On the table: Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar

Just when I thought it would take a minor miracle to lift me out of the funk this grey day has cast over my desk (well, the greyness isn't completely at fault; Crede, Quentin AND Konerko all being injured at the same time is the true source of my pain), I got some news good enough to make me form a full smile.

In what looks to be a mega-watt collaboration - like a "We Are the World" of the beer and wine bar game - Tonya Pyatt just told me she and her team are opening Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar in late fall in Humboldt's short-lived Cosmospolitan [sic] space. Who the hell is Tonya Pyatt? Ah, I was hoping you'd ask. Miss Pyatt is a wine guru with an art curator's backbone. In the last couple years, the seven-year-vet of Webster's Wine Bar has been using West Town's Architrouve gallery space to throw quite a few fantastic shindigs, from bio-dynamic wine walk-arounds to a Tony Fitzpatrick opening with Three Floyds keg-tapping and Hot Doug's eats. Now, Pyatt is teaming up with Johnny Hap and Jamie McLennan, both also Webster's alums, to give Humboldt Park a beer and wine bar with zero pretension but massive ambition.

"We're doing very little to the small space, keeping it super casual, with mismatched tables, a hodgepodge of plates," Pyatt says. "The focus isn’t on impressing anybody with those kinds of things, and no, we don’t have gobs of money for stylish stuff, but when they open the wine and beer menu, that's where we can impress." The team will do that by offering 15-20 wines by the glass and a reserve list of around 45 bottles, all classified by Pyatt as "boutique-y, global, affordable, from small producers, some bio-dynamic, some organic." Copy and paste that description for the beer list, and expect around 40 picks.

The core trio of owners will be the star of the show, but they're making room for some back-up singers: Bluebird's beer baron Paul Johnston and sommeliers-about-town Jeremy Quinn and Craig Cooper will have rotating guest sections on the list, as will other "friends and family" of the Rootstock crew. Collectively, these professors of adult beverages are as good as any to be schooling you, so pay attention to the "super accessible descriptions" the menus will sport. Not interested in the details? Then pay attention to the food, which Pyatt promises will be "seasonal, local small plates based on traditional beer and wine pairings...all really affordable but delicious." And who will make sure of that? Stay tuned.

Rootstock Beer & Wine Bar is slated to open late November at 954 N California.