WEST LOOP — As summer heats up, more new restaurants, bars and shops are cropping up in the bustling West Loop.
Here’s a rundown:
St. Clair Supper Club debuts in Roister
As they recover from spitgate, Alinea Group debuted its newest restaurant-within-a-restaurant this week in the basement of Roister, 951 W. Fulton Market St. St. Clair Supper Club will offer four different cuts of prime rib from $48 to $75, and a wide selection of sides including steak fries, asparagus and green beans with dijon and pecans, according to its menu.
Vegetarian diners hoping to try out the new Midwestern-style supper club are out of luck — the Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas-helmed spot offers no vegetarian options. Eater dives in.
Ukrainian Village’s popular gelato shop Black Dog Gelato is finally opening its highly anticipated outpost at 1012 W. Lake St. in the West Loop Friday.
In celebration of its grand opening, the shop will offer a free pint of gelato in a Black Dog cooler bag for the first 50 customers Saturday.
Black Dog Gelato’s signature flavors have made their way to the West Loop location, too — Goat Cheese Cashew Caramel, Malted Vanilla and Chocolate Sorbet are all on the menu. The West Loop shop will also offer speciality flavors that rotate each month.
This month, the shop will offer limited-edition strawberry shortcake, basil coffee and the Lula, which is inspired by Lula Cafe’s popular pasta dish “YiaYia” and include feta, brown butter and cinnamon.
Black Dog Gelato will be open noon-11 p.m. daily.
Molly’s Cupcakes opens soon
Molly’s Cupcakes will open its newest outpost at 179 N. Morgan St. off the Morgan ‘L’ stop in Fulton Market this month.
The Lincoln Park-based shop, which specializes in center-filled cupcakes, replaces Honeygrow that shuttered last year. Eater dives into the new location.
City Hall now open
City Hall, a massive restaurant, bar and event space paying homage to Chicago storied political past, is now open at the corner of Kinzie and Green streets.
Chef Michael Taus, general manager Andrew Ketcham and beverage manager Alec Pignotti teamed up on the 18,000-square-foot spot at 838 W. Kinzie St.
Guests can take “kickback shots” or enjoy the “Flip Flopper” and “White City” cocktails, while eating pigs in a blanket, a grown-up grilled cheese and cheeseburger sliders. Eater journeys to City Hall.
Dirty Root now open
Health-conscious, fast casual spot Dirty Root opened last week at 939 W. Randolph St. on Randolph’s restaurant row.
The quick-service eatery touts locally sourced ingredients, gluten-free meals and customizable bowls.
Co-founders Matt Dobleman and Connor Lacy teamed up with Chef Justin Milius on Dirty Root’s menu. Milius, who previously worked at the Purple Pig and Balena, aims to highlight seasonal produce and proteins sourced locally from places like Genesis Growers in St. Anne and Nichols Farms in Marengo. Read more here.
Fulton Galley now open
Fulton Galley, the second of three food halls coming to the neighborhood, made its West Loop debut late last month.
The 11,000-square-foot food hall at 1115 W. Fulton Market features new restaurants from Ron Aleman with Taco Mucho, Dennis Bernard’s “rotisserie-focused” Fairview, husband-and-wife Gerad Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh’s pasta-focused Italianette, northeastern Thai streetfood Pink Salt by Palita Sriratana and Aaron Steingold’s Steingold’s Deli. Read more about West Loop’s newest food hall here.
Bandit now open
The team behind the West Loop’s Bar Siena and BomboBar unveiled their new bar and restaurant, Bandit, in the old Gideon Sweet spot at 841 W. Randolph St. last month.
The DineAmic Hospitality spot offers a range of comfort food including crispy tater tots and caviar; Nashville hot chicken tenders; mac and cheese with bacon, breadcrumbs and black pepper; and “disco fries,” hand-cut spuds topped with pulled pork, scallions and cheese. Eater has more.
Ella’s Corner debuts dinner
After closing its doors in May 2018 to make way for a fast-casual Indian restaurant, Ella’s Corner returned to the West Loop last fall.
Now, the neighborhood spot at 1258 W. Jackson Blvd. is offering dinner service.
Last week, the restaurant announced it would begin serving dinner from 5-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday nights.
Nellcote, RM Champagne shutter
West Loop restaurants RM Champagne Salon and Nellcote abruptly closed last month. The Element Collective, which owned and operated the venues, announced the closures after selling the business. Crain’s looks into the closings.
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