The brass T is still polished by the front door, and for 14 nights this November the kitchen behind it cooks Charlie Trotter’s food again. From Thursday, November 5, through Sunday, November 22, 2026, The Alinea Group and Dylan Trotter serve a nine-course menu drawn from Chef Trotter’s own cookbooks inside the original Charlie Trotter’s at 816 W. Armitage Ave. in Lincoln Park.
It is presented by Grant Achatz, chef Adair Canacasco and Dylan Trotter, the chef’s son, who owns the building and hosts the nights with Canacasco. The dining room menu is $295 per person and the kitchen table is $315. This is the closing chapter of the Alinea Group’s residency on Armitage, and the dishes return to the same rooms where they made their name.
Nine courses from the books that taught a generation
The November menu is nine courses taken straight from Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks, chosen by the Alinea Group team and the Trotter family and cooked again for a room that remembers them. Before tasting menus were common in Chicago, Trotter wrote a new one every night, built on vegetables, seafood, game and a network of more than 90 purveyors, and his books, now out of print and prized by cooks, recorded those plates in exacting detail.
The first dish shown is a salsify and sweet potato terrine with two enriching vinaigrettes, the kind of quiet, vegetable-forward plate that made Trotter’s famous: layers of sweet potato under translucent rounds of salsify, set in a pool of herb oil and a darker, savory dressing. When Next cooked a Trotter’s menu in 2024, guests met a chilled tomato soup and a venison course, both from the same canon. Expect that spirit here: precise sauces, seasonal produce and a long, unhurried progression of small plates.
Back in the room where it all started
Dinner is served in the original restaurant, the 1881 brick building on Armitage where Charlie Trotter opened in 1987 with his father as his partner and cooked for 25 years. It is often credited with the country’s first vegetarian tasting menu and with the original kitchen table, the seat inside the working kitchen that chefs across America later copied. That table is part of the November run, booked for a party of four.
Dylan Trotter has spent the last two years restoring the place by hand. The first-floor dining room he calls Charlie’s Room has a new carpet in the original crimson, the front bar wears a darker brown, and the original plates are back in service. Upstairs, the room he calls Dylan’s Room overlooks the bar, and a wine wall now lines the private dining room in back.
The people bringing it back
Grant Achatz, Adair Canacasco and Dylan Trotter are the team behind the tribute, and Achatz has a personal stake in these walls. He cooked briefly under Trotter in 1994, years before opening Alinea in 2005 a few blocks south on Halsted. In September 2024 his restaurant Next launched a Charlie Trotter menu with the family’s blessing, using plates from the original restaurant, and in January 2025 the Next team brought that menu to Armitage for a pop-up that was extended through February 9, 2025.
Canacasco, the Alinea Group chef who came up through Roister and Fire, has run the kitchen here since late July with esmero, his Mexican tasting menu. For November he and Dylan Trotter host the dining room together, and Dylan, who grew up visiting his father’s kitchen in a sport coat to greet guests, has become the keeper of the name. Since the original closed, he has reopened the doors for guest chef dinners and private events while he decides what the restaurant becomes next.
Why Charlie Trotter’s still matters in Chicago
Trotter won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 1999, and the restaurant won Outstanding Restaurant in 2000. When Michelin published its first Chicago guide, the 2011 edition, Charlie Trotter’s earned two stars, and it kept two stars in the 2012 guide before closing that August. Trotter died on November 5, 2013, at 54, so the tribute opens 13 years to the day after his death.
His kitchen trained a long list of cooks who went on to run their own restaurants, and his Excellence Program brought high school students into the dining room to learn hospitality. For diners who never sat in that room, this is a rare chance to taste the cooking that put Chicago on the international fine dining map. For those who did, it is a homecoming.
Esmero’s last nights before the tribute
Canacasco’s own menu at esmero keeps going through Halloween, Saturday, October 31. It is 14 courses of modern Mexican cooking for $195 per person in the dining room or $215 at the kitchen table: a kombu-wrapped huitlacoche tamal unwrapped at the table, an infladita with wagyu tartare and caviar, and charcoal-grilled snapper over mole verde with gooseberries. On Saturdays, breakfast by esmero sells sandwiches for pickup from 11 a.m., starting at $14.
