Conscious Choice: Uncommon Ground’s Sweet, Sustainable 16

June 2007

Uncommon Ground’s Sweet, Sustainable 16

by Tanya Fritz

We kept the door open,” Mike Cameron, co-Owner of Uncommon Ground explains during a recent interview, “I remember wanting to be able to talk to the people in the community so we left the door open and the windows unboarded as we prepared the café for opening. We wanted people to know what we were building since we had always kept the local community in mind for Uncommon Ground.”

Mike and Helen Cameron maintained their focus on the community as their restaurant/coffee houses/art gallery/music venue grew over the last sixteen years to become one of Chicago’s most beloved cultural establishments.

Before opening Uncommon Ground, the Camerons worked together at a hotel in downtown Chicago, he as the food and beverage director and she as the executive chef. They decided to open their own dream venue in 1991. Uncommon Ground opened in the Century 21 mall, but they quickly realized they needed to expand. It was a daunting task since they had never before opened their own place, “We knew we’d just figure out how to make it happen,” Helen recounts, “we gambled everything we had.”

The food menu is creative, organic and driven by local farmers where permitting. The steamers are a favorite warm drink of steamed milk with a choice of flavorings from vanilla and caramel to mint or raspberry. It’s fun for kids and also an adult favorite. The martinis are even seemingly healthy with a brunch martini made of all organic ingredients including vodka, carrot, apple and ginger juices. The kitchen offers farm-raised chicken and eggs for all dishes and they are working to get local organic beef on the menu full-time. Uncommon Ground has been smoke-free since inception and Mike and Helen are proud to be strong advocates of the Chicago smoking ban.

Music has always been a part of the vision at Uncommon Ground, and through the years it has become a launching pad of many now-famous artists including Jeff Buckley and Howie Day. The restaurant offers live music 363 days a year. Mike has even become an unexpected scout for some of the big labels and a few other local venues who are looking for new talent. “I get calls from scouts and managers asking who the next big talent is,” he explains.

The restaurant’s art is locally contributed, the lamps were specifically created for the large airy main room in order to give the bar area volume and lightness with their likeness to floating kites. The bar itself was hand-carved by an elderly German gentleman who maintained his energy during hours of carving time by sipping beer. “We gave him a lamp so that he could see better as he whittled and chipped away; he just kept slowly carving and asking for beers as he progressed down the bar, carving and sipping,” Mike and Helen remember fondly.

On July 1, 2007 Uncommon Ground will celebrate its Sweet 16 Birthday with a few menu and drink specials as well as a few surprise musicians. The celebration marks an impressive run in a business that usually manages to wean out most of its entrants in the first five years of existence. Uncommon Ground has been thriving for three times longer than most restaurants ever do, so much in fact that they’ve decided to open a second venue in the Edgewater neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, choosing a space where they can focus on enhancing the restaurant’s Green interests. They will use all reclaimed woods for the décor and the furnishings, solar panels will heat the water, low VOC paints will color the walls and a roof-top collection well for rainwater re-use will be used to water plants and providing water for the toilets. They also hope to build a roof-top deck filled with vegetables, plants and herbs for the kitchen as well as greenery to provide heat for the restaurant.

Mike and Helen weren’t completely sure about expanding right now, but the Edgewater neighborhood committees actually came to them. “The community in that neighborhood has asked us to open there because they want to preserve the neighborhood feeling and provide the community with a green business to invigorate and revitalize the area,” Mike explains. They’ve decided to respond to the neighborhood’s request.

“Just like the first time around, we are gambling everything on this community-focused restaurant.” The Edgewater site will be at Devon and Glenwood and is expected to open to an eager crowd summer 2007. We’ll look forward to it.

Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark Street, Chicago; 773-929-3680.

Tanya Fritz is a professionally trained chef, oenophile, slow-food fanatic and yoga enthusiast.

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