At 40, Shaw’s crab house continues to attract seafood aficionados

Rue Hubbard de River North these days is a frenzy of bars and restaurants – and the festive people who address them. In 1984, it was a very different story. Unlike today, there were limited commercial affairs and at 6 p.m., the region was a ghost city.

But that did not prevent the lettuce from entertaining the founder of you, Rich Melman, the executive president Kevin Brown, the general partner Steve Lahaie and the chief / executive partner Yves Roubard to imagine a restaurant Grand Hubbard Street where the fresh seafood and the oysters of the two coasts would dominate the menu.

Today 40 years and more than 10 million oysters later, Shaw’s crab house continues to attract regular customers from locals and visitors, which collects a new generation of fans in the process.

To honor his 40^th Anniversary, Shaw’s is organizing a variety of events at the restaurant from April 7 to 11, including a reception of oysters and champagne and a performance of the legend of Chicago Blues Big Dog. On April 11, a full day of celebrations is scheduled from noon and continuing until 11 p.m. with traveling oyster shuckers as well as the Martini and caviar service. Return menu elements, such as casino clams, shrimps and frog legs stuffed with crab, will be presented alongside the staples such as lobster roll and lime pie. To drink, there is an old -fashioned special birthday and a caviar and Martini oysters.

All of this might not take place if it was not the case for Brown’s first work, to be close to the beach. This aspiration led to working summers at the University of Phillip’s Crab House in Ocean City, Maryland. After the diploma, he moved to Chicago to work for lettuce and became the first full -time rental of Melman. It was during a conversation at the big cafe (now my friend Gabi) that Melman questioned Brown about his experience of previous hospitality.

“I told him about Phillip’s and the way I became fascinated by the restoration trade that worked there. Rich said, “Why don’t we try to make a seafood restaurant,” said Brown.

Jim Vondruska / For Sun-Totes

A hunt for real estate led Brown to the large brick building at 21 E. Hubbard Street, formerly a newspaper warehouse. Initially, we showed him the space on the second floor, which opened on Wabash avenue. The 1,400 square feet on the first floor, however, aroused the interest of the partners. “We entered, and it was magic,” says Brown. “It was not a large part of the city at the time, but it was good.

The next step on their task list was to find a name for their new restaurant. After crossing all their family names and their families as a potential nickname, it was decided that the young girl’s young girl, Kristi, sounded the best and that Shaw’s crab house was born. (A photo of Kristi, who died in 2019, is prominently in the Shaw’s main dining room.)

In December 1984, Shaw’s Oyster bar opened. Originally, half the most relaxed half of the restaurant, which includes an L L bar in the center of the room with wooden cabins on two sides and a handful of high tables, was intended for lunch only, serving salads and soups with the possible addition of crab cakes now signature of the restaurant. As demand increased, the menu and the hours too.

During the construction of the main dining room, local artist Thomas Melvin worked hard on a wall painting at the entrance to Shaw. Art Deco -style works of art included emblematic monuments of Chicago alongside large cruise lines. (An image of this wall painting is on the spicy sauce in Shaw bottle.) To arouse interest in these days of pre-social media, visits were sometimes presented on the dining room under construction and the process of painting wall paint at Oyster Bar.

“It was the best advertisement we could have made,” said Brown about the pre-open buzz he created.

Jim Vondruska / For Sun-Totes

Another factor helping the restaurant’s success was the parking lot at $ 1 Brown negotiated for customers in the large lot on the other side of the street. (An imposing Marriott hotel now occupies this space.)

In April 1985, Shaw’s main dining room opened. The beautiful 250 -seat room includes tables dressed in white tablecloths and red leather cabins. The wooden accentuated walls are decorated with paintings and photos of fish, fishing paraphernalia and fish mounted here and there. Wooden lights are hanging from the wooden ceiling.

“Shaw’s is a bit of a step in time, but it is still current and fresh,” said Brown. “A guest told me once Shaw feels like a warm cover.”

