Longman & Eagle Has a New Head Chef, but the Time-Worn Tavern Vibe Remains Perfectly Untouched

Fast forward to a rainy night earlier this year, when I revisited Longman & Eagle, now settled into its middle age (for a restaurant). Lit by the warm glow of the handsome mirrored-backed bar, stacked with whiskey bottles inside the caged cabinets, candles, and dim pendant lights overhead, I felt a sense of nostalgia. It had been too long since I had last visited, and I immediately felt the same homey vibe, and fun and friendly service I remembered from a decade ago. I spotted the nose-to-tail items that put Longman on the map, but also housemade sourdough, seasonal entrées highlighting squashes and beets, seared cod topped with crab salad and pickled fennel, and a French fry ice cream with magic shell—all dishes added by recently appointed executive chef Alex Swieton.

“I’ve always loved Longman & Eagle,” says Swieton, who was a regular at the restaurant before joining the kitchen in 2020 as brunch chef. “I thought it was so cool and I loved the cooking style—something that was kind of bold, but still welcoming and approachable,” she says. She quickly moved up the ranks to dinner, serving as chef de cuisine for three years, and when chef Brian Motyka left last fall, Swieton was promoted to executive chef. “She knows the place inside and out and has been quietly (okay, sometimes loudly) putting out some of the most unforgettable dishes we’ve had the pleasure to serve,” read the Instagram announcement of her appointment, which also acknowledged Swieton as the first female chef in the restaurant’s history.

Swieton describes herself as a “vegetable person through and through” but one who couldn’t wait to get creative with offal—a hallmark of the restaurant. “I always thought it was cool that they used the odd bits. I think this was probably the first place I had foie gras,” she says. She still loves the ongoing challenge of utilizing ingredients like tongue, liver, and sweetbreads, while remaining focused on seasonality, also part of the restaurant’s core ethos.

Swieton draws inspiration from what their farmer suppliers are bringing in, be it a sleeper hit winter squash dish with cumin goat cheese, peanut salsa macha, and chorizo breadcrumbs, or a new summer squash salad with hari chutney vinaigrette, coconut curry, garlic labneh and zucchini fritter. Swieton’s love of sausage-making led her to put on an apple and cheddar pork sausage over the winter (it’s since been swapped out for Kilgus Farm pork ribs with a rhubarb-BBQ and spring onion relish), and she worked with sous chef Haley Horton to make a goat pierogi they consider a tribute to Mexican and Polish heritage and history in Chicago. (“We thought, this is crazy, let’s do it.”) She also spearheaded a bread program, making gruyère sourdough baguettes, focaccia, brioche, and bialys in-house—basically everything but the high-volume burger buns. “We don’t have a baker or anyone who’s dedicated to it. This is something we taught ourselves,” says Swieton.

If the front room of Longman has always felt more conducive to cold, damp nights, the back OSB (Off-Site Bar) area offers a whole different vibe, including a garage door that opens to the street and side patio on warmer days. It’s used for everything from private events to evening popup concepts like the OSBeach that Swieton and her team launched in February, with tropical bites and drinks to put winter-weary locals in “an umbrella state of mind.”

It’s still going strong with seasonal and Midwest-influenced small plates like furikake fries, Korean fried chicken with ramp ranch dressing, and a smoked lake trout rangoon in sweet chili sauce. Bar manager Jay Cullen created a menu of rum cocktails like an Island Time Old Fashioned and mai tais (never fear, the main bar is still all about whiskey cocktails). On Monday nights in the OSB, Swieton has featured everything from noodle specials like duck heart dan dan and khao soi in the colder months, to a current weekly collaboration in which local chefs customize an ice cream sundae and donate the proceeds to a charity of their choosing.

Something the whole team is excited about this summer is the completion of the brand new pavilion area outside the restaurant, where additional seating and room for more pedestrian traffic has them brainstorming a beer garden, live music, and more down the road. The Logan Square farmers’ market has also found a new home there, and the restaurant has added a walk-up window for to-go cocktails, beer, wine, breakfast burritos, and pastries. They’ve also started their own “Market Sundays,” featuring local vendors and artists in the back corral of the patio. “We have a full roster of really great vendors as a quirky extension of the market for the rest of the summer,” says Swieton.

It’s that connection to the community that’s contributed in part to the longevity of Longman, along with a collaborative staff environment (“we’re actually all friends,” Swieton says), a healthy, welcoming atmosphere, and the fact that the restaurant has settled comfortably into a middle ground of neighborhood joint and special-occasion destination over the years. “It’s not something a lot of places can pull off successfully,”  says Swieton. “And I think the fact that the food is always changing and rotating keeps people coming back. It’s an institution.” And with Swieton’s talent for adapting dishes to the seasons, experimenting with playful pop-ups, and staying connected to the community, all while maintaining the restaurant’s ethos, the legacy of Longman will no doubt continue for years to come.