Restaurants Get a Facelift
Like starlets in Hollywood, restaurants love to reinvent themselves with a little nip and tuck now and again. From polished decor to updated menus, new names, and new concepts entirely, Chicago restaurants are all about the reinvention. The latest crop of restaurant remodels include Paris Club 2.0, a new era for BOKA, and a feverishly anticipated riverside spot from Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia.
Who needs plane fare to France when there’s a tasty dose of Paris right in River North? And a dexterous tour guide who goes by the name of Doug Psaltis. When Paris Club opened a few years ago, it upped the ante on casual French fare in Chicago, injecting a bit of fun and flare into a cuisine often pigeonholed as haughty, expensive, and butter-saturated. The latter may still be true at slightly renamed Paris Club Bistro & Bar, the latest iteration of the boisterous French concept, but Psaltis and co. continue to alleviate French cuisine of its stodgy stereotypes. The atmosphere is slick and lively, accented by a zinc bar, tile foyer, chandeliers, and hand-carved walls, all designed to evoke a sense of devil-may-care vacationing in Paris. A veteran of masterful French kitchens, Psaltis is well-versed in the world of Dover sole meuniere, French onion soup, and trout amandine, but he also gets crafty with more modern creations, such as lobster scrambled eggs with black truffles and various renditions of steak frites with optional bone marrow bordelaise. It’s all part of the latest era of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises.
BOKA, the restaurant that started it all for powerhouse BOKA Restaurant Group, once again finds itself at the forefront of dining in Chicago. Not one to take a back seat to its hip younger siblings like Girl & the Goat, GT Fish & Oyster, and Balena, BOKA recently underwent a facelift that included design changes and menu overhaul under the tutelage of new executive chef Lee Wolen, nee of The Lobby. Contemporary American cuisine is still the bill of fare, but with more attention to classic flavor combinations and preparations. Think slow-cooked lemon sole with fennel, shellfish, and saffron; and ricotta gnudi with squash, mushrooms, and sage. There’s a separate bar menu available for patrons on the hunt for a more casual, leisurely meal, ideally with a drink or two from head bartender Tim Stanczykiewicz. As for the space, it has the look and feel of an entirely new BOKA. A wall emblazoned with plates greets guests as they enter, followed by dark, cozy wood touches throughout the dining rooms with black leather banquettes, Italian floor tiles, and a living wall lush with greenery.
Still to come is an entirely new era for Fulton’s on the River, a longtime staple of River North’s water-adjacent dining scene. The restaurant is currently closed for extensive renovations, newly under the ownership of acclaimed Italian chef Tony Mantuano. Named River Roast, the restaurant derives inspiration from Mantuano’s dining experiences in London, though he claims it will skew more American, with roasted items like chicken, fish, and beef. Unlike his other spots Spiaggia and Terzo Piano, this new venture is Mantuano’s first major foray into non-Italian cuisine, aided by Chef John Hogan. Expect a totally new motif when River Roast emerges in early summer.
Paris Club Bistro and Bar
59 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago
(312) 595-0800
Website
BOKA
1729 N. Halsted Street, Chicago
(312) 337-6070
Website
River Roast
315 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago
(312) 822-0100
Website
