Five things to know about Analogue, opening Wednesday in Logan Square

Analogue, a new bar from two Violet Hour vets, opens Wednesday at 6pm in Logan Square (2523 N Milwaukee Ave). Henry Prendergast and Robert Haynes are handling cocktails, while Alfredo Nogueira (formerly of Flipside Café and Rootstock), will be making New Orleans-inspired snacks. We talked with Prendergast and Haynes about what to expect.

The cocktail list will be very small and change frequently.
“This is really so if we have an idea or some ingredient or technique that inspires us we can just go explore that,” Haynes says. Prendergast added that their menus at the Violet Hour were “very broad and touched on every different category of spirit,” but at Analogue, they want to “focus on one aspect of something, however esoteric that may be.” The first list features six drinks and will be comprised of cocktails that use ingredients like vermouths, other local spirits and bitters made by their friends in the Chicago cocktail scene. 

Purls are also on the menu.
We’d never heard of purls before, and Prendergast and Haynes say they wanted to make something a little more biting than traditional aperitifs. Purls, which were made hundreds of years ago in English country houses, are beers laced with bitters (traditionally wormwood). At Analogue, that translates to a bitter purling mixture added to Krombacher pilsner along with wormwood. The pair calls it “bracing but impactful.”

Drinks are cheaper than Violet Hour.
The cocktails are $10, purls are $7, and the shot of the day is $5. But these won’t be Malört shots—Analogue is deconstructing classics like the Old Fashioned and turning it into a shot with bourbon, a bitters-soaked orange and sugar.

The food has a New Orleans slant.
Nogueira is from New Orleans and he’ll be making dishes “elevated beyond bar food.” That means Scotch eggs, headcheese and home-style Cajun fare.

There’s a big music component.
The space has a dance floor and an elevated DJ booth, so it’s a drastic change from the silent Violet Hour, which the guys were aiming for. “We kind of want to loosen it up here and have more fun with it,” Prendergast says. A DJ goes on at 10pm Wednesdays to Saturdays, while Sunday and Monday are going to be quieter an include beer dinners and other events. Analogue is closed on Tuesday.