest restaurant won't serve pork and won't take profits, with all the earnings going to a local charity. But that's not the only twist.

No pork. No Profits. That’s how it’ll be at Lake View’s newest restaurant, Milt's Barbeque for the Perplexed, slated to open sometime in January 2013.

Located at 3411 N. Broadway at the intersection with Roscoe Street, the restaurant will be something unlike any other restaurant in Lake View. And according to manager Dan Weiss, serving up dishes without pork is just the beginning.

“In the effort to make it a community space, 100 percent of the profits are being donated to local charities,” Weiss said. “It’s not a money-making opportunity, it’s a give-back to the Lake View community. There’s a nonprofit organization that was just founded called the Jeff Kahan Foundation in honor of a Jewish member of the Lake View community who just passed away. That foundation will distribute the money to local charities.”

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Outside of owners not collecting a penny from the restaurant, Milt’s will just be your average kosher barbecue restaurant, Weiss says. It’s a perplexing idea in itself—so much, in fact, that the restaurant’s tagline is “Barbeque for the perplexed.”

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Milt’s owners are playing off the idea of the perplexing menu by centering the restaurant’s theme around it.

“Throughout the place we’re going to have different perplexities on the walls, in the bathrooms, everywhere,” Weiss said. “Some of them are going to be fun and lighthearted like, ‘Why do you drive on the parkway and park in the driveway?’ They’ll just be conversation starters, things that make you go, ‘Huh.’”

In order to stay 100 percent kosher, chefs won’t be dishing up things such as pork ribs or mac and cheese. Instead, Weiss says they’ll use their new 1,000-pound smoker to cook hearty fare including beef ribs, smoked brisket, sliders and chicken.

“We’re going to be closed a couple hours before sundown on Friday, and we’ll reopen about an hour and a half after sundown on Saturdays.” 

Combined with a full bar featuring a solid selection of bourbons and scotches, the restaurant plans to be open until 2 a.m. on weeknights and 3 a.m. on Saturdays. However, they won’t be open every night. Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons are off limits.

“We’re going to be closed a couple hours before sundown on Friday, and we’ll reopen about an hour and a half after sundown on Saturdays,” Weiss said. “It’s in observance of the Jewish Shabbat. So basically from Friday night to Saturday night.”

The 2,500-square-foot restaurant is named after the owner’s uncle Milt, and will seat about 60 customers. The menu includes gluten-free and vegetarian options. And just because the restaurant is kosher doesn’t mean it’s exclusive to a specific group.

“It’s a kosher barbecue restaurant, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything different about the place,” said Weiss. “We just want people to know that this isn’t the place where we’re trying to make a buck. We literally want this to be a space by the community for the community.”

Stay up to date on the opening by following Milt's Barbeque for the Perplexed on Facebook, and while you're at it, check out Lake View Patch on Facebook!


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