On Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, one of Chicago’s most missed restaurants comes back to the table for a night. Dear Margaret Chicago serves the first of two Tourtière Nights at Frontier, 1072 N. Milwaukee Ave. in West Town: a French-Canadian pork pie with a hearty green salad, cider-braised turnips and maple crème brûlée, $70 a ticket, with seatings between 6 and 8 p.m.
Chef Ryan Brosseau and owner Lacey Irby have cooked in borrowed kitchens since a fire closed their Lakeview dining room in October 2025, and several of their pop-ups have sold out. Tourtière Night is the cozy one: a single set dinner built around a hand-rolled meat pie, the kind of French-Canadian comfort that made Dear Margaret a Chicago favorite.
What do you eat at Dear Margaret’s Tourtière Night?
A full dinner for $70, with nothing to decide except what to drink. Each ticket brings tourtière, the French-Canadian pork pie, with a hearty green salad, cider-braised turnips and maple crème brûlée to finish. Guests who skip meat choose a mushroom pie when they buy their ticket.
The pie is the point, and Brosseau rolls the pastry dough for the crust himself. Around it sit the flavors of a Canadian-Midwestern autumn: turnips braised in cider, a crisp salad, and maple, the sweetener of the north, in the custard. It is a dinner made for a cold November night.
Drinks are poured at Frontier’s bar and are not part of the ticket price. Seatings run in time slots between 6 and 8 p.m. for parties of one to six. Tickets are prepaid on Tock and are final once purchased. The same dinner returns on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
What is tourtière, and why is it so Ryan Brosseau?
Tourtière is the French-Canadian meat pie, a holiday-table classic with deep family roots. Brosseau grew up in Merlin, Ontario, an hour east of Detroit, in what Canadians call the bread basket of the country. His cooking at Dear Margaret honors his grandmother, his mémé Margaret, and the way farm kitchens in that region cook what they grow and raise: whole animals, canning and preserving, and very little waste.
That sensibility made Dear Margaret one of Chicago’s most loved neighborhood restaurants. The menu was French-Canadian in spirit and Midwestern in ingredients: sturgeon with grape agrodolce and paddlefish caviar, stuffed quail with chestnut sausage and pear, a bacon kohlrabi salad with Calvados apple, and a Nanaimo bar, the Canadian classic. A pork pie, a pile of turnips and a maple dessert is that same cooking, gathered into a single set dinner.
Who is behind Dear Margaret, and where did it go?
Brosseau and Irby opened Dear Margaret in January 2021 at 2965 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lakeview, during a Chicago winter. Brosseau came up through the kitchens of Perennial Virant, Found and Table, Donkey and Stick, and opened Le Sud as executive chef. Irby came to restaurants from food communications, and Dear Margaret is her first.
The recognition came quickly. Dear Margaret earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand from 2022 through 2024, a place on The New York Times list of the 50 best restaurants in America in 2022 and the 2022 Jean Banchet Award for Best New Restaurant. It took the 2025 Banchet Award for Best Hospitality and landed at No. 9 on Chicago magazine’s 50 best restaurants list in 2024.
On the evening of Oct. 6, 2025, a fire in the restaurant closed the dining room. The 150-year-old building has since been sold for redevelopment, so the Lincoln Avenue address will not reopen. Brosseau and Irby are searching for a new space, and their team’s motto, Everything Takes Forever, has turned into a promise to bring Dear Margaret back.
How does Dear Margaret keep cooking while it looks for a home?
Through pop-ups, and each one has a different personality. P.S. Miss You Dearly puts guests at a 12-seat chef’s table at Firehouse Lounge, the Stock Mfg. showroom at 2737 W. Diversey Ave., for a multi-course tasting at $175 a person. Recent menus have run from oeufs en gelée with chanterelle, sunchoke and caviar to poached turbot in vin vert, squab with maitake and pear, and an apple fritter with cardamom and saffron syrup. The fall run has sold out.
Brosseau has also guest-cooked around town. In July 2026 he joined John Asbaty for a one-night collaboration dinner at Ox Bar & Hearth in Lincoln Park, and in September 2025 he took the griddle at Gaijin for a chef collaboration night. If a table at a tasting dinner is on your list this season, the November and December one-night dinners guide has more.
