You ’re on the hunt for a spot for a friend ’s birthday dinner , when a familiar mulct - dining eating house verbal description catches your eye : a sleek , wood - accentuate spot boasting an raised shared - denture menu , anchored by seasonal ingredient cooked over a wood - fired grillwork . A killer house - made cocktail list and knowledgeable yet unpretending faculty . stark , right ?
“ But , ” you question , proverbial finger trembling over the “ confirm reservation ” key , “ will I feel under - dressed-up in denim ? ”
Now the channel that Chipotle carved out is not only the quickest - grow in the foodservice manufacture for five age running , it ’s evolving quicker than smartphones .
Cole Ott/Thrillist
In the leaner , post - recession Clarence Day of 2008 , a budding fast - casual segment prehend on a hard currency - strapped generation , offer them higher - caliber intellectual nourishment and beneficial service of process in sleeker spaces spare from the go off - down plastic furniture and jaundiced lighting of traditional quick - food joints . What emerged was not quite fast - food , not quite full - service – a new restaurant class where patron queue up for gamy - quality , minimally processed food for thought made before their eyes in an open kitchen that reflects the restaurant ’s ownership over its ingredient and process . With sleek decor and warm , engaged servers who often bring out the repast , fast casual wants diner to know that they like as much about ambience and hospitality as food with a taradiddle .
tight forward eight years , and the TV channel that Chipotle carved out is not only the quickest - growing in the foodservice industry for five years running ( according to Chicago - base Technomic ) , but it ’s also evolving quicker than smartphones . Under recording label like “ fast casual 2.0 , ” “ fresh casual ” and “ profligate mulct , ” next - generation eating house construct are assure far higher horizontal surface of food quality , chicness , and hospitality than the outdated 1.0 role model – albeit at slightly high-pitched price points . In the procedure , they ’re blur the line that come apart full service more than ever .
“ There ’s apparently an evolution happen , ” says David Rekhson , principal and father of DineAmic Group ( Siena Tavern , Prime & Provisions ) . “ I opine there were more extremes back in the twenty-four hour period . Before people were doing more sustainable , better intellectual nourishment in a less expensive environs , either you ’d eat at dwelling or go out . Now , there are so many option … for $ 20 or $ 30 , instead of $ 100 , where consumers can still sense like they ’re at an interesting place with good service and a quality food product . ’ ”
Maude’s|Kari Skaflen/Hogsalt
Many of the city ’s buzzier opening of recently all fit this bill of serious food and drink in more denim - friendly lodgings . FromBar Siena , DineAmic Group ’s part mesa - avail Italian eating house , part doughnut takeout window ; to Boeufhaus , the gourmet food shop by Clarence Day , sleek full - serving meat synagogue by nighttime ; to Rick Bayless ’ Baja - vogue newcomerLeña Bravaand espouse brewpubCruz Blanca , with a waiting line - up regulate routine that , in the past times , would ’ve only been earmark for burrito bowls .
This feeling of dress - down finer dining is apparently permeating every aspect of consume in Chicago . Supermarkets have added higher - end servicing component , from sushi counters to wine-colored bars . Food residence pack measure bite , retail , and multi - course ok dining into a single venue ; while arena and airports are snagging lauded restaurant brands likeBig Star , Lillie ’s Q , andTocco . For those who like their juncture meals home cooked , braised short rib and seafood Italian rice are as easy as opening a refrigerated box full of pre - metric ingredients and following a set of skinny blooper - proof cooking instructions .
Jeans and a hoodie: the new suit and tie
Chef / restaurateur Rick Bayless chalk this expert food for thought social movement up in part to the so - calledFood Networkeffect : younger generations invoke on food video understand and appreciate food and its beginning much more than the diners of 30 years ago . And as they age and their disposable income rise , “ they ’re choosing to drop their money on interesting , quality food on a regular basis , ” he says .
But as those same food - loving cent pinchers have retrieve from ‘ 08 and are pass more on better food , why has n’t formalities made a comeback in dining ?
Many of the metropolis ’s buzziest opening of late all fit this nib of serious solid food and booze in more denim - friendly dig .
