Phil Stefani has mellowed since the emotional ride of closing Tavern on Rush in October 2022, ending a 24-year run in Gold Coast. Stefani, along with his daughter Gina and son Anthony, are preparing to relaunch the celebrated restaurant around the corner from the original inside the Thompson Hotel. Crews have been busy gutting the former Nico Osteria.
The fabled Chicago restaurateur says he didn’t truly understand the meaning of “iconic” until he saw five TV stations doing live shots from inside his restaurant on the night it closed.
“What made Tavern — it wasn’t bricks and mortar,” Phil Stefani says. “Tavern was made by the people who frequented it and by the staff who worked there. And this is what we want to duplicate.”
The new Tavern on Rush, at the corner of Rush Street and Bellevue, will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They’re targeting a June opening and will also provide room service for hotel guests. There will be more emphasis on brunch, so folks won’t have to wait in line at the Original Pancake House down the street for a morning option. Fortunately, Gina Stefani has plenty of brunch experience from Mad Social, a since-shuttered weekend brunch destination in West Loop. She is excited about offering breakfast and lunch options for those with early business meetings seven days a week.
“How many times do you just drive by a breakfast place and they have lines out the door — they’re longer than bars at night now,” she says.
A rendering of the staircase at Tavern on Rush.555 International
But that doesn’t mean the new Tavern is solely pandering to fans of Early Bird Specials. Anthony Stefani says they want to get back to the restaurant’s roots “where you can either come and enjoy the vibe” with a few libations or “have a full Chicago steakhouse experience.” Anthony Stefani doesn’t want the space to feel overly modern or flashy but sees this as an opportunity to establish Tavern on Rush as one of the city’s best steakhouses. He’s working with 555 International on the two-level, 16,000-square-foot space’s design. It will include a cocktail lounge, bar, outdoor patio, and multiple private event rooms.
While it’s important to tap into the new, Gina Stefani doesn’t want to run away from her family’s strengths: “Times change, but sticking to the classics, I feel you just can’t go wrong,” she says. “And I think that’s what we do best.”
Her father adds: “It’s unfortunate that places come and go and are hot and cold, but we want to be here for the next 25 years.”
Tavern on Rush wants to retain the lively bar element of the original.555 International
Phil Stefani and his team made Tavern a lively spot where celebrities, from Bon Jovi to Michael Jordan, felt comfortable. He calls the area the “heart of the city,” as it’s near Oak Street Beach and the Mag Mile. Pre-COVID, guests at downtown hotels were the ones who helped fill up Gold Coast restaurants. Tourism appears to be on the upswing and that prompted Phil Stefani to mention how he enjoys seeing the area bustle feeding off the energy of other restaurants like Gibsons and Maple & Ash. A new Carmine’s is also planned.
“If one place is completely full, they can go to the next place and have a cocktail, and vice versa,” Phil Stefani says.
Phil Stefani could read the tea leaves and had been preparing since 2020 for an exit. The landlord at Rush Street wanted to move in another direction and it was time for Stefani and company to pack up. It wasn’t a happy split, but Stefani says time has healed wounds. He’s been eating breakfast every Saturday at the new restaurant, Bellevue, for the past two months.
Many familiar faces from the original restaurant will work at the new one. That includes Benny Nadzaku, Tavern on Rush’s manager. Anthony Stefani says Nadzaku wields more power than his father. If a patron wants a prime patio table, they need to buddy up with Nadzaku.
Tavern on Rush, 1015 N. Rush Street, planned for a June opening
As Chicagoans attempt to track The Bear with Season 3 production underway in various locations around town, including Randolph Restaurant Row, reports have emerged that the show has already been green-lit for Season 4.
There’s speculation that Seasons 3 and 4 are being filmed back to back with episodes for Season 4 already in production. Some have also called Season 4 the show’s final season. In the wonderful world of television, nothing is ever a certainty and FX hasn’t confirmed any of this.
Show creator Christopher Storer, a Park Ridge native, reportedly has a long list of projects necessitating an endgame to Carmy, Sydney, and Richie’s antics. Similarly, actors Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are entertaining more opportunities. It’s come a long way since the 2022 James Beard Awards in Chicago where White attended and was easily approachable. His stock, along with his co-stars’, has soared since then.
Season 3 should debut in June on Hulu.
Atelier and Christian Hunter Make Moves
Back in January, Christian Hunter, the chef at Michelin-starred Atelier in Lincoln Square, posted a diner menu on Instagram (since deleted), and that prompted folks to think that the James Beard-nominated chef was on the cusp of opening a second restaurant. Hunter would tell Eater in January that this was a dream, to open a diner that would pay homage to his mother’s (Angela Laverne) Cincinnati roots. Yes, that meant chili loaded with noodles and cheese. He also mentioned Coney Dogs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and veggie options. Fine dining was great, but Hunter wanted to open a more affordable restaurant and was working with Atelier founder Tim Lacey on fleshing out the concept. In late February, Atelier announced that Hunter was now a co-owner and that they had promoted Bradyn Kawcak from chef de cuisine to executive chef to give Hunter room to pursue new projects as a bonafide restaurant group. Kawcak had worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago like Band of Bohemia, Entente, and Elizabeth. As far as the diner is concerned, Lacey and Hunter are searching for spaces with hopes of opening something by the end of the year.
River North nightclub owner faces felony drug charges
The 43-year-old owner of Spybar, a River North nightclub, has been arrested and faces felony drug trafficking charges for allegedly attempting to smuggle 14 pounds worth of ketamine and about 5.8 grams of ecstasy through O’Hare International Airport.
Cook County prosecutors claim Dino Gardiakos tried to bring the illegal drugs through airport security as he arrived from London with the intent to sell them. Gardiakos had already been placed on probation for felony drug charges. He now faces a battery of charges including trafficking of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. He’s been released on pre-trial conditions after appearing in court on Thursday.
The acclaimed chef behind Ina Mae Tavern in Wicker Park and Frontier in West Town is working on a new restaurant. Brian Jupiter is partnering with his chef de cuisine at Frontier, Azazi Morsi, on a project on the Northwest Side in Portage Park called Migos Fine Foods.
The restaurant will center around delivery and carryout with 12 seats at 5044 W. Montrose, near the Jefferson Park border. Jupiter says it’s convenient; he lives about 10 minutes away in Albany Park while the Algerian-born Morsi lives in Portage Park. The approach is fun, fast, and casual — affordable eats that customers can enjoy more than once a week. The restaurant should open in early April. They’ll also have a small patio.
Brian Jupiter is opening a third restaurant separate from the ownership group at Frontier and Ina Mae.Pioneer Tavern Group
The menu includes halal fried chicken and tacos. Renata Jupiter is handling the sweets with cakes and cookies from her business, Adry’s Pastries. Brian Jupiter describes the doughnuts as being similar to beignets, but a little longer. They’ll have various toppings. They aren’t serving alcohol, but Frontier mixologist Edgar Garcia is creating some agua frescas.
Morsi and Jupiter plan on expanding their operations to catering in May. The restaurant is separate from Pioneer Tavern Group, Brian Jupiter’s partners at Frontier and Ina Mae (the group also runs Lottie’s Pub in Bucktown). The new restaurant won’t have an impact on Jupiter’s duties at those two other restaurants.
Migos Fine Foods, 5044 W. Montrose, planned for an April 2 opening.
Chicago’s Northwest Side Filipino community is robust and isn’t about to be shut out of the city’s Filipino American restaurant boom. Seafood City isn’t enough. Kathy Vega Hardy is readying to open her first standalone restaurant in early April in Jefferson Park. In August, closed her popular Filipino food stall, A Taste of the Philippines, inside Chicago’s French Market as she prepared to launch an independent operation.