This fall, Wednesdays at Frontier are Dear Margaret’s pop-up nights, each a set dinner with an entrée, sides and dessert:
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Tourtière Night, $70 (pork pie or mushroom pie, green salad, cider-braised turnips, maple crème brûlée)
- Wednesday, Nov. 18: Duck Dinner, $99 (roasted duck breast, braised greens, potato pavé, pouding chômeur), sold out
- Wednesday, Dec. 2: Cassoulet Night, $85 (duck leg cassoulet with bacon, sausage and breadcrumbs, greens salad, dinner roll, cheese plate), sold out
- Wednesday, Dec. 9: Tourtière Night 2, $70, same menu as Nov. 11
- Wednesday, Dec. 16: Burgers and Poutine with Hatchet Burger, ticketed separately
Where will you sit? A West Town lodge with a fireplace
Frontier has been a West Town landmark since Feb. 10, 2011, when chef Brian Jupiter and Mark Domitrovich opened it as a gastro pub built around whole-animal feasts. The two-story, lodge-inspired space has an all-weather beer garden and a second-floor lounge warmed by a stone fireplace, and since August 2026 it has served as a home for private events and chef pop-ups. Dear Margaret is one of the first three chefs in the Frontier Chef Pop-Up Series, alongside Daniel Hammond of Smokey Soul Barbecue and Daniel Will of Daniel’s Test Kitchen.
The address, 1072 N. Milwaukee Ave., sits just off Milwaukee Avenue on the quiet edge of West Town, a short ride from Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village. Come hungry, bring a friend or five, and plan on lingering over the crème brûlée.
Plan your night
- Where: Frontier, 1072 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60642 (West Town)
- When: Wednesday, Nov. 11, and Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026; seatings between 6 and 8 p.m.
- Price: $70 per ticket; entrée, sides and dessert included, drinks extra
- Party size: one to six guests per booking
- Tickets: prepaid on Tock; all sales final and tickets are not transferable
- Vegetarian: mushroom pie, chosen when you buy your ticket
- Website: dearmargaretchi.com
Dear Margaret Chicago FAQ
What is Dear Margaret’s Tourtière Night in Chicago?
Dear Margaret Chicago’s Tourtière Night is a $70 set dinner by chef Ryan Brosseau at Frontier, 1072 N. Milwaukee Ave. in West Town, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026 and Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026. It includes a French-Canadian pork pie, a green salad, cider-braised turnips and maple crème brûlée.
How much is Tourtière Night at Frontier Chicago and how do I get tickets?
Tourtière Night at Frontier Chicago costs $70 per ticket, with the entrée, sides and dessert included and drinks sold separately. Tickets are prepaid on Tock for parties of one to six, with seatings between 6 and 8 p.m. All sales are final and tickets cannot be transferred.
Is there a vegetarian dinner at Dear Margaret’s Tourtière Night?
Yes. Dear Margaret Chicago offers a mushroom pie in place of the pork tourtière at Tourtière Night, served with the same green salad, cider-braised turnips and maple crème brûlée. Vegetarian guests choose the mushroom pie when they buy their $70 ticket on Tock, since it is preordered.
Where is Dear Margaret restaurant in Chicago now?
Dear Margaret has no permanent dining room right now. Its Lakeview home at 2965 N. Lincoln Ave. closed after an October 2025 fire, and chef Ryan Brosseau and owner Lacey Irby are searching for a new space while hosting pop-up dinners at Frontier in West Town and Firehouse Lounge in Logan Square.
When is the next Dear Margaret pop-up dinner in Chicago?
The next Dear Margaret Chicago pop-up is Tourtière Night at Frontier on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, with seatings between 6 and 8 p.m. A second Tourtière Night follows on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026. The Nov. 18 Duck Dinner and the Dec. 2 Cassoulet Night have sold out.
Further reading
- Dear Margaret on Tock: Tourtière Night, pop-up dinners and tickets
- Dear Margaret, official site
- About Dear Margaret: Ryan Brosseau, Lacey Irby and awards
- Frontier Chicago, official site
- Dear Margaret Permanently Closing In Lakeview, But Owners Are Planning A Comeback, Block Club Chicago (Nov. 7, 2025)
- 2022 Chicago new MICHELIN Bib Gourmands, MICHELIN Guide
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