Boka opened on Halsted Street in 2003, the first restaurant from Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, and 23 years later it is the flagship of a group that changed how Chicago goes out to dinner. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, the Michelin-starred Lincoln Park dining room hands one night to game. Chef and butcher Rob Levitt and chef Doug Psaltis join the Boka kitchen for an eight-course tasting menu built around wild flavors and the deep end of the season.
The dinner is $225 per person, prepaid, with an optional wine pairing for $165 per person. Seats are limited, reservations are required, and the game dinner books on OpenTable for parties of one to six.
One night, eight courses, two chefs who know the whole animal
Boka describes the evening as a meeting of Levitt’s whole-animal butchery and Psaltis’s refined cooking, with eight courses that explore the depth, complexity and seasonality of game. Boka’s invitation sets the mood with an engraved pheasant and a wild boar dressed in brocade coats, and mid-November is the right moment for it, when a long tasting menu in a warm room feels exactly right.
The full menu has not been announced. Levitt breaks down whole animals and turns every part into something worth eating, Psaltis trained in the kitchens of Alain Ducasse, and Boka’s own kitchen brings the dry-aging and seasonal polish it shows every night.
Rob Levitt: the butcher who brought whole-animal cooking to Chicago
Levitt first made his name at mado, the restaurant he opened with his wife, Allie. In 2011 the couple opened The Butcher & Larder, a whole-animal butcher shop built on local, sustainably raised meat. He went on to become chef and head butcher at Publican Quality Meats, One Off Hospitality’s butcher shop and café in Fulton Market, and today he is the chef at The Publican, the Fulton Market restaurant that opened in 2008.
For game, that background matters: a butcher who knows where the flavor lives can make every cut earn its course.
Doug Psaltis: from Alain Ducasse to the Flair House
Psaltis became Alain Ducasse’s first American chef, cooking in New York at ADNY and Mix, and he earned a Michelin star at Country in Manhattan. In Chicago he was a partner in several Lettuce Entertain You restaurants, including RPM Italian, and co-founded the Windy City Smokeout barbecue and country music festival.
Today Psaltis and his wife, pastry chef Hsing Chen, lead Eat Well Hospitality, the team behind Andros Taverna in Logan Square, Mano a Mano and Asador Bastian. Asador Bastian, their Basque-inspired chophouse in the 1883 Flair House in River North, was named the best steak restaurant in North America by World’s Best Steak Restaurants in December 2025.
Twenty-three years on Halsted: the room that started Boka Restaurant Group
Boehm and Katz opened Boka in 2003 in Lincoln Park, and the restaurant grew into Boka Restaurant Group, the company behind Girl & the Goat, Swift & Sons, Momotaro, Cindy’s Rooftop and The Ives, the grill room it opened in the Chicago Athletic Association in May 2026. The founders won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2019. Boka celebrated its 23rd anniversary in October 2026.
The design is by the Chicago firm Simeone Deary, sophisticated with a streak of whimsy. The restaurant flows from the front room to the main dining room and the glass-enclosed terrace, which seats 30 for private dinners.
Lee Wolen’s kitchen and a Michelin star since 2011
Lee Wolen joined Boka as executive chef and partner in 2014 after three years as sous chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York and a Michelin-starred tenure at The Lobby at The Peninsula Chicago. He was named Chef of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 2014, was a James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and in 2015 the Jean Banchet Awards named him Chef of the Year and Boka Restaurant of the Year. Boka was a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant in 2020, and in 2025 Robb Report put it on its list of the 100 Greatest American Restaurants of the 21st Century.
Boka has held a Michelin star since the 2011 Chicago guide and holds one star in the current Michelin Guide. Chef de cuisine Wood Jameson leads the kitchen day to day, with pastry director Meghan McGarvey and sommelier Alex Szczesny.
What Boka is cooking this fall
On a regular night Boka serves an à la carte menu and an eight-course tasting menu that changes with the market. Dinner starts with bread and butter service, the bread raised from a buttermilk starter the kitchen has kept alive for more than 13 years. The whole roasted dry-aged duck is a Boka classic, its preparation started three weeks before it reaches the table.
This fall’s tasting menu has featured Tasmanian ocean trout with smoked mussels, slow-cooked maitake mushroom with sunchoke, grape and kombu, and royal red shrimp poached with cauliflower, grape and walnut. In late October the kitchen served honeypatch squash with fermented cabbage, caramelized onion and foie gras, grown from Row 7 Seed Company seeds. Dessert might be a caramel pretzel crémeux with honeycomb, caraway and hazelnut.