Bar Siena|DineAmic Group
“ Even though consumers like that amercement - dining calibre , they do n’t like stuffiness anymore , " says Technomic consumer perceptiveness managing director Kelly Weikel . " So what we ’re seeing in fine dining is a more casual , no longer clean - tablecloth approach , even though they still call themselves all right dining . ”
The cost increase of coworking space and technical school - forward startups with more loose work - from - home policies – where Google Hangout is as tightlipped as some get to a confluence elbow room – are undoubtedly contributing to the nonchalant - smart zeitgeist . Brendan Sodikoff , founder of Hogsalt Hospitality – whose celebrated burger at haute dinerAu Chevalspun off a more casual sibling joint , Small Cheval , where patrons grab a buzzer awaiting their made - to - purchase order burger – says it ’s simply a matter of schematic dining evolving with people ’s lifestyles .
“ food for thought follows the way people live , ” Sodikoff says . “ It ’s not necessarily as structure as far as garb , expectations , or what it mean to have a stately Nox out and what that wait like any longer . There are plenty of people with tremendous jobs working from home who go out for a nice dinner in dungaree and a hoodie . It ’s a dissimilar sentence from when that might have been a suit - and - tie individual . ”
Bombobar|DineAmic Group
The rise of the hybrids
One of the more interesting phenomena born of this movement is the emergence of one - size - fits - all dining . Higher - blood line restaurants are incorporating dissipated - perfunctory element during at least a parcel of the solar day , so you may shovel in a theater - cured ham actor and artisanal mustard sandwich on menage - made clams in refined sweatpants ( " they ’re joggers ! " ) at tiffin , then make on a blazer and get back for cocktails and raised diminished plates at dinner fourth dimension .
Some of this has to do with locating . When DineAmic Group opened the full - armed service Bar Siena at Green and Randolph in the West Loop last summer , the group was after a much more nonchalant , neighborhoody vibe than the more formal chophouse Prime & Provisions , which it afford on the northerly bound of the Loop last May , which draws suited walk - ins from the financial territory .
“ There ’s already a slew of o.k. dining and higher price point in the West Loop , but given the presence , human foot dealings , and feel of the corner , we want do something a little more casual , ” Rekhson says .
Boeufhaus|Laurie Peacock/Revealed Studios
Hence the open kitchen with mosaic tile pizza oven , and the bar as the focal point of the multi - level Bar Siena – which is as much intended for first dates and patronage dinners as hungover Sunday brunch . Bar Siena ’s hybrid element is a walk - up window adjacent to the restaurant . Bombobar , which sell hot , fried - to - order Italian fill up donut and gelato , is double as an cozy focus group for the eating place .
“ Bombobar is something we ’d care to do more of , so we wanted to [ test it in ] a more fast - casual surroundings , ” Rekhson suppose . “ Whatever Bombobar turns into , at the very least it ’s get exposure among people who ’d normally be at Bar Siena deplete and drinking . ”
Mary Nguyen Aregoni , co - proprietor with her sister Theresa Nguyen and their mother Mama Suu of Vietnamese buffet - service stain Saigon Sisters ( and recently open loyal - passing Thai marijuana cigarette Bang Chop ) also take a hybrid approach to make the most of its location on a muted stretch of W Lake St.
Leña Brava|GALDONES PHOTOGRAPHY
The signature banh mi , along with pho , stir french fries , and fried rice at lunch give room to more rarified plate like grilled confit octopus with cuttlefish ink rice and lamb tenderloin with huitre sauce and French breakfast radishes for dinner party service .
“ I did n’t like estimate of having banh mi all mean solar day , for case , because I ’m not blend in to maximize my medium check that way , ” Aregoni says . “ I call for to add together a chef and produce a more interesting menu and sit - down service to draw people in . It ’s out of the way , not on a main strip . ”
Casting a wider net
For sovereign restaurant owners step into an increasingly expensive , competitive environs , being everything to everyone is a matter of economic science .
“ For a lot of places opening up , as much as the chef , restaurateur , or front - of - house person aspires to white tablecloth , they plainly ca n’t afford what it really takes to do that justly now , ” pronounce Brian Ahern , co - owner and executive chef of meat - centricBoeufhausin the Ukrainian Village . “ There are so many gifted immature chef venturing out on their own or trying to , being [ both fast casual and fine dining ] come out of necessity as much as want to vary from the norm . ”
Boeufhaus slingshot gourmet sandwiches from its fuckup counter during luncheon before morphing into a low - lighted , full - serve steak marijuana cigarette at dinner party , with entrees head for the hills up to $ 62 to match a serious lean of curated wine from the team at Red & White wine workshop . Though co - owners Ahern and Jamie Finnegan both come from traditional fine - dining background knowledge , they deliberately sought a more “ good-time ” concept that straddle casual and high-pitched last .
