On Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, two Chicago cooks who built their careers on Midwestern farms share one wood fire. Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe joins chef John Asbaty at Ox Bar & Hearth, the live-fire restaurant in the old Golden Ox building at 1578 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park, for a one-night, five-course late-fall harvest dinner.
Tickets are $125 per person, with an optional $65 wine pairing, and the night opens at 5:30 p.m. with a welcome cocktail and passed bites around the hearth. It is the third dinner in Ox Bar & Hearth’s Chef Series, and tickets are prepaid on OpenTable.
Nov. 19: Lula Cafe’s farm-to-table cooking meets the hearth
The pairing makes sense the moment you taste either kitchen. Hammel has spent more than two decades writing menus around the farmers who supply Lula Cafe in Logan Square, where squash, chicories and orchard fruit set the pace each week. Asbaty cooks Great Lakes fish, dry-aged meats and Midwestern produce over a custom wood-burning grill, charcoal oven and whole-log smoker. Put them together in November and you get roots, brassicas, smoke and slow-cooked meat at the peak of the late-fall harvest.
The evening runs on a set schedule. The reception with passed appetizers and a seasonal cocktail starts at 5:30 p.m., a welcome from the chefs comes at 6, guests sit down at 6:15, and dinner begins at 6:30. The five courses are built together by both chefs, and the final menu is set by what the farms bring in that week.
Hammel arrives fresh from his own big November night. On Nov. 10, Lula Cafe hosts its 13th annual Logan Square Chef’s Dinner benefiting Comfort Station, and Lula Cafe won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality in 2024. The Ox Bar & Hearth dinner is a rare chance to eat his cooking outside his own dining room.
A Chef Series that brings Chicago’s fire cooks to Clybourn
Ox Bar & Hearth launched its Chef Series in September with Paul Virant, the chef behind Vistro Prime and Gaijin, whose preservation-focused cooking at Vie in Western Springs shaped Asbaty’s own approach to sourcing. In October, John Manion, the 2026 Jean Banchet Chef of the Year and the force behind El Che, Brasero and the upcoming Palomino, shared the hearth for a night of open-flame cooking.
Hammel’s dinner is part three of four. The series continues monthly through the end of the year, and December brings a milestone for the restaurant: its first anniversary. Each dinner follows the same easy rhythm: a cocktail reception, a seated five-course menu and an optional wine pairing.
Where you will sit: the old Golden Ox, rebuilt around a fire
The building on Clybourn is about 125 years old, and for 80 years it housed the Golden Ox, the German restaurant that fed the neighborhood until 2001. Asbaty and co-owner Alain Uy kept the exposed brick and the name’s history, then built the room around an open kitchen and the hearth. Warm lighting, dark wood and wide spacing make it feel like a dinner party, and the restaurant seats about 118 across the dining room, a bar and lounge, a private room and a patio.
The two go back more than 20 years. They worked together at Trio in Evanston in 2003, when Grant Achatz ran the kitchen, and reunited in 2015 to open the 3 Arts Club Café at RH Chicago. Ox Bar & Hearth is the restaurant they spent a decade talking about.
What to order on a regular night
If the Chef Series sells out, the everyday menu is reason enough to book. Most dishes touch the fire in some way. Start with the heirloom cornbread ($14) with cultured butter and seasonal preserves, the smoked trout dip ($25) with dill and seeded rye crackers, or the potato pierogi ($23) from a recipe passed down by Asbaty’s grandfather. The lamb merguez sausage ($19) comes coiled with coriander yogurt, onions and mint.
For mains, the half chicken ($38) with creamed corn and chicken jus is the table favorite, and the 18-ounce dry-aged bone-in strip ($109) arrives with porcini and bone marrow butter. The whole rainbow trout ($49) is finished with muhammara and fried garlic, and the OBH burger ($29) comes with beef fat wedge fries. Save room for the pavlova ($12) with raspberry sorbet and sage whipped cream, one of the city’s favorite new desserts this year.
Bourbon by the barrel and a $10 martini at happy hour
The bar pours mostly Midwestern spirits. The OBH cask strength old-fashioned ($19) uses a private barrel bourbon from J. Henry & Sons of Wisconsin, the smoked Manhattan ($19) mixes J. Rieger rye with chanterelle-infused vermouth, and the freezer wet martini ($15) comes with your choice of gin or vodka. Zero-proof drinks include the Spagli-nada with Ritual aperitivo.