Jim Vondruska / For Sun-Totes

Jim Vondruska / For Sun-Totes

Other milestones have followed. The Shaw’s Oyster Fest started in 1988 and lasted 28 years. In 1989, Shaw’s became the first restaurant to serve Goose Island beer in the tap. Weekly live blues music in the Oyster bar was launched in 1997. A second Shaw opened in 2000 in Schaumburg.

A sustainable characteristic of Shaw’s was the supply of high quality seafood, often working directly with fishermen, a practice that was not often made when the restaurant opened its doors.

“For me, Quality First was Shaw’s guiding principle,” said Brown. “We have always pointed out that seafood talk about seafood talk about itself.” To bring the point home, “it’s the quality” is written at the back of each menu.

It is a philosophy that continues to function. Take, for example, Shaw’s charred Sashimi tuna, a return menu that makes a repeated appearance for the birthday. For the dish, the raw tuna is marinated in a mixture of olive oil, soy sauce, black pepper and onion. The fish is then toasted for a few seconds on each side before it is cut and served with Wakame. A simple mirin sauce and soy sauce allows the fish to be the star of the dish.

Then there are the crab farties shrimp. For this backyard, a butterfly shrimp is garnished with a heavy spoonful of blue crab combined with celery, onion, red pepper and a touch of mayonnaise. For its reappearance, the veneer has recently been modified with the five combos of crab-shrimp now resembling mini rabbits.

Jim Vondruska / For Sun-Totes

Then there are shaw standards that can never leave the menu, such as lobster bisque, the boost of New England and lobster roll, which is made with 3.5 ounces of lobster meat. The chopped seafood salad combines snow crab in Alaska, shrimp and lobster with a mixture of lettuce and vegetables. Two dressinglets, an Italian vinaigrette and a classic Louis, finish the dish.

Another constant at Shaw has been its many long -term staff members, both employees before and at the back of the house. The bartender of the senior oyster bar Joshua Keesecker has been at the restaurant for 26 years.

“You come to Shaw and you feel like you are joining an already underway show with personality and a mobile party,” says Keeecker. “The staff is as much a representation of Shaw as the building and the decor.”

“We have focused on quality from the start and not only on the things we serve, but in the people we are hiring,” explains executive partner Bill Nevruz, who started at Shaw as director of the floor 25 years ago. “It puts us in a fairly good place to have a longevity overall.”

It also attributes Shaw’s ability to ensure that customers feel elsewhere as part of its sustainability.

“We are not stuck in a time, but we are timeless and there is a difference,” says Nevruz. Rather than making great changes that could feel shocking, the implementation of those subtle but durable throughout its years was a standard practice at Shaw.

Nevruz does not remember too much time after starting, a television was installed in the Oyster bar. A curtain was put in front of him because at the start, he had to be only during the Cubs and Bears games. It didn’t take long for more programs to be presented. But, he adds: “It took us another 25 years to get three other televisions.”

The addition of sushi 22 years ago on the Shaw menu was another big change. Brown remembers an initial decline he has obtained from his partners.

“He was rubbing blasphemy,” he said. But on the first day, Shaw sold more sushi than oysters. “When you buy high quality seafood, it’s just another way to present it,” he says.

Finding both sustainable seafood and good value has become a challenge for restaurants focused on seafood like Shaw. When the Alaska king’s crab was no longer an option, the restaurant found a replacement from Norway. In addition to the availability by the leg, the crab of the Norwegian red king is also served whole with a presentation developed at the table.

Over the years, Shaw has seen his fair share of celebrities and celebrities. Nevruz remembers until the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, the team members as well as the legenday singer, Jimmy Buffet, who was in town for a concert, dragged in the oyster bar after hours drinking the beloved trophy.

Another sustainable memory of Shaw for Nevruz: he met his wife, then co-manager, at the restaurant over 20 years ago.

“The delicate thing when you have a 40 -year -old restaurant is that the guests want you to stay the same, but they also want something new and exciting,” explains Brown.

“It’s fun for me to walk around the restaurant, especially in the oyster bar, and to hear young couples talk about how they simply” discovered “a new place. I don’t want to tell them, we’ve been here for a long time. ”