Here's a look at the best new Chicago restaurants, hotels, party rooms, corporate event venues, and private rooms to open this spring. These new and renovated Chicago venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, meetings, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Lincoln Park restaurant Boka underwent a full renovation and named a new executive chef, Lee Wolen, in February. Specializing in contemporary American fare, the menu has offerings such as salt cod ravioli and rabbit loin with sausage. New design features include a wall covered in escutcheon plates, Italian floor tiling, and a living plant wall. The venue seats 22 in the front dining room and holds 32 on an enclosed terrace. The 3,500-square-foot restaurant is available for buyout.
The Godfrey Hotel Chicago came to River North in February. The property has 221 rooms (all with free Wi-Fi), a fitness center, meeting rooms that hold as many as 100, and a small spa. On the fourth floor, IO Urban Roofscape offers 10,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor event space that holds 750 for receptions. Menu items include smoked-salmon flat breads and Waygu steak sliders.
Fulton Market Kitchen opened in the West Loop in March. Showcasing different styles of art, the restaurant rotates its artwork selection a few times a year. Its menu offers contemporary fare such as grass-fed Angus burgers with fried kale and rye-crusted salmon with braised red cabbage. The restaurant has several areas that can host private gatherings. The private dining room, called the Private Gallery, seats 12 or holds 25 for receptions. The Salon space seats 20. The Gallery Lounge seats 80 or holds 150 for receptions, while the smaller West Gallery Lounge seats 20 or holds 40 for receptions. The entire venue can be rented out and seats 200 or holds 300 for receptions.
Kinmont, a new restaurant from Element Collective, opened in January. In the former Zealous space in River North, the 6,200-square-foot venue holds 300 for private events. It is the first entirely sustainable seafood restaurant in Chicago. Overseen by chef Duncan Biddulph, the menu includes sustainably fished items from both coasts. Private dining spaces include the Great Room, which seats 70 or holds 85 for receptions. The Ampersand seats 30 or holds 40 for receptions. Audiovisual amenities include a 60-inch LCD TV that can connect to laptops or iPods.
Sophie's opened in the new men's department of Saks Fifth Avenue in February. Serving high-end American fare, the seventh-floor restaurant dishes out items such as jumbo-lump crab cakes, Cobb salads, and rhubarb-basil gimlets. A private dining room seats 14 or holds 20 for receptions, and the entire space seats 80 or holds 100 for receptions.
Billed as an "old-world girls' club," Glowout is a new West Loop salon. Open since mid-April, the 1,800-square-foot venue has two treatment rooms, six beauty stations, a beverage bar, a perfume bar, and iPads that let guests browse current magazines. Services include blow-outs, airbrush tanning, and manicures and pedicures, and the venue can be rented out for smaller groups. There is a seating area for 10, and staffers can provide four blow-outs, two nail services, and four spray tans per hour.
Grand Tour opened in Ravenswood in February. With an international theme, the venue seats 160 inside and 80 outside. It offers eclectic menu items such as British meat pies and Chinese pig's head. Decked with reclaimed barn wood, bricks, and a mural of a world map, the venue has a private dining room that seats 60. There's also a main stage for live entertainment.
SideDoor opened in February in the same River North building that houses Lawry's. The gastropub specializes in craft beers, specialty cocktails, and dishes such as beef sandwiches and cheese boards. The 750-square-foot private dining space the McCormick Room seats 50 at four-top tables and booths.
Packing House opened on Randolph Street—in the former Market space—in mid-April. Private events at the restaurant can take place in a second-floor lounge area known as My House, which has a residential look. The space seats 40 or holds 150 for receptions. A rooftop patio is available for private events and offers 360-degree views of the city. The menu focuses on Mediterranean-inspired American fare and has items such as hand-tossed pizzas and cheese plates.