“ Part of it is your philosophy , in addition to physical location and demographics , which tell you about what variety of place you ’re suppose to be , ” says Finnegan . “ But now [ opening a eating house ] is such a major investiture of time and money that you also have to really maximize your chance . ”
Ahern repeat this : “ There ’s a practicality to the mentation of , ‘ we ’re here , the lights and stoves are on , and we ’re prepping for dinner , so countenance ’s hire two more people and cook dejeuner while we ’re at it , ” he says .
The slip in ambience does n’t stop over patrons from involve if they can get pastrami on rye during dinner party service even though the butcher heel counter is dark-skinned . The same goes for Aregoni , who often evidence confused Saigon Sisters patron wanting banh mi to come back at luncheon or go to the French Market location . But both restaurants receive the strong following they ’ve developed as a result of customers ’ intimacy with their more casual counterparts .
The new high bar
Sure , contention is tighter than just - washed jeggings , and multitude ’s expectations of food for thought quality are sky high , but it ’s still a damn unspoilt time to open a fine - dining eating place .
Technomic is forecasting a second straight year of solid growth for the category . Last twelvemonth , amercement - dining ticktock out all other full - service categories in unit growth , up 5.1 percentage , and it ’s on track for 3.9 percent unit ontogenesis in 2016 . ( By comparison , fast casual produce 8.2 percent last class , and is up 7.8 percentage in 2016 ) .
And while chef like Bayless peg Chicago diners as inherently more casual and less showy than their coastal big - city counterparts , the dressing - down of okay dining is n’t unparalleled to Chicago or even the Midwest . Everywhere from New York to San Francisco , Philly and St. Louis are pick up the results of the muddying of the fast / okay waters – as famed chef like Jose Garces ( Amadain NYC , Rural Societyin DC and Chicago ) , Top Chef ’s Kevin Sbraga ( The Fat Hamin Philadelphia ) , Michelin - star David Kinch ( Manresa , The Bywaterin the Bay Area ) , James Beard Award - advance Gerard Craft ( Taste , Pastariaand the freshly launched Sardella in St. Louis ) put their brands behind more casual concepts .
Meanwhile , the fine - dining 2.0s keep coming to the Windy City . Stephanie Izard ( Girl & the Goat , Little Goat Diner ) project to add a carryout window toDuck Duck Goat , her full - serving spot with creative Chinese transportation . World - form chef Grant Achatz is getting a taste of casual all right withRoister , a merry West Loop smirch with an open kitchen and earnestly dear fried chicken . The extroverted two - story , dual - concept Smyth & the Loyalist brings two full - avail eating place personalities under one roof – a add up - as - you - are neighborhood tap house downstairs ; and an intimate , tasting menu - only restaurant on a higher floor that the owners liken to what fine - dining would be like in their home .
Does that mean the next logical iteration of mulct - dining in Chicago eating in chef ’ homes ? ( Less overhead ! ) Or perhaps an ever - stray dinner party ? Will degraded - casual rap back by bringing humanistic caviar and foie gras to counter - service ?
As Sodikoff points out , the big remaining differentiator between fine and casual dining will always be the degree of service .
“ Today , if you afford a restaurant and serve marvelous Graeco-Roman cocktail , who cares ? Or farm to tabular array sum , plot and produce , who cares ? ” he says . “ Everyone does that . The difference now between occasional and more formal is your stage of generosity with people . "
And as long as eating house keep on up the excited ante on dining out , we ’ll keep showing up in our Canadian black tie to live it , because going out to eat is far more than a repast away from home base .
“ If I give you a piece of chocolate out in the garage and tell you it ’s the best in world , you might not trust me , " says Sodikoff . " But if I give you that same piece of chocolate in a sixteenth century palatial surroundings under a $ 4,000 pendant , you ’ll say it was the best chocolate in the reality . And that ’s real . You palpate differently about it because there ’s more to dining than what you put in your mouth . It ’s the experience around you and get it a special affair . ”Sign up herefor our daily Chicago email and be the first to get all the food / boozing / fun in town .
