Lebanon’s most famous winery is coming to Randolph Street for one night. On Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, at 6:30 p.m., avec in the West Loop hosts Marc Hochar of Château Musar for a five-course, communal-style dinner built around the wines his grandfather started making in the Bekaa Valley in 1930. Tickets are $150 per person, prepaid, and the whole room eats together at avec’s long cedar tables.
It lands in a big week for the restaurant. avec Highwood, the group’s first North Shore location, opens to the public on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, and the original West Loop room has just opened its second floor to everyday reservations. Here is what you will eat and drink on Nov. 2, how to get a seat, and why avec remains one of the easiest great dinners in Chicago.
Five courses from the Bekaa Valley, poured by a Hochar
The menu reads like a Lebanese family table run through avec’s wood oven. Dinner opens with olive oil braised octopus over paprika, fenugreek and saffron potatoes, poured with the 2023 Château Musar “Jeune” Rosé, a bright cinsault and mourvèdre blend. Next comes spiced lamb man’oushe, the Levantine flatbread, here topped with fermented red pepper and labneh and matched with the 2024 “Levantine de Musar” red.
The third course is roasted cauliflower with chard borani, fried onions and walnuts, served with the 2018 Château Musar Blanc, a white made from the ancient local grapes obaideh and merwah. That glass alone is worth the ticket, since Musar’s whites age for years in the cellar before release. The main event is a coriander-spiced roasted leg of lamb with pomegranate salsa, paired with the 2019 Château Musar Red, the estate’s flagship blend of cabernet sauvignon, carignan and cinsault. Dessert is burnt honey layer cake with tart apples and a cocktail built on L’Arack de Musar, the family’s anise spirit.
Every plate goes to the table family style, which is exactly how avec has served its regular menu since 2003. Marc Hochar joins the room for the evening, so expect stories about the vineyards between courses.
Why Château Musar is a wine lover’s pilgrimage
Gaston Hochar founded Château Musar in 1930 and made his first vintage in 1933. His son Serge took over the winemaking in 1959 after studying in Bordeaux under Émile Peynaud, and he kept the harvest going through Lebanon’s 15-year civil war; in 1984 the grape trucks needed up to five days to reach the winery. In 1984, Decanter named Serge its first Man of the Year. The wines that made his name are still made the same way: organically farmed grapes from high-altitude vineyards, native yeasts, no filtering, and a red and white held back until roughly their seventh year before release.
Today the third generation runs the estate. Serge’s son Gaston oversees the winery, and Marc Hochar, his brother, leads sales and travels with the wines, which is why a dinner with him in the room feels so personal. For anyone who has only seen a bottle of Musar on a list, this is the night to taste four of them side by side with food built to match.
How to get a seat at the communal table
Book the Château Musar Wine Dinner with Marc Hochar as an experience on avec West Loop’s OpenTable page: $150 per person, prepaid, for parties of one to 20, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. Seats were still available on the morning of Oct. 29.
Seating is assigned at the shared tables. To sit with friends who booked separately, email concierge@oneoffhospitality.com before the night. The menu is fixed because every course is shared, so guests with allergies or dietary restrictions should email the same address to arrange substitutions from the regular menu. avec sets a business casual tone, and the West Loop room sits a four-minute walk from the Clinton Green and Pink Line stop.
If one wine dinner is not enough, the Musar night opens a busy November of chef collaborations and guest dinners across the city, all collected in ChiVibe’s guide to one-night dinners through New Year’s Eve.
Dates, short rib hummus and the avec menu any other night
On a regular night the room tells you how to order. Start with the chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates wrapped in bacon with piquillo pepper and tomato sauce ($22), the dish that turned a West Loop wine bar into a Chicago institution. Add the chickpea hummus with sumac-glazed short rib and hearth-baked pita ($38) for the table, and the potato and salted cod brandade with garlic crostini ($18).
Executive chef Dylan Patel, who started at avec as a culinary school intern, has pushed the kitchen deeper into spice. His Lebanese seven-spice chicken comes with apples, pickled turnips, saffron orzo and za’atar buttermilk ($42), the whole roasted branzino arrives with sungold tomatoes, sauce gribiche and lemon agrumato ($56), and the deluxe focaccia with taleggio, truffle oil and herbs ($24) disappears before anyone can argue about it. Wine director and general manager Claire McDonal runs a list that leans hard into southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean.
Dinner runs 3:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Lunch is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, weekend brunch runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and happy hour is 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Tuesdays, every bottle of wine is half price all day, which may be the best wine deal on Randolph Street.