For this particular project at 5914 W. Lawrence Avenue, “independent” isn’t entirely accurate. Vega Hardy is partnering with another Filipino business, Crumbs and Cookies, a bakery that’s best known for sylvana, a cookie stuffed with flavored creams. Spouses Katrina and Mharloe Requiron founded their operation after the pandemic began in 2020. They’re splitting the space with Vega Hardy.
Twenty-eight seat A Taste of the Philippines will serve a few desserts, such as their signature ube doughnut and turon (a sweet lumpia with ube drizzle), but the two businesses believe they complement each other with Vega Hardy offering mostly savory items like lumpia and pancit. Without a permanent home, Vega Hardy has been using the space at Schoolhouse Kitchen in Portage Park to cook food for her catering business which also includes pop-up dinners.
Ube doughnuts and cheesecake bites.A Taste of the Philippines
Chicago’s food scene includes prime-time players like Bayan Ko and Boonies Filipino Restaurant, plus a little Michelin-starred success story called Kasama. Mano Modern Cafe opened last year in West Town. Vega Hardy says her food fills a specific niche.
“I wouldn’t call it upscale, but it’s not fast food either,” she says. “I feel I’m in the sweet middle ground.”
Vega Hardy’s story has been well told around Chicago. She’s a Manila native who lived in Denver where she started A Taste of the Philippines as a food truck in 2012. As is the case with many Asian families arriving in America, few recipes are actually written down. Immigrant food in the States often tastes different because of guesswork in reformulating a recipe (there’s also a difference in ingredients that leads to changes). Vega Hardy has worked toward preserving Filipino culture while putting her own spins on items. But, as chefs who cook international cuisines can attest, it’s sometimes exhausting trying to sell food to folks unfamiliar with other people’s cultures. Food can be educational (Vega Hardy also teaches at Schoolhouse Kitchen), but it can be daunting: “I really thought I was the only Filipino person there,” she says of her time in Denver.
When she moved to Chicago, she gained a following selling food at farmer’s markets before opening in the French Market in summer 2020. Even at the market, she sometimes got anxious having to explain her evolving menu to passersby who were strolling through the food hall browsing menu boards.
Egg sandwiches and specialty coffee are served.A Taste of the Philippines
The commute from the Northwest Side to the West Loop was brutal, especially with construction on the Kennedy Expressway. Vega Hardy won’t have to contend with that headache as she’s a Jefferson Park resident. She’ll also have more room to be creative and productive (on an average day of lumpia making she can roll about 150; the number will now increase at the restaurant). Vega Hardy touts a vegetarian adobo made with local vendor Four Star Mushrooms. Now, fans of that Kasama operation might be familiar with their dish which was featured in some cookbook and also in a Chicago-based TV show called The Bear. Adobo can be a personal thing that varies depending on family preferences. Vega Hardy’s is a little bit more saucy. She talks about how the gravy properly coats the rice.
A Taste of the Philippines will also serve breakfast with silog, sandwiches, and more. Longanisa — which will be used in a Scotch egg — will be made on premises. Imagine pan de sal with a fried egg and havarti cheese. The full espresso bar will have fun drinks with coffee from Veloria Coffee, another Filipino American business.
If this sounds like a broken record, it is — restaurants all around America are facing unprecedented economic challenges. Still, there are plenty of new projects to look forward to as 2024 is shaping up to be a big one in Chicago, especially as a mild winter has locals and tourists dreaming of outdoor dining during the spring and summer months. At Eater Chicago, we’ve listed 15 upcoming restaurants targeting a spring debut. Among them, seven are either relocations or sequels to existing restaurants. The latter means the new venues feature either more seating or bigger menus. It’s not the same song.
There are also two tasting menu restaurants and three bars. New bars could indicate that the city is healing from the pandemic. And speaking of pandemic trends (when comfort foods concepts, like pizzerias, started sprouting up seemingly everywhere) there’s one new pizzeria opening — and it’s replacing another pizzeria. Time marches on. But at least Chicagoans can rely on delicious new options. Explore the most anticipated openings of spring below.
Bayan Ko Diner owners Lawrence Letrero (left) and Raquel Quaderny.Aliya Ikhumen/Eater Chicago
Address: 1820 W. Montrose, Ravenswood
Key Players: Raquel Quadreny, chef Lawrence Letrero
After Glenn’s Diner, a decade’s old greasy spoon in Ravenswood closed, the owners of Bayan Ko, a Filipino and Cuban restaurant a few doors east, saw an opportunity. The husband-and-wife team is opening their second restaurant, a greasy spoon with items like a Cuban smash patty melt, lumpia, and more. The diner will also serve classic dishes from the original Bayan Ko as daily specials. That space has since morphed into a reservation-only restaurant serving a set menu. Look for an April opening.
Address: 3154 W. Diversey, Logan Square
Key Players: Chef Mark Steuer, Milkhorse Hospitality
The opening date for the bar replacing Lost Lake in Logan Square continues to slide. The target was December 31, but it’s been repeatedly pushed and now it’s April. Nevertheless, chef Mark Steuer, who’s long served southern cuisine at restaurants like Carriage House in Wicker Park and Funkenhausen in West Town, is bringing fun takes on comfort food, like cornbread with foie gras, and more. The space, once decorated with tropical and tiki vibes, is going in a different direction and leaning into ‘80s nostalgia. Steuer and company are touting the bar’s employee benefits rarely seen for restaurant workers — for example, PTO and health care coverage — is proof of their common decency.
This cocktail is called the Captured Shadow.Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved
Key players: Chireal Jordan, Brian Galati
Address: 900 N. Franklin Street, Near North Side
Headquarters Beercade founders Chireal Jordan and Brian Galati have been reluctant to share details about their latest venue, Dearly Beloved, which takes over the former home of French dining stalwart Kiki’s. The duo calls it a “cocktail restaurant,” which means that drinks will be the main attraction inside the 6,000-square-foot space with rare spirits and other drinks with striking and surprising presentations. The food will focus on vegetables, tapping into the founders’ embrace of the unexpected in inventions like a zucchini dish designed to taste like filet mignon. It’s set to debut on Wednesday, May 1.
Feld owner Jake Potashnick at Froggy Meadow Farm.Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago
Key player: Jacob Potashnick
Address: 2018 W. Chicago Avenue, West Town
Chicago native Jacob Potashnick is plugging away in West Town. Feld is a unique fine dining restaurant where Feld will draw upon his international work experiences with a tasting menu format. Imagine an open space where staff works in the middle of the dining room; Potashnick wants to keep everyone comfortably seated to keep the spirit of the room proper. He’s working with SPACE Architects and Variant Collaborative and they’re applying the final touches on the space. An avid social media user, Potashnick mentions the final stretch; he’s been busy taking meetings and, like many restaurant owners before the debut, is feeling a little anxious at this juncture. He’s even grown a mustache. Potashnick says they hope to debut with a few soft launch dinners before officially opening to the public in June.
Egg rolls are a classic Khmai dish.Eater/Melissa Blackmon
Address: 6580 N. Sheridan,Rogers Park
Key Players: Mona Sang, Sarom Sieng, Loyola University
A rare Chicago restaurant where traditional Cambodian food is the star, Khmai Fine Dining made a major splash in 2022 when chef and owner Mona Sang’s project was named one of Eater’s 15 Best New Restaurants in America. Khmai drew hoards of diners to Rogers Park for the rich, deep, and concentrated flavors that characterize Khmer cuisine. In late November, Sang closed the original location and she’s now signed a lease with Loyola University to bring her restaurant near the Rogers Park campus. An ode to Sang’s mother, Sarom Sieng, the new restaurant will expand service and offer breakfast and lunch, plus new dishes. Sang says she’s eager to accelerate the timeline as her mother — now age 80 and a survivor of the Cambodian genocide and a fixture in Khmai’s kitchen — is champing at the bit to get back to business in April.
