Gilda Chicago is the dirty Basque pintxos tavern that makes West Town’s Chicago Avenue feel like a San Sebastián night out: chefs Jeremy Leven, Rafael Esparza, and Anthony Baier with beverage and culture director Inés de Haro, open since July 23, 2026 at 1421 W. Chicago Avenue (the former Chi-Latin footprint). Think casual bar energy, shared tables, anchovies and conservas when the season is right, jamón Ibérico, larger raciones, and a Rita Hayworth mural that winks at the namesake pintxo. It is open, it is intimate, and the first weekends already told the city this room fills.
Why Gilda Chicago has people chasing a table
West Town already speaks restaurant. What it did not have, until July, was this particular dirty Basque taberna mood: less fine-dining formality, more skewer-and- vermouth joy, a room that wants you to stay for another ración. Eater Chicago’s July 27 open piece (Patrice Yursik) is the cleanest post-open read for hours and opening menu landmarks; Block Club (July 21) covered the soft open and the community raise; The Hunger / Jessi Roti’s Substack preview (Lisa Shames) is the richest partner-résumé and double-entendre piece: Rita Hayworth’s 1946 Gilda plus the classic olive–anchovy–guindilla skewer that shares the name.
Eater’s open-week note said the first weekends were full and reservations already stretched into October; the August 11 heatmap added Gilda among the city’s new rooms worth chasing. Infatuation lists it as $$$$ Spanish pintxos in West Town. Find it at gildarestaurant.com, @gildachicago.
The food: pintxos, raciones, and Basque comfort
For first-timers, Leven’s picks (as told to Eater): a gilda (olive, anchovy, pickled pepper on a skewer), a matrimonio anchovy toast, and cod croquettes. Stay for Basque cheesecake with a seasonal fruit gastrique: calamansi at open, rotating after. De Haro told Eater there is a secret first-come bar burger for guests who sit at the bar. Infatuation’s pre-visit note adds sardines with jamón XO, tortilla española with hollandaise, lamb albóndigas, and gambas with pasta as the kind of plates the room is promising.
The Hunger adds bikini sando / Japanese egg salad lineage from the pop-up era, jamón and cheese plates, and Iberico pork raciones. Menus evolve daily by design (Esparza’s line in The Hunger) so confirm what is plating when you sit. On drinks: Spanish-leaning wine and vermouth; cocktails with Chicago accents. Eater names the Working-Class Muscle (Marianito riff with Zissou and a whisper of Malört) and “Fog” in the Machine. Block Club and The Hunger highlight the Generalissimo (jamón fat-washed mezcal, Basque Scotch) and the Lady Gilda dirty martini with house anchovy brine. Roughly 75–80% of the wine list is Spanish per Leven in Block Club.
What you feel walking in is the opposite of a sterile tasting room. Shared tables, bar chatter, the mural watching the rail, conservas and jamón when the season says yes: dirty Basque in the house’s own language means casual intensity, not sloppiness. A gilda skewer is a first handshake: briny, sharp, simple. Matrimonio toast and croquettes keep the table grazing. Larger raciones stretch the night without turning it into a procession. The point is to linger, pour another vermouth, and let Esparza’s daily evolution mean the second visit is never a carbon copy of the first.
The West Town room and the Monday feeling
Address to trust: 1421 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60642. The Hunger put the room at about 1,600 square feet / 44 seats in the preview: a small machine on Chicago Avenue. Cesar Perez’s Rita Hayworth mural anchors the bar story and the pintxo double entendre. Hours per Eater’s July 27 confirmation (prefer over Block Club’s pre-open schedule): Thursday–Sunday reservation-only, 5–11 p.m., last seating 9:30 p.m.; Monday walk-in only 5–11 p.m. with a wait list; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Monday is the neighborhood and industry off-ramp: de Haro framed it for neighbors who want a third space after the dog walk, not another impossible booker. Block Club and The Hunger both flag Mondays as the night the kitchen experiments; dishes that work can graduate onto the standing menu, and the porrón / special-night lane is for return visits. When Thursday–Sunday OpenTable is gone, Monday is how West Town actually gets in without a hold.
