Bricktown Gets a New Digital Town Square — and Two New Places to Drink: Chicago.com Launches in Avondale as Phase Three Brewing and Terra Cafe Prepare to Open
By Socialhood News · Avondale ·
Three arrivals in a single October week paint a vivid picture of Avondale in 2026: a new neighborhood communication platform quietly switched on for Bricktown residents, a celebrated suburban craft brewery is preparing to pour its first pints in a long-dormant riverfront taproom, and a Guatemalan café has taken root on Belmont Avenue. Taken together, they represent something Avondale does better than almost any other Chicago neighborhood — layer new energy on top of an already-dense foundation without losing what made the place worth caring about in the first place.
On October 7, Chicago Public Media launched Chicago.com in Avondale, making Bricktown the very first neighborhood in the entire city to go live on the new platform. The rollout is neighborhood-by-neighborhood by design: Bronzeville followed the day after Avondale, with Evanston joining on October 12 and South Shore on October 13, rounding out five pilot communities that also include an Edgewater-area launch. The platform is deliberately stripped down — no algorithm, no profile pages — and instead gives residents a discussion feed, an event calendar, and a weekly newsletter curated by a paid community steward. It also pulls in journalism from outlets including WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, La Raza, and the Windy City Times into a single neighborhood dashboard, so residents can follow local coverage without hunting across multiple tabs. Chicago Public Media's phased approach is intended to let the organization learn from each community opening before the next one goes live.
For a neighborhood that has been building civic infrastructure at a notable pace — the Avondale Small Business Association held its inaugural public meeting just days earlier — the arrival of Chicago.com as a dedicated digital gathering place for Bricktown residents is another piece snapping into place. The platform isn't a replacement for local reporting; it's a connective layer on top of it, a place where neighbors can surface what they're seeing on their block and find the people and organizations working on the same questions they are.
On the food and drink front, the biggest news in Avondale this fall may be the imminent opening of Phase Three Brewing Company's first-ever Chicago taproom at 3057 N. Rockwell Ave. — the riverside space that Metropolitan Brewing vacated in 2023 amid financial trouble. Phase Three, which launched in 2019 and currently runs taprooms in suburban Lake Zurich and Elmhurst, announced the Chicago expansion in August. Co-owner and founder Evan Morris told Block Club Chicago that the Rockwell space is a near-perfect fit: "We wanted a third location, but we also knew that third one was probably going to be our last crack at finding something truly special." The brewery signed the lease after working through plans since November and intends to make cosmetic changes to the space before opening, while keeping the character that made the Metropolitan-era taproom a neighborhood anchor. Phase Three is already well-known to Avondale regulars — the brand's beers have long been stocked at neighborhood spots including Avondale Bowl and Sleeping Village. The new taproom will eventually include a kitchen, which Metropolitan never had, giving the Rockwell riverside stretch a food-and-drink destination that the block has been missing since Metropolitan's closure.
Meanwhile, at 3343 W. Belmont Ave., a quieter addition to the neighborhood has been noted by Chicago food writers: Terra Cafe, a Guatemalan spot, has opened on Belmont and is drawing attention as one of the fall's noteworthy new café arrivals on the northwest side. Details on the full menu and hours are still emerging, but the opening adds another thread to Avondale's already rich fabric of Latin American food — a fabric woven over decades by the community that now makes up the majority of the neighborhood's population.
For residents who want to plug into all of it — the new community platform, the incoming taproom, the café scene on Belmont — the timing could hardly be better. Chicago.com is live in Avondale now; find it at chicago.com and look for the Avondale neighborhood feed to connect with neighbors, find upcoming events, and follow local journalism in one place. Phase Three Brewing's opening at 3057 N. Rockwell Ave. is expected before the end of 2026 — follow the brewery at @phasethreebrewing for updates on the launch date. And if Guatemalan food on Belmont sounds like your kind of Tuesday, Terra Cafe at 3343 W. Belmont Ave. is worth a visit. Bricktown keeps building.
Sources:
1. https://hoodline.com/2026/10/chicago-com-begins-neighborhood-by-neighborhood-pilot-of-local-community-platform/
2. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/08/06/phase-three-brewing-opening-its-first-chicago-taproom-at-former-metropolitan-space-in-avondale/
3. https://www.wttw.com/playlist/2026/09/21/upcoming-restaurants-fall-2026