New Restaurants Coming to Chicago This Fall

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This fall, chefs are stepping into the spotlight for the first time with their own restaurants while serial entrepreneurs and restaurant groups are expanding – even all the way from London. From Balkan food to West African, Filipino-influenced pizza to Midwestern-informed French, there’s a lot to look forward to on Chicago’s restaurant front this fall.

This has been updated to include Lucy's Barbecue.

Nafsi x Five Loaves

The soul food restaurant Nafsi is helping to revive a South Side stalwart by bringing in Five Loaves to handle breakfast and brunch inside the stunning location of the lakeside South Shore Cultural Center beginning September 22. Five Loaves closed its Chatham location in 2021. 

Ela Modern Greek Taverna

This is the latest in a slow-moving trend of contemporary Greek restaurants. Located at 1551 N. Wells St. in Old Town, it’s the project of a chef who grew up in his family taverna in Greece before working at a number of modern Greek places in Chicago. It’s due to open September 26.

Black Briar

Jimmy Papadopoulos made his name at now-closed Bohemian House and Boka’s Bellemore, but hasn’t had a restaurant since COVID. Now he’s back with Bellemore partner Tim Anderson for a tavern centered around coal fire that they’re calling Black Briar. The design is inspired by English pubs. Black Briar opens September 26 at 201 N. Morgan St. in the West Loop.

Little Betty Smokehouse 

Dominique Leach is bringing her BBQ further north to Hyde Park with the launch of Little Betty Smokehouse inside Hutchinson Commons on the University of Chicago campus. The student food hall at 5706 S. University Ave. is also open to the public, meaning South Siders closer to Hyde Park don’t have to go Pullman, where Leach’s flagship Lexington Betty smokehouse is located, for her brisket. Little Betty is currently in a soft opening but officially opens September 28.

AMARA

Last year, Ivan Iričanin opened a branch of his Washington, D.C.-based restaurant Ambar because he wanted to introduce the food of his native Balkans to the central part of the city in an upscale setting. Now longtime Chicagoan and fellow Serb Nemanja Milunovic is following suit with his own pan-Balkan, shareable plate-oriented restaurant, due to open this fall at 844 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. Milunovic has worked in kitchens across Chicago, most recently Aba and Adalina Prime, while occasionally showcasing Serbian food on his own through pop-ups and a ghost kitchen during the pandemic. AMARA is his first sit-down restaurant with his own menu, which will draw inspiration not just from the Balkans but the whole Mediterranean. His popular, pillowy somun bread will make a return. The bar program, led by his brother Marko, will feature Mediterranean wines and a barrelful of amari, vermouths, and other herbal drinks.

Berenjak

The London restaurant group behind Berenjak is best known for South Asian food at opulent spots like Gymkhana and Ambassadors Clubhouse, but Berenjak is Persian. Inspired by Tehran’s kabab houses, it is focused on family-style dining. The Chicago location, the second in the U.S. opens October 2 in Soho House at 113-125 N. Green St. in the West Loop, and is open to the public, not just Soho House members.

Compa

Another addition to the hot restaurant row along Chicago Avenue, Compa is a regional Mexican spot from the restaurateur behind the closed Bohemian House and Cobblestone Cafe. Located at 1424 W. Chicago Ave., it’s due to open in early October.

Chloe

No official opening date yet for this restaurant at 1 S. Wacker Dr. in the western part of the Loop, but “if we aren’t open by Mid-October, were [sic] going to be screaming alongside you,” the restaurant posted on Instagram in an update about how long it has taken their chairs to arrive. (Yes, there are innumerable ways a restaurant can be delayed from opening.) The menu has some healthful salads and dips like pomegranate guacamole plus global sandwiches and entrees, including choripan or duck confit on tortillas.

Lucy's Barbecue

Nick Kleutsch's first restaurant was a spot called Lucy's Barbecue just across the border from Chicago in Highland, Indiana. But he made his name in Chicago at Sanders BBQ Supply Co. in Beverly, which made The New York Times best restaurant list and garnered Kleutsch and owner James Sanders a local Jean Banchet Award and national James Beard Award semifinalist position. Now he's returning to his native northwest Indiana to reopen Lucy's Barbecue in Highland, this time replacing a restaurant that has been there for generations, at 2904 W. 45th St. It will be his contribution to the dining scene in The Region, as the Chicago Bears plan to (possibly) open a stadium there. He's aiming for a mid-October opening. (Sanders, which Kleutsch has left, is in the process of opening a second location in Hyde Park.)

