The Chicago edit
Extraordinary tables. Unexpected nights.
A city that always has another story.
01 / Dining
Cristian Orozco, named Eater Chicago's 2026 Chef of the Year on Nov. 10, builds Mazor around fresh masa and the kitchens of Guatemala…
At Kindling, the live-fire restaurant at the base of Willis Tower, James Beard Award winner Jonathon Sawyer turns his 13-foot hearth into a…
Boka, the Michelin-starred Lincoln Park restaurant that launched Boka Restaurant Group in 2003, gives Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, to game: an eight-course tasting…
Sapori Trattoria, the red-sauce Italian dining room at 2701 N. Halsted St., celebrates 25 years in Lincoln Park from Nov. 10 to 15,…
Dear Margaret Chicago brings chef Ryan Brosseau's French-Canadian cooking to Frontier in West Town for Tourtière Night on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026 and…
At Esmé in Lincoln Park, chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo have turned the dining room into a Hebru Brantley gallery and the…
02 / Openings
Smartbar's Tinzo and Jojo night is sold out while UFO95 and Queen! still sell. Spybar stacks POPS and the Avina Brothers, Christkindlmarket opens…
Atelier Shang Chicago, Shang Noodle's Wicker Park room at 1613 N. Damen Ave., soft-opens with crab-roe xiaolongbao, braised beef noodle soup, fermented-soy popcorn…
Sifr, the wood-fired Middle Eastern restaurant from the Indienne team, opens Sifr Café in its River North dining room on Nov. 11, 2026:…
Sound-Bar's Last Dance on New Year's Eve, a flash sale on November 3, the PAWS Chicago Fur Ball at The Drake, Pendry's rooftop…
A Ma Maniére, James Whitner's luxury sneaker and streetwear house, is scheduled to open its first Chicago address at 1144 W. Washington Blvd.…
John Manion of El Che and Brasero, the 2026 Jean Banchet Chef of the Year, is opening Palomino, a live-fire American steakhouse at…
03 / The latest
All the stories. All the possibilities.
Inside an 1883 River North townhouse, Asador Bastian cooks boutique beef from the world’s finest small producers over white oak charcoal. This week it pours Artadi’s single-vineyard Rioja with winemaker Carlos López de Lacalle on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, then welcomes Florence’s Osteria delle Tre Panche for a white truffle dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Cristian Orozco, named Eater Chicago’s 2026 Chef of the Year on Nov. 10, builds Mazor around fresh masa and the kitchens of Guatemala and Mexico. On Sunday, Nov. 29, 2026, he hands his chef’s counter to Cristian De León of Minnesota’s El Sazón for a six-course Guatemalan tasting with Zacapa rum cocktails.
At Kindling, the live-fire restaurant at the base of Willis Tower, James Beard Award winner Jonathon Sawyer turns his 13-foot hearth into a chef’s table once a month. Nothing But the Meats runs Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, followed by a Feast of the Seven Fishes on Dec. 18 and a New Year’s Eve menu of caviar cones and Wagyu filet Oscar.
Boka, the Michelin-starred Lincoln Park restaurant that launched Boka Restaurant Group in 2003, gives Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, to game: an eight-course tasting menu cooked with butcher and chef Rob Levitt and Alain Ducasse alum Doug Psaltis, $225 per person with an optional $165 wine pairing.
Sapori Trattoria, the red-sauce Italian dining room at 2701 N. Halsted St., celebrates 25 years in Lincoln Park from Nov. 10 to 15, 2026, with $2.50 tiramisu, a night of throwback dishes and prices, free bubbles on the weekend and a carbonara that feeds neighbors in need.
Dear Margaret Chicago brings chef Ryan Brosseau’s French-Canadian cooking to Frontier in West Town for Tourtière Night on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026 and again on Dec. 9: a pork meat pie, a green salad, cider-braised turnips and maple crème brûlée for $70. Here is the dinner, the cook behind it and the pop-up series that keeps Dear Margaret at the table.
At Esmé in Lincoln Park, chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo have turned the dining room into a Hebru Brantley gallery and the tasting menu into his storybook, down to an edible Flyboy portrait you crack with a spoon. Here is what you will eat, what it costs and how to book.
Smartbar’s Tinzo and Jojo night is sold out while UFO95 and Queen! still sell. Spybar stacks POPS and the Avina Brothers, Christkindlmarket opens November 20, and NOVA NYE at Sound-Bar gets a corrected promoter credit.
Atelier Shang Chicago, Shang Noodle’s Wicker Park room at 1613 N. Damen Ave., soft-opens with crab-roe xiaolongbao, braised beef noodle soup, fermented-soy popcorn chicken and fruit-forward cocktails, 4 to 10 p.m. daily.
Chef John Hogan, the Everest, Savarin and Keefer’s veteran, joins the Poilevey family at Le Bouchon in Bucktown on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, for a one-night celebration of Alsace built around choucroute. Here is the night, the chefs, what to order and how to get a table.
Pitmaster Dominique Leach welcomes Batter & Berries executive chef Ken Polk to Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, for a multi-course South Side & Friends dinner rooted in Southern family cooking. Here is the night, the chefs, what it costs and how to get a seat.