Key players: Jun-Jun Vichaikul, Naomi Hattori, chef Eric Hattori
Address: 3443 N. Sheffield Avenue, Wrigleyville
The Hotel Zachary and the owners of the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, have reshaped Wrigleyville, squeezing out many independent businesses. But just south of the baseball field, spouses Jun-Jun Vichaikul and Naomi Hattori are taking their best swings at bringing something unique to the neighborhood under local ownership. The couple plans on opening their second location of Konbini & Kanpai, a Japanese American bottle shop, to Wrigley inside the former Dark Horse Tap. The new shop is larger than the Lakeview original and includes a full kitchen. They’ve brought on Naomi Hattori’s brother, chef Eric Hattori (previously of pan Asian food truck Piko Street Kitchen) to create a menu of casual nisei-influenced dishes like egg salad sands on milk bread and bowls of udon. Vichaikul promises an entirely new lineup of Asian spirits, beers, and cocktails like a sake-based Old Fashioned with ginger syrup and barley shochu. Stay tuned for an April or May debut.
Indus
Indus co-owners Ajit (left) and Sukhu Kalra pose at Urban Space in 2021.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Address: 617 Central Avenue, Highland Park
Key Players: Sukhu and Ajit Kalra
The team behind Bhoomi, the food stall at the former Urban Space Food Hall — now known as Washington Hall — is opening a full-service restaurant in suburban Highland Park. Sukhu and Ajit Kalra are promising a menu with traditional dishes and modern twists, from curries to wagyu steaks, smoked meats, and a curated selection of wine paired with fun cocktails. The name pays homage to the Indus Valley. They feel it was one of the first to incorporate spices in their cooking, to make food about pleasure more than just sustenance. The new tagline for the restaurant is “Progressive Indian.” They’re looking at a May opening.
Kor is opening inside the Godfrey Hotel.Kor/Austin Handler
Address: 127 W. Huron Street, River North
Key Players: Soiree Hospitality, chef Onur Okan, Godfrey Hotel
The owners of Rooh Chicago are opening their fourth restaurant brand with chef Onur Okan, a Turkish native who’s cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants like Aliena and Claudia. A wood-burning grill is essential to the menu, with grilled meats and veggies with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences. The owners are waiting for licenses and working with the Godfrey in hopes of a late March opening.
Minyoli
Key player: Chef Rich Wang
Address: 5420 N. Clark Street, Andersonville
Taiwanese beef noodle soup, a staple embraced by many as the country’s national dish, will be the star at Minyoli, the first solo project from Boka alum Rich Wang. He’s taking over the former home of Land & Lake Kitchen and Passerotto in Andersonville. Wang’s a native of Taipei, and the menu includes a traditional beef noodle soup, characterized by a deep herbal broth infused with cardamom and cinnamon, filled with springy hand-cut noodles, and tender cuts of beef shank. He’ll also serve lu wei, or snacks braised in the same soup stock, and Taiwanese liquors, beer, and cocktails. The story’s personal for Wang, born in a juàn cun, a “military dependents’ village,” where much of the food originates. These Taiwanese hodge-podge enclaves were first established in the late 1940s toward the end of the Chinese Civil War to house Chinese military personnel and their families. Minyoli should debut in April.
Profesor Pizza is a master of many pizza styles.Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago
Address: 1610 N. Wells Street, Old Town
Key Players: Anthony Scardino, Fifty/50 Restaurant Group
Anthony Scardino has a competitive pizza background and has worked at some of Chicago’s best pizza restaurants. He’s got a passion for Italian food and thoughtfully produces some of the city’s best pizzas. After working at a few ghost kitchens, he’s ready to commit to Old Town where he’ll take over the former Roots Pizza near Wells and North, partnering with the restaurant’s owners, Fifty/50 Restaurant Group. The two parties promise a new restaurant that distills Scardino’s personality. As the restaurant neighbors Second City, there’s potential for collaborations with the legendary comedy troop. The target opening date is, and this is no misprint, April 20. Think about it. Then forget about it.
Soul & Smoke is expanding in Evanston.Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago
Address: 1601 Payne Street, Evanston
Key Players: Heather Bublick and D’Andre Carter
Soul & Smoke, a member of the Eater Chicago 38, is one of the city’s best barbecue restaurants thanks to the husband-and-wife team of D’Andre Carter and Heather Bublick. The two have fine dining experience, and it’s the little touches that lead to world-class brisket and ribs. Their first restaurant was in Evanston, and they are going big in the suburbs. Unlike their counter-service restaurant along the river in Avondale, the restaurant inside a 100-year barn will be full service. They’ll also have a “speakeasy-style dining room” with upscale offerings, a throwback to the couple’s day working at Moto in West Loop. Look for a late spring opening.
Steingold’s is opening a location in Wrigleyville.Steingold’s of Chicago
Address: 3630 N. Clark Street, Wrigleyville
Key Players: Aaron Steingold, Cara Peterson
American Jewish communities have long enjoyed a love affair with baseball, which makes it seem like beshert (Yiddish for “inevitable” or “pre-ordained”) that Steingold’s of Chicago is at work on a new location across from Wrigley Field. Chef and owner Aaron Steingold, a self-professed baseball historian who originally founded his modern Jewish deli in 2017, will bring his popular bagels, deli sandwiches, and a few new items (think latke-tot poutine and everything bagel-dogs on sticks) to the former home of West Town Bakery inside the Hotel Zachary. Culinary director Cara Peterson also promises special soft-serve ice cream in flavors like baklava with honey and salted caramel. While the debut’s been pushed; it won’t happen on baseball’s Opening Day as planned, Steingold tells Eater they hope to open in May.
3LP is expanding to Bridgeport.Aliya Ikhumen/Eater Chicago
Address: 964 W. 31st Street, Bridgeport
Key Players: Henry Cai, Maria’s Community Bar
Henry Cai, the South Side native, continues to spread his culture with unique fast-casual offerings of Chinese-American and Cantonese cuisine. His signature dish is fried rice with three different types of pork, or “three little pigs.” After launching as a takeout-only spot he opened inside Molly’s Cupcakes in South Loop. He’s expanding once more in Bridgeport, where he’ll take over the space formerly occupied by Pleasant House Bakery, Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream, and Herbivore. Look for a mid-April or early-May opening with his signature chicken sandwiches and more.
Evan Funke is an LA chef whose vision comes to Chicago in the form of Tre Dita.Wonho Frank Lee/Eater LA
Address: St. Regis Chicago, 401 E. Wacker Drive, Lakeshore East
Chicago’s largest restaurant group, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, will complete its two-restaurant project inside the flashy St. Regis skyscraper this spring with the debut of Tre Dita, a Tuscan steakhouse from noteworthy LA chef Evan Funke (Felix), The bar opened in late February, but Funke promises much more when the restaurant debuts. Tre Dita will also house a pasta lab where the team can highlight the traditional pasta shapes of Tuscany. It’s scheduled to open in mid-March.
Address: 2020 W. Division Street, Wicker Park
Key Players: Stephen Gillanders
Valhalla, a fine dining restaurant that started on the second floor at Time Out Market in Fulton Market, is relocating to Wicker Park inside the former Mirai Sushi space. Gillanders, a chef behind S.K.Y. Restaurant in Pilsen and Apolonia in South Loop, in early March, confirmed the move on Instagram, a month after applying for a liquor license. He writes: “Trends are avoided at all costs and every idea is met with the question: ‘Why?’ If an idea doesn’t truly have a positive impact on guest experience, it’s tossed out.” He’s declined to reveal exactly when the restaurant will open but writes “soon.”
Signs for Salvaje, a chain of clubby and upscale Japanese restaurants that originated in Panama, have been up in Fulton Market for more than a year. But in late February, construction finally began as workers began transforming the former Ballast Point Brewpub into a louder and brasher venue that would take better advantage of the rooftop deck.