Scarcity here sits in a useful middle band. Compared with ultra-scarce Tock-only rooms, Gilda is more bookable in public: OpenTable is live, Monday is walk-in. Compared with a casual West Town dinner, Friday and Saturday still ask for a calendar hold: Eater’s open-week quote about October inventory made that clear early. Re-check the booker the week you want; use Monday when you refuse to lose a lottery. Either path still ends in the same pleasure: pintxos tempo, Spanish wine, and a room that was built with neighbors in the business plan.
Who is behind Gilda, and why Compañero matters
Résumé color from Eater, Block Club, and The Hunger: Leven via MFK and Mama Delia (Marcos Campos / northern Spain), plus a Noma fellowship and a San Sebastián trip that stuck; Esparza and Baier via Momotaro, Kimski, Evette’s, and the FAFO pop-up; de Haro with Spanish wine/olive instincts and a parent-restaurant lineage in Boston. Gilda the pop-up debuted at Mike Sula’s Foodball before the brick-and-mortar.
Funding is part of the soul of the room. When traditional / SBA financing fell through, de Haro pushed the Compañero Card: community donations that convert into dining discounts. Block Club and The Hunger put the raise at about $20,000; Eater says as many as ~40 compañeros helped bridge the gap. That is why the room feels like a true neighborhood third space, and why Monday walk-ins are part of its DNA.
How to book
Book OpenTable for the reservation nights. OpenTable has the current hours. Then come for the gilda skewer, the dirty Basque energy, and a West Town night that feels like San Sebastián with Chicago accents.
Who Gilda Chicago is for
This is for diners who want pintxos tempo, conservas and jamón, Spanish wine, and a small room with mural-and-bar personality: dates, industry Mondays, neighbors happy to join the waitlist. Come hungry for skewers and conversation.
A few practical notes
- Address: 1421 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60642 (West Town; former Chi-Latin).
- Hours: Mon walk-in 5–11 p.m.; Thu–Sun reservation-only 5–11 p.m., last seat 9:30 p.m.; closed Tue/Wed.
- Book: OpenTable Thu–Sun · Monday walk-in / wait list.
- House: gildarestaurant.com · @gildachicago.
Gilda Chicago FAQ
What is Gilda Chicago?
A dirty Basque pintxos tavern from chefs Jeremy Leven, Rafael Esparza, and Anthony Baier with beverage director Inés de Haro, at 1421 W. Chicago Ave. in West Town (former Chi-Latin). Opened July 23, 2026.
How do I book Gilda Chicago?
OpenTable for Thursday–Sunday: opentable.com/r/gilda-chicago. Monday is walk-in only (wait list). Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
What are Gilda Chicago hours?
Monday walk-in 5–11 p.m.; Thursday–Sunday reservation-only 5–11 p.m., last seating 9:30 p.m.; closed Tuesday/Wednesday (Eater July 27).
Is Gilda Chicago hard to get into?
On reservation nights, yes enough to book early: open-week press said into October. Monday walk-in is the neighborhood path.
What is a gilda?
The namesake pintxo: green olive, Cantabrian anchovy, and pickled pepper on a skewer, also a nod to Rita Hayworth’s 1946 film.
Does Gilda Chicago take walk-ins?
Monday only (house policy per Eater). Thursday–Sunday is reservation-only.
Is there a bar burger?
Eater reports a secret first-come bar burger for guests seated at the bar. Ask at the rail.
How was Gilda Chicago funded?
Community Compañero cards after loan setbacks; about $20,000 raised (Block Club / The Hunger), ~40 compañeros (Eater).
Gilda Chicago is the West Town Basque night worth wanting: pintxos, jamón, a mural that knows the joke, and a Monday door for neighbors when the calendar is gone. When OpenTable opens a Thursday–Sunday you love, take it. When it does not, walk Monday like a local. The rest is just logistics.
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