Chicago Restaurant Week: 25 New Restaurants to Try

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January gets a lot of hate, but there’s still a lot to recommend it. The bustle of the holidays is past, things have slipped back into a normal routine, and enterprising businesses have cooked up some things to get you out of the house, like Chicago Restaurant Week. Now in its seventeenth year, it includes over 400 restaurants across the Chicago area offering special menus from January 19 through February 4 (yes, that is longer than a week – the name is a misnomer). Participating restaurants offer special multi-course menus priced at $25 for lunch or brunch and $42 or $59 for dinner. You can find all those menus at the Chicago Restaurant Week website.

There’s a huge list to choose from, but we’ve narrowed it down to restaurants that opened in 2023, as it’s a good opportunity to try somewhere new. (We apologize if we missed any restaurants that opened last year.)

Argot

$25 brunch and $59 dinner

This French bistro is inside the Lincoln Park outpost of the small wine chain Verve, so it obviously serves dishes fit to be enjoyed with wine. It opened at the end of 2023.

Asador Bastian

$59 dinner

Named to a number of best new restaurant lists last year (including Esquire’s national one), River North’s Asador Bastian is a steakhouse that takes a different approach, focusing on older dairy cows and serving food inspired by Spain’s Basque region. It is owned by the people behind Andros Taverna.

Atta girl

$42 dinner

A partnership between the team behind Table, Donkey and Stick and the chef of the late Cafe Marie-Jeanne (who has since reportedly left atta girl), this Logan Square spot offers favorites from Marie-Jeanne, like the burger, alongside oysters, charcuterie, and eggplant parm.

Costera Cocina Tulum

$25 lunch, $25 brunch, and $59 dinner

The team behind Hampton Social aimed to recreate the feeling of the Mexican beach town Tulum with this clubby restaurant in Fulton Market that opened in the fall.

Daisies

$59 dinner

Technically, Daisies isn’t new – but it did move into a new, larger space in Logan Square last year and revamp into not just an Italian restaurant focusing on Midwestern produce but also an all-day cafe with an inventive pastry program. Enough publications considered it new to put it on their best new restaurant lists.

Dawn

$25 brunch and $59 dinner

This Southern restaurant took over the space of the stalwart Piccolo Mondo in Hyde Park and is from the restaurateur behind the Caribbean-inspired 14 Parish.

DeNucci’s

$59 dinner

This Lincoln Park Italian restaurant from Ballyhoo Hospitality only opened a few months ago and has been nominated for Best Hospitality in the Jean Banchet Awards.

Farm Bar Ravenswood

$59 dinner

Farm Bar has been around in Lakeview for years (there used to be one in River North, too), but this iteration of the local produce-focused restaurant just opened in Ravenswood, in a spot formerly occupied by Fountainhead and then Land and Lake.

Il Milanese

$42 dinner

This Italian restaurant from industry veterans in Lincoln Square took over the space of Parkside and seems to have drawn in the neighborhood.

Itoko

$25 brunch and $42 dinner

A Japanese outpost of the Boka Restaurant Group from Gene Kato of Momotaro, Itoko is one of three restaurants Boka opened last year in the historic Southport Lanes building not too far from Wrigley Field.

Kama

$42 dinner

While Kama Bistro, the original restaurant from chef Vikram Singh in west suburban La Grange, has been around for years, his Wicker Park location serving “Indian-inspired Americana” only opened last fall.

Kindling

$59 dinner

This wood fire-focused restaurant is located in a Chicago icon, the Willis (Sears) Tower, but it’s run by a chef originally from Cleveland, the James Beard-winning Jonathon Sawyer.

Kirei

$42 dinner

Located in the Gold Coast, this new Japanese-leaning Asian spot offers everything from sushi to dumplings to steak.

La Victoria Barra & Cocina Mexicana

$25 brunch and $42 dinner

Numerous industry veterans came together to open this modern Mexican spot in Logan Square, including alumni of Rick Bayless’ restaurants, Hampton Social, Lawry’s, and more.

Lost Reef Lounge

$25 brunch and $42 dinner

This cocktail lounge in Lakeview lets you enjoy oysters, ceviche, and lobster rolls, among other things, amongst huge aquariums.

Marina’s Bistro and Rum Bar

$59 dinner

A new Puerto Rican restaurant in Uptown spotlighting rums started as a ghost kitchen serving family recipes.

Miru

$59 dinner

Another new restaurant in an iconic tower (like Kindling), Miru is a Japanese restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You located in the remarkable St. Regis building by architect Jeanne Gang.

Monarch and Lion

$25 lunch, $25 brunch, and $42 dinner

This new Streeterville restaurant from the owners of Rooh and Bar Goa combines two British culinary stalwarts: the pub and the Indian takeaway.

Nisos Prime and Prime Bar

$59 dinner (Nisos Prime) $42 dinner (Prime Bar)

Steakhouses have been popular recently; after the Mediterranean restaurant Nisos closed after less than a year in business in Fulton Market, it has now revamped to become a Mediterranean-inspired steakhouse. Prime Bar is the more casual version.

The Oakville Grill & Cellar

$25 brunch, $25 lunch, and $59 dinner

Another new Lettuce Entertain You spot (this one in Fulton Market), The Oakville brings some sunshine to Chicago with a menu inspired by California cuisine and wine.

Olio e Più

$25 lunch and $42 dinner

This is the first of three restaurants planned for River North by a New York-based hospitality group, and is a version of their Greenwich Village trattoria of the same name. 

Publican Quality Meats

$59 dinner

The butcher and sandwich shop of the One Off hospitality group has been in Fulton Market for a long time, but this year it started offering charcuterie and other bites in the evening as PM at PQM. The restaurant week menu dives into heartier fare, like a beef shank, but reflects a new chapter for the shop.

Sifr

$59 dinner

The team behind this Middle Eastern restaurant in River North is behind one of the most well-received restaurants of 2022, the Michelin-starred Indienne.

Terra e Mare

$25 lunch and $42 dinner

An owner of Irene’s Finer Diner in North Center opened this Italian restaurant in the South Loop just a few months ago.

Yokocho

$59 dinner

This restaurant inspired by the alley bars of Japan originally opened in 2018 in Wicker Park, received plaudits, then suddenly closed. Now it’s back, years later, in Fulton Market with a menu focused on hand rolls, omakase, and small bites.