It would have been too perfect for Japonais to be located in Montgomery Ward’s old Near North corporate headquarters, now converted into condos. That elegant skyscraper was designed circa 1970 by Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki (who also authored the World Trade Center in New York). Instead, the modern, 400-seat Japanese restaurant opened in September across the street, on the first floor of Ward’s old catalog center. But in those industrial innards, New York-based designer Jeffrey Beers (a Japonais partner) found a raw, cool void, using the massive structural columns to organize the vast space into two main dining rooms and then into seating groups. At center stage is one wayward fiberglass cherry blossom tree. It’s a dramatic space that is cool and warm, heady and sexy–just like the green-tea semifreddo with warm chestnut-filled beignets for dessert. Japonais, 600 W. Chicago Ave.
