I’m talking to one of the valet guys at the new restaurant BUtterfield 8, BU 8 for short. (The name evokes the glitzy world captured by the John O’Hara novel/Liz Taylor movie.) The valet is Tim, he’s 21 and he says, “One day I want to have a place of my own, and I figure I can learn a lot from the people running this place. All I have to do is keep my eyes on them.”
It is not hard to keep one’s eyes on Demetri Alexander, one of the guys running the place, especially because on this day he is wearing black and yellow striped pants.
Alexander is very much an old-school restaurant guy, though revved up and supercharged. His roots run deep, back to his father’s Alexander’s Steak House on the South Side where he started working when he was 13, and later, as an adult, through such spots as a couple of new Alexander’s downtown, Cristal, Lola’s Club Roulette (in BU 8’s current location, 713 N. Wells St.) and the State Room (now the restaurant 1212).
Old school? When was the last time you saw “chilled tomato juice” as an appetizer? Or such items as chicken Kiev, beef Wellington or shrimp de Jonghe as entrees?
There are all sorts of contemporary items created with chef Ziad Mansour, but also another striking old-timer on the menu: Binyon’s turtle soup. Jack Binyon, of the legendary restaurant family that operated Binyon’s on Plymouth Court, is also one of the principals in BU 8, as well as the operator of the popular Melvin B’s, Stanley’s Kitchen and Mickey’s Snack Bar. The latter is the brainchild of a former advertising/marketing whiz named Don Kruse, who matches his restaurant-running pals in the big personality and hands-on approach.
There are other partners in BU 8, but it’s Alexander, Binyon and Kruse you are most likely to encounter and they will happily tell you about a relatively silent if colorful “partner,” Alexander’s longtime companion, designer Laura Pedian.
She has created at BU 8 a look that makes some people gasp when they walk in, a sensual mix of colors and styles that conspire to create an artful, almost theatrical setting. The downstairs is highlighted by a glass floor, lit in alternating colors from below, and a 16-foot-wide chandelier. The look upstairs is referred to as “boudoir,” though Osgood and I were more of a mind of “bordello,” for its red and black striped walls, dark lighting, leather booths and red velvet chairs.
It’s an interesting concept, allowing the place to serve as two restaurants in one, a feast for anybody’s eyes.
