The team behind Cadence Kitchen & Co. and The Foxtail wants a liquor license for its newest downtown Downers Grove venture.

The Downers Grove Liquor Commission will review a Class R-1/0 license application for The Rec League, a two-story restaurant and entertainment venue at 844 Warren Ave., at its Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting. The license would allow the business to serve beer, wine and liquor indoors and on its patio, Patch reported, citing village documents.

Owners Todd Davies and Tim Canning have been building the project since 2025, according to the Downers Grove Economic Development Corporation (DGEDC). The venue is projected to open in late 2026.

Construction started in 2025.

The first floor will house a dining room and bar that opens onto a heated outdoor patio with at least one fire pit, village documents show. The second floor will have billiards and darts. The DGEDC project page also lists golf simulators on the upper level, though the village documents cited by Patch mention only billiards and darts.

Village documents describe the building's wood timbers and stone accents as reflecting a "California mountain vernacular."

Davies and Canning opened Cadence Kitchen & Co. at 5101 Mochel Drive around 2018 and launched The Foxtail at 5237 Main St. in March 2020. Cadence earned Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence in 2024 and 2025, according to DuPage Magazine.

In a June DuPage Magazine profile of Cadence, Davies described the hospitality philosophy he and Canning share. "We've always wanted Cadence to feel like a place people can come together and enjoy themselves," Davies said.

That same thinking shapes The Rec League. In a Sept. 3 blog post about downtown Downers Grove restaurants, Davies was quoted as saying the goal was to create a place where friends can do things together beyond just a meal, and that the team is building for residents, not visitors passing through.

Commissioner Michael Davenport called the concept a "good compliment to the Tivoli" when the project came before village commissioners, according to that same Sept. 3 blog post. He described it as a possible catalyst for the area developing into more of an entertainment district. The 844 Warren Ave. lot previously had a restaurant approved under a 2019 planned unit development that was never built.

The Thursday, Oct. 1 Liquor Commission hearing is the next public step before the venue can open with a full bar.