The bar pours cocktails such as the Eye of the Storm, with rum, basil eau de vie, raspberry and lime, and Szczesny’s list reaches back to bottles like the 2001 Vieux Château Champs de Mars from Castillon Côte de Bordeaux. Guests may bring a special bottle for a $50 corkage fee per 750 ml bottle, two bottles per table, as long as it is not on the list.
How to plan your night at the Boka game dinner
Book the game dinner on OpenTable, where it is prepaid at $225 per person plus tax and a 20 percent gratuity. Add the $165 wine pairing, since game and old-world reds were made for each other. Valet parking is $19 for the first four hours at the stand directly in front of the restaurant on Halsted, and the North/Clybourn Red Line stop is a short walk away. There is no formal dress code, and business casual suits the room.
If the game dinner fills up, Boka’s regular dining room is open the rest of the week and takes reservations up to 60 days ahead. For more art and theater on the plate, Esmé serves its Michelin-starred tasting menu nearby on Clark Street, and the rest of the season’s one-night dinners fill November and December across the city.
Boka Chicago at a glance
- Where: 1729 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60614 (Lincoln Park, near Willow Street)
- Game dinner: Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026; eight-course game tasting menu with guest chefs Rob Levitt and Doug Psaltis
- Price: $225 per person, prepaid, plus tax and 20% gratuity; optional wine pairing $165 per person
- Reservations: OpenTable, parties of one to six; phone (312) 337-6070
- Regular hours: Sunday to Thursday 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 p.m.
- Good to know: valet $19 for four hours; corkage $50 per bottle, two-bottle limit; a 4% surcharge is added to checks and can be removed on request
- Private dining: terrace for 30; full buyout for 100 seated or 150 standing; events@bokachicago.com
Boka Chicago game dinner FAQ
When is the Boka Chicago game dinner?
The Boka Chicago game dinner is Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, at Boka, 1729 N. Halsted St. in Lincoln Park. It is a one-night eight-course game tasting menu cooked with guest chefs Rob Levitt, the butcher and chef at The Publican, and Doug Psaltis of Asador Bastian and Andros Taverna.
How much is the Boka game dinner in Chicago?
The Boka game dinner in Chicago costs $225 per person for eight courses, prepaid on OpenTable, plus tax and a 20% gratuity. An optional wine pairing adds $165 per person. Tables are available for parties of one to six on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, and seating is limited.
Who is cooking at the Boka game dinner?
Rob Levitt and Doug Psaltis cook the Boka game dinner with Boka’s kitchen on Nov. 18, 2026. Levitt is known for whole-animal butchery from mado, The Butcher & Larder and Publican Quality Meats. Psaltis was Alain Ducasse’s first American chef and now leads Asador Bastian, Andros Taverna and Mano a Mano with Hsing Chen.
Does Boka Chicago have a Michelin star?
Yes. Boka Chicago holds one Michelin star and has held a star since the 2011 Chicago guide. Executive chef and partner Lee Wolen has led the Lincoln Park kitchen since 2014, serving a seasonal American à la carte menu and an eight-course tasting menu that changes with the market.
Is there a dress code at Boka Chicago?
Boka Chicago has no formal dress code and asks guests to wear whatever makes them comfortable. Business casual fits the Lincoln Park dining room, including for the Nov. 18, 2026, game dinner. Valet parking on Halsted Street is $19 for four hours.
How far ahead can I book Boka Chicago?
Boka Chicago takes reservations up to 60 days in advance on OpenTable or by phone at (312) 337-6070. Reservations are strongly recommended for the dining room and the bar, and walk-ins are welcomed when space allows. Parties of five or fewer pay no cancellation fee with advance notice.
Further reading
- Boka official site
- Boka game dinner and reservations on OpenTable
- About Boka and chef Lee Wolen
- Game dinner announcement, @bokachicago on Instagram
- Boka in the Michelin Guide
- How Boka won over America, Eater Chicago (Dec. 26, 2018)
- Doug Psaltis and Hsing Chen, Eat Well Hospitality
- Asador Bastian
- Rob and Allie Levitt open The Butcher & Larder, Chicago Tribune (Jan. 10, 2011)
- Asador Bastian named best steak restaurant in North America, ABC7 Chicago (Dec. 2, 2025)
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