The brewpub officially closed in May 2021 vacating a space that links Fulton Market with Randolph Restaurant Row at 212 N. Green Street. Salvaje World Restaurant Chief Project Officer Martina Maione says they’re hoping for an early June opening. They will occupy three levels, including the basement. Expect percussionists and live music to give diners a thrill. “Salvaje” uses a motto, “the wild side of Japanese cuisine.” They’ll have a sophisticated sound and light display to punctuate that point. This is dinner and a show.
“The DJ is an important element for Salvaje here because our concept is not like a traditional restaurant,” Maione says. “At Salvaje, the entertainment is very important, we aim to deliver a 360-degree experience.”
What was once a mostly industrial space, indicative of a typical brewery, will be remodeled to match Salvaje’s spirit. The chain has locations in Bógata, Barcelona, Dubai (the chain’s largest), and Ibiza. The only U.S. location opened in 2021 in Miami. Expect a whimsical space decorated with animal prints, murals, and fun lamps, and a signature element: a rhino. Maino says a rhino’s strength made it the ideal choice for a logo. Visitors will see the rhino pop up throughout the space. Maione says the target customer base ranges between 30 to 50.
There’s a sushi bar, wok-fried noodles, and a robata grill. Maione mentions truffle mushroom dumplings. The presentations are over the top with some sort of interactive element. The menu is pretty consistent across locations all over the world.
“The cuisine is Japanese fusion — the food is incredible,” Maione says. “In general, you are going to find people that come back exclusively for the food. I have some friends that are not for a place with [loud] music. You know, they’re more traditional. But they love Salvaje, they love the food of Salvaje.”
Dallas and Atlanta locations are also planned, as Maione says they’ll eventually move the Miami restaurant to a larger space.
In Chicago, Salvaje will also make better use of the rooftop space with a bar outside with all the sake and other cocktails. Maione promises a festive atmosphere. Come back for updates as work continues.
Salvaje, 212 N. Green Street, planned for an early June opening.
An upcoming Taiwanese restaurant in Andersonville will champion beef noodle soup — a Taiwanese staple that has been embraced by many as the country’s national dish.
Taiwan-born chef Rich Wang has worked at award-winning restaurants like Boka in Lincoln Park and Fat Rice in Logan Square. His first solo project, Minyoli, is aiming for an early April debut at 5420 N. Clark Street. It’s the former home of Korean-Italian hit Passerotto, and more recently, an outpost of Loop restaurant Land & Lake Kitchen. He will present a traditional beef noodle soup with a deep and herbal broth infused with warm spices like cardamom and cinnamon; springy noodles made on-site and cut by hand each day; and melt-in-your-mouth cuts of beef shank — “the cherry on top,” he says. He’ll also serve lu wei (or lou mai in Cantonese), which Wang roughly translates to mean braised snacks.
The menu allows Minyoli to pay homage to juàn cun, Taiwan’s distinctive and fast-disappearing cultural enclaves. Wang was born at one of these “military dependents’ villages” in Tapei before he immigrated to the U.S. with his family at age 14. He’s watched with interest and concern as villages like the one he grew up in dwindled amid a governmental push for “urban renewal” across the island nation.
Renderings show a sleek, minimalist aesthetic.Minyoli
Juàn cun initially emerged in the late 1940s toward the end of the Chinese Civil War to house Chinese military personnel and their families. Over time, these enclaves generated unique culinary and cultural mash-ups, and at their height numbered more than 800 throughout the country. However, they have grappled with issues of poor housing construction, disrepair, dereliction, and abandonment. As of 2019, fewer than 30 juàn cun remain in Taiwan. The beef noodle Wang will serve originates from juán cun.
“It was rough and provisional housing, and as you can imagine, a lot of Chinese culture suddenly merged into these small neighborhoods and engendered a unique cuisine only found in Taiwan,” he says. “It’s great that people are moving into better neighborhoods, but I want to remember the cuisine.”
The restaurant’s debut will realize a long-held goal for Wang, who at age 30 left a career as a corporate attorney for the hospitality industry. His culinary chops extend beyond the U.S. border, as Wang cooked for three years under lauded Cantonese chef Tam Kwok Fung at his Michelin-starred restaurant in Macau.
Wang has also spent a month at a hand-pulled noodle “boot camp” in Lanzhou, China (a city famed for its noodles) where he earned an official certification in the technique. While he won’t have the staff or time to make hand-pulled noodles at Minyoli, the experience was memorable. “It was the middle of December for eight hours a day, seven days a week,” he says. “There were no breaks and no heat — I was wearing my down jacket pulling noodles for a month.”
In Andersonville, his team will braise tofu, eggs, and meats in the same master stock as the soup to complement the noodles. Wang also promises a small cocktail menu featuring Taiwanese liquors, beer, and cocktails, as well as a dessert menu with ice cream flavors like taro, black sesame, and red bean.
Minyoli’s Taiwanese focus will extend to the bar menus.Minyoli
Minyoli’s long and narrow 1,775 square-foot space on Andersonville’s main drag is undergoing a facelift with an abundance of light natural wood, woven basket lampshades, and exposed brick walls. Wang also notes that while the overall aesthetic leans into subtlety, it will also feature pops of a very particular shade of aquamarine.
“That specific color, you can find it everywhere in juàn cun, probably because it was the cheapest paint available at the time,” Wang says. “That color specifically reminds me of my childhood.”
Minyoli, 5420 N. Clark Street, scheduled to open in early April.
While the ownership of the Field House — a home away from home for Cleveland Browns fans for more than three decades — announced the sports bar would be closing on Wednesday, February 28, the Lincoln Park dive won’t be shutting down.
The co-owner of HVAC Pub in Wrigleyville, Nick Ivey, has bought the bar at 2455 N. Clark Street from Field House’s longtime owner Patrick Maykut. Ivey — who took over as co-owner and operator of HVAC in April 2022, partnering with 8 Hospitality Group (Hubbard Inn, Joy District) — says he won’t mess with the sports bar’s “essence” when he remodels the bar; it will stay closed for a bit while crews work. Ivey says he was looking to buy a new bar to give his employees at HVAC new opportunities.
One of his bartenders at HVAC, Savanna Haugse, will be a partner in Field House, as will 8 Hospitality founder Carmen Rossi. Ivey calls Rossi a mentor — they met while Ivey was a bartender at Hubbard Inn. Ivey says he was looking for more of a management and ownership track.
Ivey plans on keeping the bar closed until St. Patrick’s Day when they’ll open just for the holiday. Workers will then swap out the front door for a garage door and spruce up the space. They’ll also serve new cocktails. Ivey isn’t sure how long he’ll close the bar, but he’s not going to rush anything.
“It’s a dive bar — we’re not going to turn it into a nightclub or anything like that,” Ivey says.
The Field House had its quirks, as it would serve shelled peanuts, encouraging customers to drop shells on the floor. This was before society had a clearer understanding of peanut allergies. The bar adopted the slogan “cold beers and crunchy floors.” As Lincoln Park and neighboring Lakeview draw many recent college grads from Michigan and Ohio dying to meet people from the same state after moving to the big city, the Field House seemed inoculated from that scene while carving out a niche as a divey sports bar.
The bar’s workers reportedly tried to buy the bar from Maykut. Maykut rebuffed their efforts, they say. These workers were blindsided by the news that the bar was sold. Staff was reportedly told of the sale over the weekend. An Instagram post called the news “a mix of sadness and surprise.”
Meanwhile, Ivey calls the Field House a community meeting place and he wants to keep the momentum going. Taking over a dive is a complicated matter, and it’s easy to alienate regular customers. SmallBar in Logan Square was recently sold to Footman Hospitality, and Skylark in Pilsen was purchased by a group of the bar’s workers. So far, Ivey has been pleased by the response.
“HVAC Pub is a late-night music venue,” Ivey says. “What we’re looking to do is totally the opposite.”