Avec Highwood

One Off Hospitality’s Mediterranean spot Avec is one of Chicago’s most admired restaurants, and now a branch is coming to the North Shore, at 250 Waukegan Ave. in Highwood. The new Avec, the third location, will open October 29, with a neighboring event space from One Off to follow in the spring of 2027.

Gibsons Tavern

One of Chicago’s most classic restaurant groups, Gibsons, is finally opening a spot in a neighborhood that has become something of an extension of the entertainment and dining district of Gibsons’ natural environment of the downtown business area: the West Loop. Opening in November at 925 W. Fulton St., Gibsons Tavern was first announced in 2023 and sounds like it will be a typical Gibsons project, including steaks and seafood, in a more buttoned-down but still detail-oriented environment.

Nimba

You can already order takeout from the West African spot Nimba, at 3252 S. Morgan St. in Bridgeport. But Lydia London wants to welcome in diners to try her Liberian and Ivorian food as well, and is aiming to open for dine-in in November.

Kiko’s Pizza 

Francis Almeda already opened one pizzeria, Novel Pizza in Pilsen, to popular delight. Now the inexhaustible entrepreneur is bringing tavern-style pizza to the North Side with Kiko’s Pizza at 5009 N. Clark St., in partnership with John Carruthers of Crust Fund Pizza and Ash Burton of pop-up Freckled Za. Like all of his projects, there’s a Filipino influence as well. It’s slated to open this fall.

The Night Heron

A wine bar from the owner of the shop 57th Street Wines, grocery store Open Produce, and Cornell Florist is opening in Hyde Park at 1636 E. 55th St. It will feature small wineries and natural wines, as well as beer, cocktails, and some snacks. It should open this fall. 

Hooligan 

The bounty of the Midwest and Great Lakes meets French technique in this casual neighborhood restaurant due to open at 2528 N. California Ave. in Logan Square this fall. It’s the first independent project from Chef Christian Hunter, who came to Chicago to open Atelier and won a Michelin star for it in its first year.

Haven

First announced a year and a half ago, it seems like this first-of-its-kind-in-Chicago tasting menu spot of dessert courses is nearly ready. Tatum Sinclair, the decorated pastry chef for S.K.Y., Valhalla, and others, is behind the spot at 1114 W. Grand Ave. in West Town. She has hosted a couple pop-ups as well as a full eight-course menu out of Valhalla as previews of Haven recently. The most recent update cited a fall opening.  

Pizzeria Gabbo

The latest venture from Lettuce Entertain You dips into trendy tavern-style Chicago pizza – but mixes things up with an additional crispy take on New York-style pizza, plus salads, pasta, and soft-serve. The food is by Beatrix’s Andrew Ashmore, with Italian wine, spritzes, and Italian-inspired cocktails from the beverage team of Aba and Ema. Pizzeria Gabbo shares a building with Beatrix and Aba, at 834 W. Fulton Market St., Suite 200. It’s due this fall. 

Rosca

One of the most unusual participants in Chicago's bagel boom is opening his own shop. Felix Zepeda mills his own flour and incorporates his Mexican heritage into bagels like a mole one or another with mango and Tajín. Pilsen, where he grew up, is the perfect spot for a standalone Rosca; even more fitting is that decades ago his father lived in an apartment in the building where Rosca will now be housed. Zepeda is hoping for a fall opening.

Paulo Atelier

The husband and wife behind this European-style cafe with hot beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) and housemade pastries, viennoiseries, and gelato met while working on a cacao plantation in Peru. It's their first expansion beyond Paulo Gelato & Chocolate in West Town, and will arrive at 1205 W. Webster Ave. in Lincoln Park this fall or possibly winter.

