HB: Home Bistro
HB Home Bistro is a charming storefront restaurant with a proud proprietor cooking in the kitchen in the tradition of the charming French auberge. Owner and Award-winning Chef Executive Chef Joncarl Lachman, who embraces his Dutch heritage, describes HB as, "an unpretentious, cozy and comfortable cafe." No matter how you classify it, HB Home Bistro is the quintessential neighborhood restaurant.
Lachman serves up classic bistro food that somehow feels familiar, whether you frequent French bistros or not. Honest, fresh flavors and locally-sourced products, combined with Lachman's generous and unpretentious approach, reminds one of nostalgic "grandma's" cooking. Portions are large and prices are low at this restaurant, and the addition of their BYOB/no corkage policy makes this restaurant a favorite of Chicago diners.
Wednesdays there's a three-course prix fixe with your choice of items from the a la carte menu for under $30.
HB Home Bistro's first incarnation was a restaurant owned by The Hearty Boys. Lachman ran the stoves then, serving up his delicious cuisine from the very beginning. He purchased the restaurant from the former owners in January 2007 and opened his own operation straight away, making changes slowly and surely. "I had always been here, it had been my kitchen from the beginning, so I wanted customers to know that the restaurant they had grown to love was still going to be there, only, I hope, maybe even better!"
A graduate of New York's acclaimed Institute of Culinary Education, Chef Lachman came to the restaurant with over eighteen years of food and wine experience throughout the world. Prior to HB, Chef Lachman served as Executive Chef of the Andersonville gourmet bistro and grocery Urban Epicure. When in New York, he worked at Inside Restaurant in Greenwich Village, alongside Anne Rosenzweig, the influential chef credited with marrying haute cuisine with traditional American home cooking. In Washington D.C., Lachman worked with Nora Pouillon at Restaurant Nora, one of the country's most influential organic restaurants.
In 2002, Chef Lachman won the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef contest at Charlie Palmer's Aureole in Las Vegas. He has previously won the Tool Jam Competition at the Calphalon Center in Chicago. His recipes have been featured in Food and Wine, Food Arts, and Plate.