Look for more news about Ivey’s plans for the Field House in the coming weeks.
2024 is off to a roaring start for chef Paul Virant, the venerable hospitality veteran who in January won Chef of the Year at the local Jean Banchet Awards.
On the heels of this victory, and around five months after he closed pioneering suburban restaurantVie in Western Springs, Virant is deep into preparations for a new spot in the same village around 20 miles west of Chicago. Construction is well underway at Petite Vie, a French cafe and brasserie, which he aims to open by late spring at 909 Burlington Avenue, perched just around the corner from Vie’s former home.
Virant doesn’t dwell on sentimentality about Vie’s closing, which after 19 years “just didn’t feel right anymore,” he says, especially in light of ongoing issues with its former landlord. This won’t be an issue at Petite Vie, as Virant purchased its Burlington Avenue building. It’s slightly smaller than Vie and will seat around 65.
For Virant — known for hits like Japanese-influenced okonomiyaki den Gaijin in West Loop, neighborhood steakhouse Vistro Prime in suburban Hinsdale, and landmark Lincoln Park collaboration with Boka Restaurant Group, Perennial Virant — French cuisine represents a kind of homecoming. It’s the cuisine he was formally trained to cook, and after decades away from the style, it feels like a refreshing return to his roots. He’s also observed a French culinary void in the area following the 2021 closure of Mon Ami Gabi, a suburban outpost of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ bistro in Lincoln Park.
“When I opened Vie in 2004, I was 34 years old, and like a lot of chefs who have that opportunity, you want to [cook food] that’s innately your own,” he says. “That was great, but years have gone by and for anybody in a creative field, it’s nice to be able to do something different.”
A menu isn’t yet finalized, but for culinary inspiration, Virant recently took a trip to France — his first since 1995 — which generated ideas like a selection of quintessential hors d’oeuvres (think “little potted things,”) like duck liver mousse and smoked salmon rillettes alongside pickles and crispy lentils designed to whet the appetite. He also encountered a tweaked version of oefs mimosa, or classical French deviled eggs, that will make its way onto the menu at Petite Vie. Instead of traditional hard-boiling, his team will soft-boil the eggs to create a delectably jammy texture and top them with a delicate crab salad or seasonal vegetables.
As this new project shows, Virant remains enamored with feeding patrons outside the city limits — a population that has seen a dramatic increase in options since Vie’s mid-aughts debut. He’s welcomed that change and has watched with great interest as urban restaurateurshave expandedinto thesuburban landscape.
“[That’s] a good thing,” says Virant. “In rural parts of Europe, there’s great food everywhere. I do think there has been a lot of great food in the suburbs — obviously, I’m biased — but now there’s just more of it. I don’t think you can get away with mediocre, or even just above average. There’s too much competition and you’re going to get squeezed out.”
Petite Vie, 909 Burlington Avenue in Western Springs, Scheduled to open in spring.
The pizza game isn’t easy in Old Town, a neighborhood with a sizable number of transplants without any ties to Chicago’s pizza lore. This has allowed chains like Papa John’s and Domino’s to thrive in a town with plenty of local options.
With its unique Quad Cities thin crusts and special chef approved-toppings, Roots Handmade Pizza, 1610 N. Wells Street, entered the neighborhood in September 2019, and months into its debut the state’s COVID restrictions quickly altered operations: “We opened at a terrible time,” Fifty/50 Restaurant Group co-founder Greg Mohr says.
Adobo Grill was the previous tenant and relocated around the corner after a 2015 fire. Longtime Chicagoans may remember the Victorian home built in 1872. Its most famous tenant was That Steak Joynt, a restaurant that opened in 1962 and closed in 1997. The second floor was supposedly home to numerous seances with folks believing the space to be haunted. The building’s history includes surviving the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
But after four years, Roots didn’t click as much as Mohr and co-founder Scott Weiner wanted. Fifty/50 is also involved as the food and beverage provider for Second City, whose legendary comedy theater is next door. They needed to try something new, and that’s how Anthony Scardino got involved. Scardino is a veteran Chicago pizzaiolo known as Professor Pizza.
Sometime in March, Fifty/50 will close Roots Old Town. Fans of Quad Cities Pizza will still be able to get their fix of the thin pies that Mohr grew up eating (they’re cut into strips with puffy edges and a malty crust) at Roots Printer’s Row and the original in West Town. Scardino, who since 2023 has been operating out of Tetto, a rooftop bar in West Loop, will take over. Yes, Professor Pizza is now a full-blown restaurant.
“I think this is the most incremental pizza story in Chicago — we’re finally opening a brick and mortar,” says Scardino.
While crews spruce up the space, Professor Pizza will launch with carryout and delivery. The plan is to open the new restaurant in late April. Mohr reiterated that while the space doesn’t need a major renovation — the space won’t be closed to the public for a long duration — Morh doesn’t want folks to feel the only difference between Roots and the new restaurant is the menu: “The goal is to make sure this place, this space, is transformed into Professor Pizza — it’s his concept, his vision.”
Having worked for Paulie Gee’s in Logan Square and Dough Bros. in River North, Scardino is proud of his pizzas. He’s a familiar figure on the pizza festival circuit, not that 2024 will necessarily be fruitful in that aspect. He’s been more interested in finding the right situation and partners to open a restaurant. His story is similar to Henry Cai’s at 3 Little Pigs (the two are friends and worked out of the same Humboldt Park ghost kitchen). Both pop-up shops have gone through multiple locations and flirted with signing leases. Cai continues to work from Molly’s Cupcakes’ kitchen in the South Loop.
Scardino is excited to show Chicagoans what he can do beyond pizza. He says the menu at Tetto is a “truncated version of where our passions truly lie and what we feel we can truly represent from a culinary standpoint.” They’re moving from a kitchen as big as a closet to a “dream kitchen.” The menu will be built out with pastas, sandwiches, and appetizers. Scardino isn’t ready to share details, but he’s excited. As a proud Italian American, he’s got several ideas.
For fans of Roots, cover your eyes — the pizzeria’s famed cheese sticks aren’t making the cut. Professor Pizza wants to be a truly different experience thanks to Scardino’s curiosity and research of various pizza styles from Chicago thin, New York, Detroit, and Grandma style. Part of the fun will be working with Fifty/50’s pastry chef Chris Texiera. The two speak the same language when it comes to bread and the fermentation process. The two are open to experimenting with doughs, which can provide delicious results. Scardino has already been experimenting with dough from deep-dish titan Gino’s East, using it for a special pizza made in a cast iron pan. Having a stable location will allow Scardino to offer more collaborations.
But back to the cheese sticks, Scardino says he has something brewing: “I have something on the menu that pays homage to them for sure,” he says.
Profesor Pizza will continue carry out and delivery out of the West Loop until further notice, he says. They’ll also have at least one more summer season outside at Tetto. He’s still evaluating his options.
Upstairs, Fifty/50’s rooftop bar — Utopian Tailgate — has been hibernating for the winter. The menus will remain separate. But the bigger news is a possible collaboration with Second City. Comedy fans might eventually have a chance to snag a slice of pizza before or during a show. The idea of a slice shop has been bantered about, but there’s nothing firm.
“It makes a lot of sense to me, certainly, but our first priority is making sure the restaurant itself is doing everything it needs to be doing,” Scardino says.
The professor describes comedy as one of his core passions. He’s spent a lot of effort in sending over pizzas to nationally touring comics when they’re in town, names like Sebastian Maniscalco, J.B. Smoove, and Kevin James. Moving close to downtown Chicago should open more opportunities to work with comic talent through Second City, down Wells Street at Zanies, or at United Center, Chicago Theater and other venues.
Scardino says he’s grown into the nickname; it was never his goal to turn the moniker into a brand. Mohr is struck by Scardino’s genuineness.
“This isn’t a made-up concept — this is him… it’s not an act,” Mohr says.