A Few Developments on the Horizon

Fat Peach, the line-drawing Bridgeport bakery, just celebrated its second anniversary with an announcment that it will expand to Hyde Park soon. The local jewelry brand Local Eclectic will soon open a cafe with Metric coffee, wine, and pastries in its new downtown flagship store inside a historic mansion at 212 E. Ontario St. Alarmist Brewing, which closed at the beginning of this year, is set to return and reopen its Sauganash taproom (4055 W. Peterson Ave.) under suburban Lemont-based Pollyanna Brewing Company by the end of the year. Another closed taproom will see new life thanks to a suburban brand when Phase Three Brewing Company opens its third location in the riverside Avondale space vacated by Metropolitan Brewing several years ago (3057 N. Rockwell St.). More suburban beer: Evanston's Harley Clarke mansion will launch Harley Clarke Beer Co. with an as-yet unnamed Chicago brewery as a partner. And the team behind Monteverde has announced the concept for their spot at 2048 W. Armitage Ave. in Bucktown: a neighborhood Italian restaurant called Tratorria Lo So.

New Cafes and Other Places to Drink

Cafe Gimme is another all-day cafe, at 2115 N. Damen Ave. in Bucktown. Cafe Jon was opened in an old auto shop at 2002 W. 18th St. in Pilsen by an artist and tequila company founders. Cafe Tabeeb wants people to learn about coffee in its South Loop spot at 720 S. Wells St. Dewey's Cafe is a dietary restriction-friendly spot at 2036 W. Roscoe St. in Roscoe Village. Streetwear designer Joe Freshgoods has opened a cafe called Josephine's inside his Every Now and Then store at 1843 W. Chicago Ave. in West Town. Terra Cafe is a Guatemalan spot in Avondale at 3343 W. Belmont Ave. Turn Back Time has records and coffee at 3834 W. Irving Park Rd. in Irving Park.

Drama Club is the latest bar from the Scofflaw Group, this one focused on agave spirits, at 819 N. California Ave. in Humboldt Park. Home Bar is a cocktail bar from the founders of an alcohol infusion kit company, at 2010 W. Fulton St. The Logan Inn is a renovated historic building with cafe drinks and a bar at 2001 N. California Ave. in Logan Square. Former Chicago Bear Israel continues to spruce up South Loop with another new spot, this one called Martini Lounge at 1520 S. Wabash Ave. 

Some Recent Openings We Missed

Ai Ya Izakaya is a Japanese spot in the former Atelier spot at 4833 N. Western Ave. in Lincoln Square. Turkish restaurant Antepli moved up Kedzie Ave. to 5324 N. Kedzie Ave. in North Park. Lauded Japanese bar Kumiko has opened for weekend brunch with Japanese-style breakfast as Cafe Kumiko (630 W. Lake St. in West Loop). 

Ela Thai Kitchen is a new Thai spot at 1824 W. Addison St. in North Center. Ezankaya Bann Suan is a second location of a Rogers Park Thai spot with a Japanese touch; the new one is at 2453 N. Halsted in Lincoln Park. Gunny's Pub leans into Midwestern comfort with the help of a veteran Chicago chef, at 2642 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lincoln Park. Persian food comes to Edgewater with Topoli, at 5335 N. Sheridan Rd. Central Asian food expands again with Kashgar Uyghur Dining at 4830 N. Pulaski Rd. in Albany Park. 

La Nieta brings Mexican vegan food to a cafe and market at 2140 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park. Lolo y Lola is a pintxos bar from Bonhomme Group at 2580 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lincoln Park. Guatemalan Mazor specializes in masa for tacos and more, at 485 N. Milwaukee Ave. in West Loop. Pampamesa is a Latin American and Ecuadorean breakfast and lunch spot at 2659 W. North Ave. in Humboldt Park. 

Piccadilly Market expands to a second, larger location with coffee, sandwiches, a bar, and a store with specialty snacks and drinks at 444 W. Fullerton Pkwy. in Lincoln Park. Oaxacan food comes to Forest Park in Sendero at 7700 W. Madison St. Victory & Vice is a new sports bar from entrepreneurs behind high-concept bars, at 318 N. Carpenter St. in West Loop. And Yu-Yubu focuses on matcha, sushi pockets inside tofu skin, and poke, inside The Shops at North Bridge on the Magnificent Mile at 520 N. Michigan Ave.