Mama knows best: An antique pharmacy circa 1910 is only one of Mama Delia’s intriguing design elements
Last April, when many of us were content to spend time baking sourdough bread, cleaning out our closets and coupling with our couches, Daniel Alonso, founder and creative director of Bonhomme Group, opted instead to give Black Bull, the first restaurant in his hospitality group, a makeover.
After nearly 10 years, the Wicker Park restaurant had a great run, loyal guests and a fantastic team. But Dani and Bonhomme Hospitality Chef/Partner Marcos Campos envisioned a restaurant that was more representative of what is happening in Spain right now.
Enter Mama Delia, a Restaurant, Sherry Bar and Ultramarino, that reflects the current culinary direction in Spain of embracing cultural diversity while respecting its roots. While Marcos got busy on the menu — think dishes ranging from Pulpo Canario (grilled Galician octopus with confit fingerling potatoes, green pepper emulsion, mojo roji canario aioli) to Datiles de la Mancha (house-cured lamb belly-stuffed smoked dates with farm goat cheese, pisto sauce, migas manchegas) —Dani and Maison Bonhomme, Bonhomme Group’s concept and design studio, got busy crafting an interior design that was equally creative.
Inspired by Spain’s ‘colmados antiguos de barrio’ (old neighborhood grocery stores), the front area of Mama Delia includes pieces from an antique pharmacy (circa 1910) imported from Belgium. The original bookcases, glass cases and cabinets find new life displaying bottles of small production wines and distinct gourmet goods from Spain, all available for sale. Nearby at the Chef Counter, guests gather for glasses of sherry and charcuterie boards filled with artisanal cheese and cured meats from Spain at the monumental 30-foot-long ornate marble bar.
Further inside, Mama Delia’s elegantly appointed dining room — tailored with velvet, walnut and brass dining furniture, burgundy tweed banquettes, antique Persian Kirman rugs, and vintage brass and wrought iron chandeliers — provides a cozy ‘candlelit’ setting.
Outside on Division Street’s extra wide sidewalks, Mama Delia’s 60-seat patio features a seasonal pavilion structure, protecting guests from occasional showers, with big, bold ferns and ivy adding character and beauty and a natural barrier between guests and street traffic.
Wine barrels painted in the same rose hue of the façade have been repurposed as planters. Overhead, string lights hanging from the ceiling of the open structure, add to the romantic ambiance.
“Personally, I am driven by aspiration, nostalgia and a sense of adventure. I seek to enrich my life by learning from the past, especially through travel, reading, film and, of course, through the relationships and conversations I am blessed with,” says Dani. “Most of my ideas are formed through the accumulation of my voyages through life. When I create, the sum of these experiences and inputs both inform and inspire me. Genuinely, the most exciting aspect of this project was the ambitious journey of the concept itself.”