Professor Pizza, 1610 N. Wells Street, takeout to debut in late March or early April; dining room to open in late April
Eldridge Williams, the Chicago restaurateur behind Wicker Park’s lively Mississippi-style restaurant the Delta, is setting himself up for a bustling 2024 with two new dining and drinking spots coming this spring and summer to River North: The Pink Polo Social Club and Bar, a coffee shop and co-working space by day and ambitious cocktail bar by night; and Red River Dicks, a country-western saloon and barbecue spot touted as the only Black-owned venue of its kind in the Midwest.
These major moves from Williams and G.O.O.D. Pineapple Hospitality partner Robert Johnson will begin in late spring or early summer with the debut of the Pink Polo inside the Chicago Collection hotel at 312 W. Chestnut Street. Then they’ll unveil Red River Dicks in late summer at 1935 N. Sedgwick Street, the former home of long-vacant sports bar Sedgwick’s Bar & Grill.
Despite the sizable chasm between the venues’ styles and cuisines, both represent an ethos Williams holds dear. “I have this theory that for me to be able to get behind an idea or project, it has to have a story,” he says. “It has to have substance, something that’s more tangible than just food and beverage.”
In the case of Red River Dicks, that story is a powerful one, inspired in large part by the life and legacy of 18th-century African American cowboy Nat (pronounced “Nate”) Love. Born into enslavement in 1854 in Tennessee, Love — also known by his nickname, Red River Dick — was among the first and most famous Black cowboys of the Old West. Historians estimate that from the 1860s to 1880s, around 25 percent of cowboys were African American, though media portrayals have largely obscured their roles.
A Memphis, Tennessee, native and a rare Black restaurant owner in Wicker Park, Williams has engaged head-on with the disparities BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) hospitality operators face on Chicago’s North Side. He’d long harbored a desire to open a country bar, citing his love of a scene in 2008 comedy Soul Man where Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac portray soul singers who find themselves onstage in a White-dominated honkey tonk saloon. “They were singing soul music, but it was like they bridged cultures and blended with this country aesthetic,” he says. “Everyone started line dancing, it was beautiful. I want to bottle that energy.”
The pieces began to come together when Williams learned about Black cowboys from Netflix documentary series High on the Hogand, after deeper research, encountered Love’s story. The barbecue menu will be based on the famed cowboy’s travels with representation from Tennessee, Kansas City, and Texas. Though the lineup is still in development, the team teases options like Crusted Cowboy beef ribs and a Tennessee smokehouse duck sandwich. Williams also promises a selection of “world barbecue” for those looking to expand their palate beyond the classics. Given his Memphis roots, he feels confident that barbecue fans will be satisfied. “There won’t be any half-stepping here, we’re going to do it right,” he says.
As in any Western watering hole, the bar at Red River Dicks will be a focal point, reaching almost the entire length of the 110-seat space. There, the team will offer an ample selection of whiskies and bourbons but hopes that patrons won’t overlook a lineup of “exciting, ambitious” cocktails, including group-sized concoctions that reflect the bar’s upbeat energy. Williams promises intricate custom woodwork, reclaimed tabletops, and a rustic Western aesthetic buoyed by a 15-foot cast iron hood (a relic from the previous tenant) that will hang overhead as a chandelier, as well as a soundtrack of both classic and modern country tunes.
“I want [customers] to feel as if they have been placed in a time capsule and they’re sitting in a bar from the 18th Century,” he says. “I want it to feel like a legitimate saloon that is somewhere in this old country-western town that you just stumbled across.”
Chicagoans can expect a very different scene at the Pink Polo, a chic replacement for shuttered snack spot Drop Shop Coffee. Williams and Johnson envision the space as a hub for remote workers and organizations with the atmosphere of a private club sans a hefty membership fee. At the Delta, Williams has worked with groups that don’t have a permanent space to gather and he plans to replicate that approach in River North with meeting spaces, coffee, and espresso drinks. The space bears a mix of industrial design and softer elements like Persian rugs and leather seating, as well as a dining room space that seats up to 60.
Once the workday is over, the Pink Polo will transition into a cocktail den equipped with a marble tile bar that seats around a dozen. But Williams has bigger plans than humdrum after-work drinks — he aims to unveil an “extremely ambitious cocktail program” that channels the over-the-top energy of 2000s cocktail culture. Though he’s keeping his cards close to his chest for now, “We’re not going to hold back,” he says. “I want [the Pink Polo] to be globally recognized for its cocktail program.”
While drinks are the star, the team will also offer a selection of small plates such as butter-poached ceviche and a Peruvian spin on nachos, tapping into the cuisines of South America, where the sport of polo is popular, says Williams. It provides a lively counterpoint to the intentionally preppy, country club implications of the venue’s name, which the founders drew from a lyric in Kanye West’s 2007 track “Barry Bonds.”
“I took my favorite social club and I took my favorite cocktail bar and imagined they had a baby, but I raised it,” says Williams. “That’s what the Pink Polo is going to be.”
The Pink Polo, 312 W. Chestnut Street, Scheduled to open in late spring or early summer. Red River Dicks, 1935 N. Sedgwick Street, Scheduled to open in late summer.
Marcos Ascensio says Pilsen and nearby Little Village need more mariscos. The chef grew up in Little Village, and while La Vilita has plenty of Mexican cuisine, Ascensio says he became accustomed to driving to the North Side if he was in the mood for seafood.
Now, Ascensio and his team from Logan Square’s Taqueria Chingon — including Obelix and Le Bouchon’s Oliver Poilevey — have an opportunity to rectify that problem. They’re taking over the ground-floor space inside Thalia Hall, partnering with owners 16” on Center and opening a new restaurant inside the former Dusek’s. The interiors have been gutted to make room for Mariscos San Pedro, which should open by early summer, 1227 W. 18th Street.
With the churches in the area, and with St. Peter hailed as patron saint of fishermen, the name made sense for the team. Cynically, Poilevey, Asencsio, and new partner Antonio Incandela (a pastry chef at Obelix) say while some customers may complain when tacos aren’t cheap (something hear a lot in Logan Square at Taqueria Chingon), they don’t complain about the prices of mariscos.
“We want to make it fun,” Ascensio says. Much like Obelix, folks can come in a few times a week, crush a few appetizers from the raw bar and a beer and head out. That’s also important for Thalia Hall visitors attending concerts. The venue, which was home to Dusek’s (a former Michelin-starred restaurant), also includes two bars, Punch House and Tack Room. The San Pedro team will begin its infiltration of Thalia Hall by unleashing a small bites menu at Punch House. That will also allow them to measure reaction and adjust San Pedro’s opening menu accordingly.
After a decade, Dusek’s closed in December. 16” on Center, which is also behind Revival Food Hall and the Salt Shed, tried to breathe new life into the restaurant with new chefs and a fancier menu. Poilevey says they’ve been in contact with the company and that San Pedro was originally supposed to open in Logan Square, but a real estate deal fell through.
Folks with a little bit more time on their hands can indulge with a bottle of wine and a whole fish (think snapper or a “baller” turbot) cooked in the hearth left over from Dusek’s. Unlike many mariscos restaurants, which may hone in on a region in Mexico, San Pedro will combine flavors and techniques. For example, they may use Japanese panko on snapper to ensure the fish gets extra crunchy.
Beyond the fusion of techniques, Poilevey says the quality of fish will set them apart from other restaurants. They’re working with a variety of vendors and will steer away from frozen seafood.
“We get a great product and treat it with great technique and, you know, serve with with great masa and a great salsa,” Poilevey says. “We’ll just kind of let it….”
“Speak for itself,” Ascensio says, completing his colleague’s sentence.
