Chicago issues food license for Friends & Neighbors wine bar in Bucktown

Overview

Updated 3 hours ago

Two friends who live a few blocks from 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave. joked about taking over the wine bar that had just closed there. Arin Butzon and Joy Johns are behind Friends & Neighbors, and on November 9 the city issued the business a retail food establishment license for that address.

The record covers food prepared onsite with a dining area. It does not report whether the business holds other approvals, and it does not report whether anyone is being served at the address.

Why it matters

For Bucktown, the change is concrete: a storefront that held a closed wine bar now has a licensed food operator on the city's books.

Last Monday's email for Chicago, IL

Sent Nov 9. It carried:

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Key Indicators

Chicago license records in this filing

A single record filed November 9, 2026, for retail food establishment with onsite dining.

$100–$1,500

Founders' Club donation tiers

Four crowdfunding tiers the owners launched ahead of the buildout, as reported by Block Club Chicago.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Arin Butzon

Co-owner, Friends & Neighbors

Named in planning reports; license recorded for the business at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Joy Johns

Co-owner, Friends & Neighbors

Named in planning reports; license recorded for the business at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Organizations Involved

Friends & Neighbors

Wine bar business

Holds a Chicago retail food establishment license at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave. A & B

The wine bar Arin Butzon and Joy Johns set out to open in the storefront that held Red & White.

City of Chicago

Municipal government

Issuer of the license record filed November 9, 2026

The city issues business licenses and publishes the resulting records as open data.

Timeline

2025 November 2026

3 events Latest: 2 days ago

November 2026
City records a retail food license for 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave. A & B
Latest Licensing

Chicago files a Retail Food Establishment license for the sale of food prepared onsite with a dining area. The filing is one approval; it does not show what other approvals the business holds.
2 days ago
April 2026
Two neighbors announce a wine bar for the former Red & White space
Statement

Block Club Chicago reports that Arin Butzon and Joy Johns plan Friends & Neighbors at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave., were renovating the storefront, and were targeting Labor Day 2026.
April 21st, 2026
2025
Red & White closes at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Closure

The wine bar and bottle shop that had occupied the storefront closed, making the space available on a corridor of restaurants and bars near the Western Blue Line stop.
2025

Scenarios

Additional Chicago license records appear for 1861 N. Milwaukee

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: No published forecast exists; the check is the city's own open license dataset.

The food establishment record is one row in a dataset that also carries other license classes. If the address picks up another record, it will appear in the same dataset with its own class and filing date, and the open question about the business's approval set narrows on its own.

Food press reports Friends & Neighbors serving customers

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Block Club Chicago and What Now Chicago have both covered the plan and are the outlets tracking the address.

Two local outlets have already reported on the concept. A follow-up report describing the bar in service would settle what the November 9 record leaves open, since the dataset itself cannot say whether the address is trading.

A city food inspection record names the address

Uncertain Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: No published forecast exists; inspection records are published separately from licenses.

Chicago publishes food inspection results as their own dataset. An inspection record naming Friends & Neighbors would be a second city document tied to the address, independent of the license filing and dated on its own.

Historical Context

One moment from history that rhymes with this story — and how it unfolded.

2025

Red & White at 1861 N. Milwaukee Ave. (through 2025)

The storefront held Red & White, a wine bar that also ran a bottle shop. It closed, and the space came available on a stretch of Milwaukee Avenue lined with restaurants and bars near the Western Blue Line station.

Then

Two nearby residents, Arin Butzon and Joy Johns, took on the space with a wine bar concept of their own and began renovating it.

Now

The address stayed in the wine-bar category: the new plan keeps a retail component, smaller than Red & White's bottle shop, and puts a community table in its place.

Why this matters now

It explains why the license is at a known address rather than a new one, and why the storefront's use continues a category rather than introducing one.