If the tribute is your kind of night, the Alinea Group’s current Next menu is built on the same idea of a theme carried through every course, this season on fashion.
How to get a table for the tribute
Reservations for the Trotter’s Tribute Menu are on Tock, on the same page as esmero. The dining room takes parties of two to six at $295 per person, and the kitchen table takes exactly four at $315 per person. A $50 per person deposit holds the booking and is applied to the final bill. Sales are final, but a reservation can be transferred to another guest.
The house serves Wednesday through Sunday, which gives the run its 14 nights, with an early and a late seating window. Arrive on time: guests more than 10 minutes late get a shortened menu. Every guest fills out a pre-visit survey with dietary restrictions, and the kitchen can adjust for common restrictions with at least 72 hours of notice. It cannot seat guests whose allergies react to cross-contamination.
Plan your night at Charlie Trotter’s
- What: the Trotter’s Tribute Menu, nine courses from Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks, presented by Grant Achatz, Adair Canacasco and Dylan Trotter
- When: 14 nights, Thursday, November 5, through Sunday, November 22, 2026, Wednesday through Sunday
- Where: Charlie Trotter’s, 816 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60614 (Lincoln Park), a short walk east of the Armitage Brown and Purple Line station
- Price: $295 per person in the dining room (parties of 2 to 6); $315 per person at the kitchen table (parties of 4); $50 per person deposit applied to the bill
- Reservations: Tock; all sales final, transferable to another guest
- Dress: a special evening out; leave the flip-flops and gym gear at home
- Parking: metered street parking, plus valet
Charlie Trotter’s Chicago FAQ
When is the Charlie Trotter’s tribute menu in Chicago?
The Trotter’s Tribute Menu runs for 14 nights, from Thursday, November 5, through Sunday, November 22, 2026, at the original Charlie Trotter’s, 816 W. Armitage Ave. in Lincoln Park. Dinner is served Wednesday through Sunday. It closes the Alinea Group’s residency in the building, which serves the esmero menu through October 31.
How much does the Charlie Trotter’s tribute dinner cost?
The Charlie Trotter’s tribute dinner costs $295 per person in the dining room, for parties of two to six, and $315 per person at the kitchen table, which seats exactly four. A $50 per person deposit is charged at booking and applied to the final bill. Sales are final, but reservations are transferable.
How do I book Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago?
Book the Charlie Trotter’s tribute menu on Tock, where it shares a page with the esmero residency at 816 W. Armitage Ave. Choose the dining room for two to six guests or the kitchen table for four. Plan to complete the dietary survey at least 72 hours ahead, and arrive on time, since late guests get a shortened menu.
Who is cooking the Charlie Trotter’s tribute menu?
The Charlie Trotter’s tribute menu is presented by Alinea chef Grant Achatz, Alinea Group chef Adair Canacasco and Dylan Trotter, Charlie Trotter’s son, who owns the Lincoln Park building. Canacasco and Dylan Trotter host the nights. The nine courses are drawn from Charlie Trotter’s own cookbooks, including a salsify and sweet potato terrine.
What awards did Charlie Trotter’s win?
Charlie Trotter won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 1999, and Charlie Trotter’s won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2000. The Lincoln Park restaurant earned two Michelin stars in the first Michelin Guide Chicago in 2011 and kept them in the 2012 guide before closing in August 2012.
Is there a dress code at Charlie Trotter’s Chicago?
Charlie Trotter’s Chicago asks guests to dress as they would for a special evening out. Formalwear is not required, but flip-flops and gym gear should stay at home. The Lincoln Park dining room at 816 W. Armitage Ave. has metered street parking and valet, and the Armitage Brown and Purple Line station is a short walk west.
Further reading
- Trotter’s Tribute Menu reservations at esmero at Charlie Trotter’s
- Dylan Trotter and The Alinea Group announce the Trotter’s Tribute Menu (Instagram)
- Charlie Trotter’s official site
- esmero at 816 W. Armitage
- Eater Chicago: Charlie Trotter’s Roars Once More in Chicago After More Than a Decade
- Resy: Esmero Is a Modern Mexican Dinner Party in the Charlie Trotter’s Space
- Michelin Guide Chicago 2011 star list
- Michelin Guide Chicago 2012 star list
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