About a decade ago, I met my buddy Tommy Else when we both worked with legendary musician Billy Corgan at his new company. Yesterday, Tommy and I met for lunch at Madame Zuzu’s, one of Corgan’s newest ventures. I’m always up to try a new dining spot, but I think Tommy was more excited, as he is a long-time fan of Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Located in downtown Highland Park, about 20 minutes north of Chicago, Zuzu’s is a plant-based tea shop. It also serves as a venue for music and other events, including Jen Weigel’s Spiritual Social Club.

Sporting a large menu of sandwiches, salads, bowls and more, Zuzu’s offers a lot of food options. I chose a chickpea tuna melt. Served on grilled sourdough and topped with smoked provolone, it had a trace of heat to make it a perfect combination of flavors and textures.

Tommy opted for Grandma JoJo’s meatball sub. Created from a secret family meatball recipe, the sandwich with soy meatballs had all the flavor of a standard meatball sub. Like my tuna melt, it also had a little heat.

Of course, Zuzu’s has a wide selection of teas, including tea tins and tea wares. I’m not much of a tea drinker, but I enjoyed several varieties at the previous incarnation of Madame Zuzu’s. This time, I zoned in on a tropical-spiced clementine tin.

There is also a small selection of actual vinyl record albums. Tommy picked up Corgan’s Adore.

With its large windows, Zuzu’s is bright and clean. It has a modern design with a retro feel. It does capture Corgan’s essence.

While we didn’t see Corgan, we enjoyed our lunch there and will definitely return. Maybe we’ll even have that reunion with Corgan.

— John Wroblewski, online writer