1 2 A charming Chicago addition channels the Old South By JOANN GRECO Photography by NEIL BERGER belle When chef-owner Charlie McKenna and his Southern Revival Hospitality group charged Chicago-based blocHaus with reimagining a vacant space in the city's Bucktown neighborhood for his new Southern-style eatery, Dixie, the designers offered two choices. "We said we could put Band-Aids over the poor patch jobs that had been done throughout the years or we could do things the way they should be done," says Nick Bowers, firm founder and the project's design director. 1. Rows of gold handpainted oyster shells-a Southern symbol of good luck- form a backdrop for a seating area in Dixie's downstairs restaurant. 2. Art-filled dining alcoves create intimate spaces within the lowerlevel dining room. hospitalitydesign.com October 2016 153http://www.hospitalitydesign.com