More room upstairs on Randolph Street
The tight downstairs room, with its cedar-wrapped walls, counter seats facing the open kitchen and strangers elbow to elbow, is part of the fun. Now there is a second option. As of Oct. 26, 2026, avec’s second floor, long reserved for private parties, takes standard dining reservations every day, with individual tables for groups who prefer their own space. Availability depends on private events booked upstairs.
The block keeps getting more interesting, too. John Manion’s live-fire steakhouse Palomino is headed for the former Proxi space a short walk east at 565 W. Randolph St. in early 2027.
avec Highwood opens Oct. 29
One Off Hospitality’s newest avec opens to the public on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, at 250 Waukegan Ave. in Highwood, after a run of friends and family dinners. It is the restaurant’s third location, after the West Loop original in 2003 and avec River North in 2021, and its first outside the city.
The team converted a former boxing gym into a 95-seat dining room with booths along the walls, a 48-seat barroom built around a U-shaped, marble-backed bar, and a light wood-soffited ceiling, designed with France-based architect Thomas Schlesser of Design Bureaux. A private event space next door, with its own bar and retractable walls, is planned for spring 2027. The menu carries the same Mediterranean shared plates as the city rooms. Hours are 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday, 4:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 4:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and reservations are open now.
Awards that put avec on the map
avec won Restaurant of the Year at the 2025 Jean Banchet Awards, Chicago’s own restaurant honors. At the 2027 Banchet Awards, McDonal is a finalist for Sommelier of the Year and founding chef Paul Kahan receives the Culinary Excellence Award. Original chef Koren Grieveson won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2010, and Kahan won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2013. avec is an OpenTable Icon for 2024, 2025 and 2026, and The New York Times kept it on its list of the best places to eat in Chicago in September 2026, calling a night there “Chicago’s coolest after-hours dinner party.”
Plan your visit
- Château Musar Wine Dinner: Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, 6:30 p.m., $150 per person prepaid, five courses with Château Musar pairings, communal seating
- avec West Loop: 615 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (312) 377-2002
- Dinner: Sunday to Thursday 3:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 3:30 to 11 p.m.
- Lunch and brunch: weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Deals: happy hour weekdays 3:30 to 5 p.m., half-price wine bottles all day Tuesday
- avec Highwood: 250 Waukegan Ave., Highwood, opens Oct. 29, 2026
avec Chicago FAQ
When is the Château Musar dinner at avec Chicago?
The Château Musar Wine Dinner with Marc Hochar is on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at avec West Loop, 615 W. Randolph St. It is a five-course, communal-style Lebanese dinner with Château Musar wines from the Bekaa Valley, and Hochar joins the room for the evening.
How much does the avec Château Musar dinner cost?
Tickets for the avec Château Musar dinner are $150 per person, prepaid through avec West Loop’s OpenTable page, for parties of one to 20. The price covers five courses paired with four Château Musar wines and a dessert cocktail made with L’Arack de Musar.
Can I sit with my friends at the avec Musar dinner?
Yes, by request. Seating at the avec Château Musar dinner on Nov. 2, 2026, is assigned at shared tables, so email concierge@oneoffhospitality.com to be seated with other ticket holders. The same address handles allergy substitutions, since the communal menu itself cannot be modified.
What should I order at avec in the West Loop?
Order the bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates ($22), the chickpea hummus with sumac-glazed short rib ($38) and the deluxe focaccia with taleggio and truffle oil ($24). For a main, avec West Loop’s Lebanese seven-spice chicken ($42) or whole roasted branzino ($56) feeds the table well.
When does avec Highwood open?
avec Highwood opens to the public on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, at 250 Waukegan Ave. in Highwood. It serves dinner from 4:30 p.m. daily, until 9 p.m. Sunday, 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and reservations are open now.
Does avec Chicago take reservations?
Yes. avec West Loop takes reservations for the communal tables, counter and, since Oct. 26, 2026, the second-floor dining room, which offers individual tables daily when no private event is booked. Parties of six or more should call the restaurant at (312) 377-2002.
Further reading
- avec West Loop on OpenTable, including the Château Musar Wine Dinner
- avec West Loop hours and location
- avec West Loop menus
- avec Highwood hours and location
- avec’s Château Musar dinner announcement on Instagram
- NBC Chicago: avec announces Highwood opening date (Sept. 9, 2026)
- Patch: New Highwood restaurant avec to open next month
- Eater Chicago: avec wins 2025 Jean Banchet Restaurant of the Year
- Decanter: Producer profile, Château Musar
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