Geno Bahena is back in town. The chef who gave us Ixcapuzalco and Chilpancingo in the past has opened another regional Mexican restaurant in Tepatulco (2558 N. Halsted St.). Apart from a couple of market-price dishes (such as the garlic-marinated, pan-roasted lobster with chipotle cream), all the main courses are $17 or less. And there’s a five-course chef’s tasting priced at $40. 773-472-7419.
Shockingly, the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room (160 E. Pearson St.) is no more. One of the most lavish dining rooms in the city is being converted into banquet space, while executive chef Mark Payne focuses his efforts on The Cafe, which is upscaling in a big way, and The Greenhouse, which will be the new home of the hotel’s splendid Sunday brunch. No doubt this makes financial sense for the hotel, which is part of the Four Seasons group and thus can ferry guests to the top-notch Seasons restaurant nearby. But the notion of a top-tier luxury hotel eliminating its fine-dining room is more than a little unsettling.
Sal y Carvao (739 N. Clark St.) has closed, the first of the city’s Brazilian-style churrascaria to call it quits. The restaurant is reconcepting, and hopes to reopen in early September as Zed 451. Like its predecessor, Zed will be a set-price operation in which food will be served tableside by the chefs who prepared it. But the restaurant will be far less Brazilian-focused than before.
Also gone is Narra, the European-style steakhouse in the Hotel Orrington (1710 Orrington Ave., Evanston). But the hotel is fielding inquiries from several restaurateurs, and the hope is that the space will be redone and a new restaurant will be in place by May.
Chef/owner Michael Carlson definitely does things his way; his celebrated year-old restaurant, Schwa (1466 N. Ashland Ave.), offers only three- and five-course tasting menus (priced at $55 and $95), still offers no wine service and won’t answer the phone once dinner service begins. And now, for the first three months of the year, Schwa will be closed on Saturday nights. Is this professional suicide? “It’s a family thing,” says Carlson, who will invest the off evening in quality time with his girlfriend and their 3-month-old daughter. 773-252-1466.
Le Lan (749 N. Clark St.) has a new chef–Bill Kim, who has logged time at Charlie Trotter’s and Susanna Foo’s, replaces Andy Motto, who left in December. Kim is creating such new dishes as butterfish wrapped in banana leaf with red Thai curry, and a tea-smoked duck with star anise-kumquat reduction. 312-280-9100.
Ristorante we (W Hotel–City Center, 172 W. Adams St.), which recently appointed a new exec chef in Michael Dean Hazen, continues its series of monthly wine dinners at 8 p.m. Saturday. The dinners are held the second Saturday of each month; this month’s dinner features a five-course menu of Tuscan-inspired dishes, matched to Oriel wines. Cost is $75. 312-917-5608.
Chimney Rock Vineyards will be featured in a winemaker’s dinner at 6 p.m. Wednesday at one sixtyblue (1400 W. Randolph St.). Cost is $85. 312-850-0303.
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pvettel@tribune.com
