Nestled along the Fox River Bike Trail in East Dundee, Mockingbird Bar + Garden evokes the vibes you’d get from a sidewalk bistro in France or a trattoria in the Italian countryside.

It’s neither, and it’s kind of both. But don’t think the eclectic restaurant has an identity crisis. It knows what it is and what it wants to be as it embarks on an expansion that will nearly triple the footprint of the small, 1,000-square-foot restaurant.

“We want to be unpretentious but delicious,” owner Kathleen Bucci Bergeron said. “We’re approachable, and you can have an incredible meal in a place where you feel calm and relaxed.”

The restaurant features a menu of small plates, shareables, pizzas and entrees, with most of the hot food prepared in a wood-fired oven. They favor clean, seasonal ingredients.

When general manager Tom Dowd is asked what kind of restaurant Mockingbird is, he doesn’t talk about what kind of cuisine they prepare.

“I say it’s a thoughtful restaurant,” Dowd says in a charming Irish accent. “It’s eclectic in its culinary approach, and everything that is brought to the table is thoughtful and each and every experience can be different for everyone who comes in.”

Bucci Bergeron opened Mockingbird at 217 Barrington Ave. seven years ago, combining three small spaces that housed a bakery, a law office and a gun shop into one restaurant.

“When we started, the idea was healthy food in a stylish environment, and I wanted it to be things that people hadn’t seen before,” she said. “Even if it’s just one ingredient. When I go out to eat I get so excited when there’s something that I don’t know or expect.”

Small plates include their signature deviled eggs, which are topped with a French rainbow trout roe and are made with eggs delivered by a farm a few miles away. A smoked whitefish pate jar is served with housemade bread.

Specialty pizzas include the Pig & Fig, with prosciutto, artichoke, olive, Fontina cheese and housemade fig jam, and the Housemade Fennel Sausage with massaged kale, crushed Roma tomato, fresh mozzarella and aged Parmesan.

But the wood-fired oven isn’t just for pizza. Ambitious entrees such as chicken thighs served over carrots, onions, apples and jalapenos and finished with their signature chimichurri is a favorite, as well as the Atlantic salmon, a whole Branzino and hangar steak, which all get seasonal preparations and come from the small oven and chef Patrick Reynolds.

Like the food menu, the wine list is small but carefully curated. The same intentionality extends into the cocktail menu, which includes a variety of old fashioneds, a tailored bourbon and whiskey list and original crafted creations for a number of tastes.

The expansion, which should be completed by the end of the year, will add seating, but much of the space will be dedicated to improving the functionality of the kitchen.

Bucci Bergeron said she isn’t looking to change the aesthetic of the restaurant, which she describes as “really intimate.”

“We’re really working on better efficiencies for both the kitchen and the bar,” she said. “It’s not about serving more people, it’s about serving the people we have better.”

The bar, which has reserved seats for dining, will now be longer, allowing more seats for the show in the open kitchen.

“Everyone wants to sit at the bar,” Bucci Bergeron said. “There aren’t many restaurants where the bar fills up first, but people want to watch Patrick and be a part of all that.”

A chef’s table will also be added as well as more tables near the back for larger groups. In all, they’ll add almost as many seats indoors as they lose when they have to close the patio for winter.

One of Bucci Bergeron’s favorite things is watching strangers become friends over the course of an evening because of the intimate nature of the restaurant.

“It’s nice to sit at a bar and you have a happenstance moment, and you’re meeting people and having fun and conversations that are just organic and random,” she said. “I just love it.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251021/dining/a-thoughtful-restaurant-mockingbird-in-east-dundee-embarks-on-an-expansion-while-keeping-the-vibe/