The roast chicken takes three days, the gougères arrive warm and dripping with brie, and the plates stare back at you with little doodled faces. Creepies, David and Anna Posey’s Midwestern-French bistro at 1360 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop, has spent 2026 collecting nearly every honor a new American restaurant can win. The New York Times put it on its 2026 Restaurant List in September and gave it a full review on Oct. 27, 2026, which means the tables are about to get even harder to land.
There is a second reason to book now. On Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, New York chef Ryan Bartlow takes over the kitchen for one night with a $110 Basque menu drawn from his new cookbook, Essentially Basque.
A neighborhood bistro next door to Elske
The Poseys opened Creepies on Aug. 22, 2025, in the small building beside Elske, the Nordic-leaning tasting room that has held a Michelin star every year since 2017. The name started as a house joke: while hunting for a second space, the couple kept calling one candidate “the creepy building,” and the word stuck. David Posey is executive chef, Anna Posey runs pastry, and chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski, who first cooked with David at Blackbird, leads the line every night.
Designer Erin Boone gave it the feel of a Midwestern basement rec room by way of a Paris bistro: wood paneling, short fabric tiers that read like cafe curtains, lilac-and-gold tile, salvaged vintage chairs and a deep counter facing antique mirrors along the back wall. Artist Jenny Volvovski of ALSO studio drew the wobbly line faces that turn up on the dishware and in hidden corners. There is no bar. Servers pour the batched cocktails themselves, which keeps the room loose and the drinks quick.
Roast chicken, gougères and the dishes to order at dinner
Order the roasted chicken with liver and wine sauce ($39). It is the bestseller for good reason: the bird is lightly cured, poached, dried, pan-fried and finally roasted, then set in a tarragon and white wine sauce enriched with liver. Start the table with warm brie gougères ($16), each one a single bite of baked brie in choux brushed with honey, and add a basket of french fries ($10) to swipe through the chicken sauce.
From there the fall dinner menu runs French technique through Chicago habits. The tarte flambé ($18) comes tavern style, cut into squares like a South Side thin crust and topped with onions and smoked maitakes. Parisian gnocchi with Swiss, ham and egg yolk ($25) hides under a shattering sheet of brik pastry. Sweetbread schnitzel with peppers and shiso ($28), frog legs “loiseau” with parsley and crème fraîche ($28) and beef tartare with mimolette gaufrettes and horseradish ($22) fill out the middle of the menu.
Larger plates this season include venison ballotine with quince and sauce chasseur ($48) and sablefish in a citrus sauce grenobloise ($43), with wine-braised fennel under raclette ($16) and butter beans with squash and sage ($12) on the side. Plates are built for sharing, and four to six of them make a good dinner for two.
Save room for Anna Posey’s desserts. The strawberry sherbet and meringue cake with buttermilk ($16) arrives as a striped pink slab, the “blue moon” soft serve comes with caramel and almond ($12), and butterscotch custard with crème fraîche and lemon ($14) is the quiet one. A 4% surcharge is added to every check, and you can ask to have it removed.
Lunch, Thursday through Monday
Creepies added lunch in January 2026, and it is the easiest way in. The croque monsieur with ham and mornay ($22, add egg jam for $4) is long, thin and crisp at the edges, closer to shrimp toast than a café sandwich. The niçoise sandwich swaps tuna for smoked beet ($20), the lyonnaise salad comes with smoked maitakes ($18), and there is a crepe with sweet potato, chanterelles and pecorino ($27) and steak au poivre with confit mushrooms ($38). Lunch runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the same five days as dinner.
Natural wine, batched cocktails and a famous Vesper
The wine list leans French and natural, with Loire chenin blanc, Alsace riesling and pinot blanc, Jura, Ardèche and Mendocino bottles, glass pours starting around $16 and a short run of magnums. The cocktail to know is the Vesper, made with Letherbee gin, Community Vodka, Lillet and Cap Corse and batched for the servers to pour. Esquire put it on its list of the 30 best martinis in America in December 2025, and it was built for a plate of those fries.
Ryan Bartlow’s Essentially Basque night on Nov. 5
On Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, Creepies hands the kitchen to Ryan Bartlow, the chef and owner of Ernesto’s and Bartolo in New York. Bartlow spent his formative cooking years in Chicago, including on the opening team at Alinea, before staging in Spain and devoting his career to Basque cooking. His first cookbook, Essentially Basque, written with Laurie Woolever, came out this month.
The one-night menu reads like a trip to San Sebastián with a Creepies accent. It opens with a pintxo matrimonio, the classic pairing of white and cured anchovies, then txistorra sausage and sopa de castañas, a chestnut soup. Paleta arrives with huevos fritos and a pile of Creepies fries, followed by rodaballo al horno, roasted turbot over patatas panaderas with pil pil, and carrilleras de buey, braised beef cheeks with garbanzo. Arroz con leche closes the night.