Some of the menu items from Taqueria Chingon, like duck carnitas and perhaps the octopus off the trompo, could make it to Pilsen. Much of the menu remains under development, but one dish they’re workshopping is duck tamales. Incandela, who worked at Spiaggia, jokingly calls himself “the random Italian” on the project. Like Poilevey, whose parents owned Le Bouchon and La Sardine, he grew up in the restaurant world. Incandela’s father owned Sicily Restaurant in Elmwood Park. He’s focused on seeing “how far I can take masa in a pastry” while maintaining respect for classic Mexican desserts.
“I don’t want to stray too far away from what makes it classically beautiful,” he says. “But I also want to put our own spin that would match the daringness, I guess, of the rest of the menu.”
They’re imagining the kind of towers or seafood platters that groups seated in the booths will quickly grab as soon as the plate hits the table. Fun cocktails with some element of interaction are also planned. They also want to accommodate Pilsen’s drinkers and make sure San Pedro has plenty of beer options. Logan Square’s Pilot Project Brewing could work on a collaboration.
Before working in restaurants, Ascencio studied to be an engineer. He sees himself as MacGyver and Poilevey calls him their handyman. The team is excited to expand. In January, they were shortlisted by the James Beard Foundation for Outstanding Restaurateur.
Mariscos San Pedro, inside Thalia Hall, 1227 W. 18th Street, planned for an early summer opening
Four months after announcing plans to moveKhmai Fine Dining, chef Mona Sang is ready to reveal the new location of her decorated Cambodian restaurant in Rogers Park.
A rare Chicago specialist in Khmer cuisine hailed as one of the 15 Best New Restaurants in America in 2022, the restaurant will reopen in April at 6580 N. Sheridan Road on the ground floor of the Hampton Inn. Now two miles southeast from the original, Khmai will move into a larger and more modern space that’s owned by Loyola University. Close to the college’s campus, the space previously housed Onward Chicago from Michael Olszewski, ex-owner of three-Michelin-starred Grace and one-starred Yugen.
Though staying in Rogers Park, the restaurant will embark on its new chapter simply as Khmai, a portmanteau of “Khmer,” the ethnicity and language of native Cambodians, and “me,” or mother. It’s a bold name meant to alert diners to the inextricable role of Sang’s mother, Sarom Sieng, in securing the legacy of traditional Cambodian cuisine. Now serving a new community, one that includes college students and professors (as well as hotel guests) Khmai will open with dinner and breakfast, with plans to launch brunch in August.
“We’re still going to be sticking with traditional flavors, but for brunch and breakfast, I can play a little more,” Sang says. “Mom will allow me to do that — we’re negotiating and coming to a middle ground. She doesn’t want me to Americanize our food, but she’s OK with this so far.”
Chef Mona Sang and her mother, Sarom Sieng, will soon get to cook in a much larger kitchen.Jack X. Li/Eater Chicago
Sang built a customer base with on church catering gigs, and rose to prominence after opening Khmai in 2022, accumulating accolades as a surprise smash-hit on Howard Street near the Evanston border. Mother and daughter were named co-winners of Eater Chicago’s Chefs of the Year award in 2022, and in 2023, the restaurant earned a semifinalist nod from the James Beard Foundation. For Khmai 2.0, a new generation is joining the mix — Sang’s daughter will begin her freshman year at Loyola in the fall and work at the restaurant in her spare time.
For Sang, the opening represents a fresh start after a contentious dynamic with her former landlord forced her to leave the original restaurant space. It’s also a new opportunity to share Cambodian culture and cuisine with even more diners and a chance to play, experiment, and partner with other Cambodian Chicagoans — to be a rising tide that lifts all boats.
“[Cambodians] are still not well known, a lot of people still don’t know about the food and who we are, or about the genocide,” Sang says. “My focus is still wanting to share my mom’s story because I think her story is important — what she went through, how she’s a huge survivor.”
The Cambodian genocide took place between 1975 to 1979 when the totalitarian Khmer Rouge regime murdered between 1.5 and 2 million people. As a survivor, Sieng endured countless horrors, including torture and the murder of her husband, Sang’s father. Sieng gave birth to Sang in a Thai refugee camp, before emigrating with her children to the U.S. as refugees in the early 1980s, first to New York City and later, to Chicago.
Khami’s traditional Cambodian cuisine will remain central at the new location, where dinnertime patrons can expect to find a rotating lineup of rich, complex staples seen at the original such as kuy reav tuk, a rice noodle soup with beef, onions, and crispy garlic. Sang will add a new date-night menu featuring interactive dishes like hot pot and smash-your-own papaya salad, complete with mortar and pestle, as well as a fresh lineup of dessert options such as fried and smashed baby bananas stuffed with banana coconut cream.
Diners should also expect doughnuts from suburban bakery Gurnee Donuts, owned by Sang’s friend Kevin Lee, a fellow first-generation Cambodian American whose parents also survived the genocide. “His mom and my mom are very similar, so we know what it’s like to be Cambodian kids whose parents have gone through trauma and want their kids to be the best of the best,” she says. “When I finally opened up the restaurant, he was one of the first people who was there, inspiring me to keep doing what I do best. He’s always been on my side.”
Cambodians are at the center of a grand doughnut tradition in the U.S., particularly in California. Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee, helped popularize the doughnut trade among Cambodian Americans and his story, immortalized in the 2020 documentary The Donut King, is a symbol of ingenuity that Sang says inspires her and many other Cambodian Americans.
With a new crop of hotel guests and Loyola customers at play, Sang plans to tune into the college crowd with affordable options like rice and beef skewers, as well as Sieng’s popular egg rolls, which she hopes will be a welcome relief for fast food-weary students. Early and mid-morning meals will become her playground for dishes like seasoned fried eggs with chicken and rice, rice porridge (akin to congee) with garnishes like blood sausage or crispy garlic, and pandan waffles with lemongrass chicken and ginger syrup.
The new Khmai will seat 70 inside in addition to an outdoor patio during warm weather. Onward, which opened in 2018, closed amid pandemic shutdown orders and was later the subject of a seemingly messy lawsuit. Its space, though, was immaculate, says Sang, who is happy to avoid expensive construction and simply add her own touches to the space: a black and gold color palette, Regency-style table settings (inspired, she confesses, by habit-forming Netflix confection Bridgerton), and Cambodian artwork from the original restaurant.
Sang is keenly aware of the risks involved in any restaurant operation, but has worked to set her anxieties aside in pursuit of her primary goal — to keep Sieng, now 80, engaged with the world and out from under the fog of trauma.
“I have to make sure she sees that we’re going to do this,” she says. “I want her to know that she deserves it. I don’t care about awards or any of that — I want her to know that we did this, we survived against all odds. If we survived the war, we can survive anything now.”
Khmai 2.0, 6580 N. Sheridan Road, Scheduled for an April opening.
Two dives with more than two centuries of Chicago tavern history between them are making big moves in 2024. SmallBar in Logan Square has sold to new owners and is on track to close the deal on Friday night, February 2. Meanwhile, Skylark in Pilsen has sold to a group of employees who have already taken over operations.
At SmallBar, brothers Ty and Troy Fujimura, and co-owner Jesse Roberts agreed to sell the bar to Footman Hospitality, owners of Quality Time, Sparrow, and Bangers & Lace. Footman’s owners have pledged to keep “the soul of SmallBar intact and reestablish it for its next decade and beyond.”
Ty Fujimura says it’s time to downsize as his family grows older. He currently lives above the bar but plans to move soon. “We have a great opportunity to pass the torch to a really great group of guys who want to keep it SmallBar, to continue the legacy — that’s super important to me,” Fujimura says.
One of the bar’s regulars, Jason Freiman, is a Footman Hospitality founder. “I’ve known Ty for 15 years, I was also a longtime patron,” Freiman writes in an email. “More importantly, historic Chicago taverns are worth saving, I didn’t want to see the bar/property undergo redevelopment into condominiums.”
