Restaurant Review: Chicago Restaurant Week is Back, January 20-February 5
Chicago Restaurant Week turns Sweet Sixteen in 2023. This year, the annual event, featuring restaurants from Rogers Park to the South Side, will run from Friday, January 20 to Sunday, February 5, bringing together more than 300 of the city’s top restaurants, representing, as Choose Chicago describes it, “a near-endless array of cuisines.” They also mention that there are 13 new Chicago restaurants to check out this year!
One of the great parts of Restaurant Week are the prices: multi-course meals are $25 for brunch or lunch, and $42 and/or $59 for dinner (excluding beverages, tax, and gratuity), at some of Chicago ‘s finest restaurants including:
For example, Lakeview’s Ceres Table, 3124 N. Broadway, features regional, Italian-inspired seasonal plates that pay homage to traditional Italian cuisine, while forging meaningful connections with Midwestern farmers with seasonal, local, and sustainable ingredients.
Or, in Streeterville, explore the world of tasty plant-based creations at Althea, located in Saks Fifth Ave, 700 N. Michigan Avenue, under the direction of renowned celebrity chef and plant-based pioneer, Matthew Kenney, Althea offers organic, globally-inspired and thoughtfully-sourced ingredients.
New this year is the Gold Coast’s Alpana, 831 N. State Street, the creation of restauranteur/tv show host/master sommelier Alpana Singh. Her four-course bistro menu for Restaurant Week includes such a wine-inspired cuisine as your choice of plum salad, feta, green beans, and crushed marcona almonds, or a crispy polenta & mushrooms, black truffle parmesan fonduta.
Another favorite is Wicker Park’s Café Robey, 1600 N. Milwaukee Avenue, helmed by Chef Michael Elliott. They’re planning a Modern American fare menu– all against the backdrop of Wicker Park and Bucktown’s bustling six-corners intersection at Milwaukee and North Avenues.
Come to Little Italy/University Village for French cuisine? Oui! Chez Joel Bistro Francais,1119 W. Taylor Street, has Chef Joël Kazouini, who offers his “straightforward, expertly prepared” Southern French cuisine for $42 during Restaurant Week.
Greek is the word at Avli,whose locations in Lincoln Park, Lakeshore East, etc., work in the space of “tradition meets new contemporary elegance and guests experience our core philosophies of Philoxenia (hospitality), Kefi (joy), and Meraki (passion).”
With 300 restaurants to choose from, there will be something for everyone in the family to sample, in every part of the city!
Reservations are highly encouraged, and you can reserve now for all participating restaurants. For reservations, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