Dinner is $110 per person, prepaid, plus tax and service charge, for parties of one to six. The full drinks list is available at an extra charge, and copies of the book can be added to your booking. Reservations are on OpenTable under the Essentially Basque at Creepies experience, and seats were still available on Oct. 28, 2026. Bartlow and Woolever also host a Basque Sunday lunch at Asador Bastian on Nov. 8, one of November’s one-night dinners worth planning a week around.
Why Creepies is the bistro of the year
Few new restaurants anywhere have stacked up this much in one year. Creepies joined the Michelin Guide as a recommended restaurant in October 2025. In March 2026 it was No. 1 on Chicago magazine’s Best New Restaurants list, and the Chicago Tribune gave it three stars, excellent. Robb Report ranked it No. 2 among the new restaurants on its Best of the Best 2026 list in June, and Bon Appétit put it on its Best New Restaurants 2026 list in August. OpenTable named it one of its Icons for 2026.
At home, the 2027 Banchet Awards named Creepies a finalist for Best New Restaurant, alongside West Loop neighbor All Well, and Ploshehanski a finalist for Rising Chef of the Year. Winners are announced Jan. 31, 2027.
How to get a table at Creepies
Book on OpenTable, where tables open for both lunch and dinner. Thursday, Sunday and Monday dinners are the easiest nights; Friday and Saturday dinners fill five to seven days out, and lunch has the most open tables. Outdoor seating depends on the weather, and outdoor bookings cannot be moved inside if it rains. Dress is casual.
Plan your visit
- Address: 1360 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60607 (West Loop, at Ada Street, next door to Elske)
- Hours: Thursday to Monday, lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner 5 to 10 p.m.; closed Tuesday and Wednesday
- Prices: dinner plates $10 to $48, roast chicken $39; lunch plates $8 to $38
- Reservations: OpenTable
- Basque night: Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, $110 per person prepaid plus tax and service
- Phone: 312-579-2727
- Website: creepieschicago.com
Creepies Chicago FAQ
What is Creepies in Chicago?
Creepies is a Midwestern-French bistro at 1360 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop from David and Anna Posey of Elske, with chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski. It opened Aug. 22, 2025, and is known for three-day roast chicken with liver and wine sauce, warm brie gougères and tavern-style tarte flambé.
How much does dinner at Creepies Chicago cost?
Dinner plates at Creepies run $10 to $48 on the fall 2026 menu, with the roasted chicken at $39 and brie gougères at $16. Plates are shared, and four to six cover two people. A 4% surcharge is added to every check, and guests can ask to have it removed.
How do I get a reservation at Creepies Chicago?
Creepies takes reservations on OpenTable for lunch and dinner, Thursday through Monday. Friday and Saturday dinners book five to seven days ahead, while weeknight dinners and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. are the easiest tables at the West Loop bistro. Creepies is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
What is the Ryan Bartlow dinner at Creepies on Nov. 5?
On Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, New York chef Ryan Bartlow of Ernesto’s and Bartolo cooks a one-night Basque menu at Creepies from his cookbook Essentially Basque. It costs $110 per person, prepaid on OpenTable, plus tax and service charge, for parties of one to six, with drinks extra.
What awards has Creepies Chicago won?
Creepies made The New York Times Restaurant List 2026 and Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants 2026, ranked No. 2 on Robb Report’s Best of the Best new restaurants and No. 1 on Chicago magazine’s 2026 Best New Restaurants. It is a 2027 Banchet Best New Restaurant finalist and Michelin recommended.
Does Creepies Chicago serve lunch?
Yes. Creepies serves lunch Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1360 W. Randolph St. The lunch menu includes a $22 croque monsieur with ham and mornay, a $20 smoked beet niçoise sandwich, a $27 sweet potato and chanterelle crepe and $38 steak au poivre.
Further reading
- Creepies, official site and menus
- Creepies on OpenTable, including the Essentially Basque at Creepies experience
- Essentially Basque at Creepies announcement, @creepieschicago on Instagram (Oct. 21, 2026)
- Restaurant Review: Creepies in Chicago, The New York Times (Oct. 27, 2026)
- The Restaurant List 2026, The New York Times (Sept. 15, 2026)
- Restaurant review: Creepies, Chicago Tribune (March 24, 2026)
- Creepies on Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants 2026, Time Out Chicago (Aug. 24, 2026)
- Creepies review, The Infatuation (Oct. 13, 2026)
- The Banchet Awards announce 2027 finalists, Daily Herald (Oct. 1, 2026)
- Inside the journey of Essentially Basque, Ryan Bartlow for Caper (Oct. 15, 2026)
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