SmallBar, 2956 N. Albany, opened in 2002, but the space has been a tavern since 1906, says Ty Fujimura. (One of its incarnations was called Fanelli’s.) True to its name, it’s a tiny bar — just 500 square feet — that serves beers from craft breweries from around the country. Tucked away from major intersections, it’s a neighborhood dive with a 50-seat patio — double the size of the interior. Small Bar’s indoor footprint makes it one of the tiniest watering holes in Chicago. It’s got more girth compared to Matchbox, the tiny and narrow West Town tavern.
Ty Fujimura called SmallBar his “happy place” and has witnessed hundreds of first dates (and just as many break ups) at the bar, in addition to the various rapscallions who frequent it. Fujimura compares SmallBar to a first love. “You learn from them and you make some mistakes, and hopefully the next one you don’t make the same mistakes — that’s what SmallBar is to me,” he says.
SmallBar will close for six to eight weeks, according to Freiman. Footman Hospitality has hired Siren Betty Design to spruce up the space. Footman has a history of taking over bars, and in 2014 it purchased Bucktown Pub, a 92-year-old bar.
According to a news release, Footman partner Mike Van Meter is charged with creating a drink menu with “unpretentious riffs on classics.” The beer list will be local and “no-nonsense.” And they’ll still pour fun beer-and-shot combos. Siren Betty is bringing in new light fixtures with vintage elements like 1910s Tiffany-style glass, 1920s Art Deco geometry, and textured walls with patterned wallpaper.
SmallBar’s proximity to Quality Time doesn’t bother Freiman: “No worries at all — the more the merrier,” he tells Eater.
If any new SmallBars open, the Fujimuras won’t be involved as the name has been sold to Footman. At one point there was SmallBar located in Wicker Park and near DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus, though the latter two were operated by Fujimura’s former business partner who helped open the original in Logan Square.
Across town in Pilsen, the story is similar at Skylark, but it’s a group of employees who have rallied to purchase the bar at 2149 S. Halsted Street. The former owner, Bob McHale, placed the bar for sale with the hopes that a buyer would maintain the space rather than erect a new development on the site. Skylark opened in 2003.
Brian Page, a veteran Chicago bartender who’s worked at places including California Clipper in Humboldt Park, is one of the owners. He told Block Club Chicago that he “hates to see neighborhood bars close down and no longer be fostering community” and that he didn’t want to see the bar fall into the hands of inexperienced owners who would squander what workers have built.
Losing bars to new development is a fear for many lovers of tavern culture. Ty Fujimura says he’s been fortunate to watch Logan Square, and specifically his corner of the neighborhood, change through the years. He’s happy he found a worthy successor at SmallBar and confident he’s handing the keys to folks he trusts.
For years, Darnell Reed has pondered the future of Luella’s Southern Kitchen, the ode to his grandmother which opened in 2015 in Lincoln Square. Should he expand? Maybe it’s time to leave Chicago? For Reed, the father of two girls, being a family man has helped him make his decision.
“My goal is to spend more time with the family,” Reed says.
His lease is up in October and Reed says he’ll close Luella’s sometime that month. He’s in the process of searching for a new location that will serve brunch daily. He’d rather spend his nights with his family rather than offer dinner service. While some items could be holiday specials at the new restaurant, say goodbye to classics like Luella’s gumbo and cornbread. Shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles should make it over to the new place.
So why can’t he stay in Lincoln Square? Reed doesn’t feel the neighborhood could sustain a full-time brunch restaurant with morning and afternoon hours. He’s considering neighborhoods including Bronzeville, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, and suburban Oak Park. Reed says his staff has known for about a year that a change was coming. When he shared the news with the local chamber, they reacted as if Reed could change his mind over the next 10 months. Might as well give workers ample notice, unlike some restaurant owners who don’t give their employees that luxury.
It’s been a journey since opening. Luella’s would open a second restaurant, one that focused on fried chicken, but it closed in 2020, part of the first wave of shutters during COVID. Reed would also open a stall at Time Out Market Chicago, the food hall in Fulton Market. But as rent and expenses increased, Luella’s would depart. Luella’s has also enjoyed success selling food to Bears fans and others at Soldier Field. Reed is hopeful to expand operations next season in the stadium.
After spending 18 years working for Hilton Hotels, Reed reserves a special place for breakfast and brunch with hotel restaurants needing to serve those meals to hotel guests, especially during holidays. The lifestyle is different. Reed also has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He feels hotel chefs get a bad rap, that they’re not considered as talented as restaurant chefs.
While he’s happy to prove that notion wrong, experience as a restaurant owner has mellowed him.
“It’s going to be a good brunch, and I’m content being with comparisons,” Reed says. “I’m going to give you great food, and if you think somebody else does it better? I think I’m good, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Luella’s 2.0 will be a bit of a departure, but he knows one thing: Grandma’s name will definitely be part of the new space’s name.
In the meantime, fans have a little less than 10 months to visit Reed in Lincoln Square.
Navy Pier, like most Chicago restaurants and tourist attractions, struggles to attract business during winter. But one restaurant owner has an idea to address the problem. Grant DePorter is no stranger to stunts. The president and chief executive officer of Harry Caray’s has blown up a baseball and served it in spaghetti sauce. Last year, he even promoted the beloved baseball announcer in a campaign for mayor (of Rush Street).
Now, he’s celebrating the life of one of the restaurant’s partners, legendary filmmaker and comedian Harold Ramis. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ramis’ death, and the city of Chicago is prepping to declare Friday, February 2 — Groundhog Day — as Harold Ramis Day. Ramis is responisble for hits like Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, and Groundhog Day. The latter is the 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray.
DePorter and the rest of the staff at Harry Caray’s Tavern at Navy Pier are prepping a special event on the date. DePorter has spent the last few weeks gathering artifacts and props to throw a Groundhog Day ceremony that would make his friend proud. He’s even procured the Armani coat Murray wears in most of the movie and has commissioned a 150-pound tree stump. Movie producer Erica Mann Ramis, the director’s wife, will also appear at the event.
“I’m just trying to get people excited in February to give people a reason to come to Downtown Chicago,” DePorter says.
The restaurant world is slow during the winter in Chicago. Weather forecasters put folks on edge with their storm alerts, warning folks about snow that sometimes never comes. And that leads to empty dining rooms and cancelations. There’s also a sometimes negative perception of Chicago coming from the suburbs. These are challenges that restaurant owners around town have expressed frustration to Eater Chicago about.
Events like this aim to combat those hurdles. Ald. (2nd Ward) Brian Hopkins and Ald. (42nd Ward) Brendan Reilly are expected with the latter reading the proclamation. Meanwhile, several actors from the movie will appear — including Brian Doyle Murray (Buster Green), David Pasquesi (the Psychiatrist), and Peggy Roeder (the Piano Teacher). But the real star of the show is the groundhog; the fuzzy critter holds the fate of Chicago’s winter by whether or not it sees its shadow. Groundhog Day is a popular event in Woodstock, Illinois. And that’s where DePorter found a groundhog handler to provide the animal for next month’s event.
The average lifespan of a groundhog is 12 to 14 years in captivity. So, alas, the same groundhog from the movie is no longer available. There is a chance the stand-in is a distant relative; DePorter says they’re using the same handler that was used in the movie.
Harry Caray’s will also serve food and drink inspired by Tip Top Cafe, the restaurant featured in the movie, where Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell repeatedly dine. DePorter says when word got out about the tribute to Ramis, several Ghostbusters fans reached out and pledged to show up in full costume. DePorter says he owns the jumpsuits worn by Bill Murray and Ramis in the original movie.
For anyone placing a bet if the groundhog will see its shadow, DePorter has no inside information.
“All I can say is that we’re not sticking to the script,” he says.
“Groundhog Day’ reunion and Harold Ramis Day, 3 p.m. on Friday, February 2 at Harry Caray’s Tavern Navy Pier, 700 E. Grand Avenue.
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