Happy hour runs Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the bar, lounge and patio, with $4 Hamm’s, $8 Old Fitzgerald bourbon, $10 wines by the glass and a $10 freezer martini. Bites are $12, including smoked chicken wings with buttermilk ranch and a grilled cheese with blue cheese and onion marmalade. On Wednesdays, select wine bottles are half off. Sunday brunch, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., brings brioche French toast and a lamb merguez breakfast sandwich.
Why Chicago keeps putting it on lists
Ox Bar & Hearth opened in late 2025 and landed fast. Chicago magazine ranked it No. 3 on The 10 Hottest Restaurants in Chicago for February 2026, praising dishes like charred cabbage with brown butter hollandaise and smoked trout roe. The Infatuation gave it an 8.0 in February 2026, and Time Out Chicago lists it at No. 30 among the 39 best restaurants in Chicago in its October 2026 update.
There is one more date on the calendar before Hammel’s dinner. On Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m., the restaurant hosts a launch party for Strong Like Bull, the memoir by world champion bowler Diandra Asbaty. Tickets include light bites and a drink, and signed copies are for sale.
Plan your visit
- Address: 1578 N. Clybourn Ave., Chicago, IL 60642 (Lincoln Park, at North and Clybourn, near Steppenwolf Theatre)
- Chef Series with Jason Hammel: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026; reception 5:30 p.m., dinner 6:30 p.m.; $125 per person for five courses, $65 wine pairing, tax and gratuity extra; prepaid tickets on OpenTable
- Hours: Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday brunch 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and dinner 5 to 9 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
- Happy hour: Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 6 p.m., bar, lounge and patio
- Reservations: dining room on OpenTable
- Walk-ins: bar and lounge seating is first come, first served
- Good to know: cashless; valet available; dietary questions for the Chef Series can go to the restaurant at ox@kinshipcompany.com before you buy
Ox Bar & Hearth Chicago FAQ
When is the Jason Hammel dinner at Ox Bar & Hearth Chicago?
The Jason Hammel dinner at Ox Bar & Hearth Chicago is Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026. A reception with passed appetizers and a seasonal cocktail starts at 5:30 p.m., guests are seated at 6:15, and the five-course late-fall harvest dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. at 1578 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park.
How much is the Ox Bar & Hearth Chef Series dinner?
The Ox Bar & Hearth Chef Series dinner with Jason Hammel costs $125 per person for five courses, plus an optional $65 wine pairing. Tax and gratuity are extra. Tickets are prepaid on OpenTable and become nonrefundable within one week of the Nov. 19, 2026 dinner.
Who is cooking at the Ox Bar & Hearth Chef Series?
Ox Bar & Hearth chef John Asbaty hosts a different Chicago chef each month. Paul Virant cooked in September 2026 and John Manion, the 2026 Jean Banchet Chef of the Year, cooked in October. Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe, a 2024 James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Hospitality, cooks Nov. 19.
What should I order at Ox Bar & Hearth Chicago?
At Ox Bar & Hearth Chicago, order the heirloom cornbread, smoked trout dip and potato pierogi to start, then the $38 half chicken with creamed corn or the $109 dry-aged bone-in strip from the wood-burning hearth. Finish with the $12 pavlova with raspberry sorbet and sage whipped cream.
Does Ox Bar & Hearth take walk-ins?
Yes. Ox Bar & Hearth seats its bar and lounge on a first-come, first-served basis, and walk-ins are always welcome there. Dining room tables are reserved on OpenTable. Happy hour runs Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the bar, lounge and patio, with $10 martinis.
Where is Ox Bar & Hearth in Chicago?
Ox Bar & Hearth is at 1578 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park, near North Avenue and Steppenwolf Theatre, in the century-old building that housed the Golden Ox German restaurant for 80 years. The restaurant is cashless and offers valet parking.
Further reading
- Ox Bar & Hearth official site
- Ox Bar & Hearth Happenings: Chef Series and events
- One Night Only: OBH Welcomes Chef Jason Hammel on OpenTable
- Ox Bar & Hearth dinner menu
- Eater Chicago: Live-Fire Cooking Shapes Midwestern Flavors at This New Lincoln Park Restaurant
- Chicago magazine: The 10 Hottest Restaurants in Chicago, February 2026
- The Infatuation: Ox Bar & Hearth review
- Time Out Chicago: Ox Bar & Hearth review
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