A Contemporary European Restaurant Looks South For Inspiration

Cobblestone has a new menu courtesy for chef Andre Overton.

The owner of Cobblestone in North Center hopes a new chef with a new menu will help turn things around after years of tumult and a revolving door of chefs.

“It has been hard,” Dr. Markus Chwajol says. “I always wanted to give it another chance and another chance. I just never gave up. I tried different chefs, different things. If it wasn’t working this year, I probably would have to close. But I think the perseverance paid off and I’m happy about where we are now.”

Chwajol has hired former Boqueria sous chef Andre Overton as executive chef. His menu includes traditional fare like pork schnitzel and langos, a Czech flatbread served topped with a Bavarian cheese spread and pickled shallots, but the flavors also lean towards Southern comfort food with shrimp & grits with kielbasa gravy and grilled pork chops with green peas. It’s a blend reminiscent of Funkenhausen, the German and Southern hybrid which closed last year. When Cobblestone’s backyard patio reopens in May, Overton wants to grill meat and vegetables outside and customers will be able to point to what’s cooking when deciding what to order.

“He walked around the kitchen and felt immediately at home,” Chwajol says. “He’s a very astute scholar of the art of cooking. He analyzes things and he’s very appreciative of constructive criticism, which is not that common. He just really shows that he loves what he does. It’s great to have somebody like him.”

Chwajol opened Cobblestone in February 2020 with executive chef Roman Hadrbolec, who had helmed Chwajol’s Bohemian House before it closed in 2018. The goal was to combine Bohemian House’s elevated approach to Central European cuisine (as honed by BoHo’s opening chef Jimmy Papadopoulos, Eater Chicago’s 2015 Chef of The Year) with the Northman’s focus on cider. But when the COVID-19 lockdowns hit 12 days later the restaurant closed and Hadrbolec returned to Czechia.

Operating in the former space of The Northman, Chicago’s first cider bar, the focus on cider has remained. Overton adds a bit of it to many of his dishes, blending it into the Jacqueline sauce for his roasted rabbit and the batter of the fish & chips. The beer selection mixes imported Czech, Belgian, and German brews with a regularly changing selection from local craft breweries including Hop Butcher down the block.

Overton embraced the challenge by talking with Chwajol, who visits Central Europe at least twice a year to find inspiration for his restaurants, and Cobblestone’s general manager Barbora Zamboni, who shared stories of growing up in the Czech Republic and gifted Overton with Ivana Veruzabova’s Czech and Slovak Food and Cooking. Overton started at Cobblestone in January and spent months experimenting before rolling out the new menu in March.

“I wanted to know who the patrons were and what flavors people gravitated to while still being true to myself,” he says. “I’m not afraid to go out of the box but if something didn’t work, I had a backup. I cook for people to indulge and be almost gluttonous, but I wanted to be true to the background and culture of Markus and Barbora and find that balance.”

Though Cobblestone’s bartenders and service staff have remained largely the same, three more executive chefs came and went before Overton, departures Chwajol says were all amicable. While Overton didn’t have any experience cooking the Czech, German, Hungarian, and Austrian cuisine that Cobblestone had focused on, Chwajol was still quickly convinced he was the right person for the job.

Overton scaled back his initial idea for the menu which would have had 35 to 38 items, not including brunch, but he still has ambitions for expanding his offerings to add more vegan, vegetarian, and seafood dishes.

“I wanted to hit every aspect of every potential patron that came in, but I’m trying to not overwhelm people,” he says. “This is safe to introduce people to and see what goes and what doesn’t go and move things around from there. I want criticism more than praise because it can make me a better chef. I know it’s unrealistic to try to please everybody, but I want to make their experience memorable.”

Brunch offerings include schnitzel & waffles and blueberry crumpets served with sour cream alongside build-your-own mimosas. While the main menu will stay largely the same until fall, Overton is changing out the dessert offerings every two to three weeks, serving a mix of cake, a fruit-focused dessert like cobbler, and housemade ice cream with flavors that include red velvet cake and cocoa nib cheesecake.

“I’m a pastry guy at heart,” Overton says. “When I’m at home, I find myself baking more than anything. Pastries excite me so much and soothe me when everything else is stressful, so I’m always trying to give you the best version of me in a dessert form.”

While Cobblestone has been through many changes over the four years, Chwajol said that just surviving that long has earned it loyalty in the neighborhood.

“We have many, many returning customers and that’s what local restaurants are about,” he says. “I didn’t want to give up on that idea and I think it is finally coming to fruition now.”

Cobblestone, 4337 N. Lincoln Ave., Open 5-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5-9 p.m. Sunday; open for brunch 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.