Stephanie Izard's loud, wood-fired West Loop flagship of shared, adventurous small plates.
🛡️ Independent — no pay-to-rank🔎 Graded for who you are✓ Verified 2026-06-17How we grade →
The verdict
Worth the table for…
Great for
Travellers on a budget
If you've only got a day
Couples
Solo travellers
Foodies
Depends
Families with kids
Adventurers
Night owls
Local-life seekers
Not for
—
Worth it for travellers on a budget, if you've only got a day and couples.
What to order
The plates that decide it
The sauteed green beans — cashews and fish-sauce vinaigrette — the dish even regulars order every visit
Goat empanadas and the wood-oven-roasted pig face — the kitchen's most-talked-about plates; the menu is seasonal, so they rotate
Over-ordering up front — plates are rich and arrive fast — pace yourself or you'll over-order
Why we say this
Insider secrets & local vibes
Izard's Top Chef pedigree shows in the wood-grilled, flavor-forward small plates — the sauteed green beans with cashews and fish-sauce vinaigrette, the goat empanadas, and the wood-oven-roasted pig face are the plates people still fight for tables years on.
Not independently verified — estimated
It's been booked solid since it opened and the dining room is genuinely deafening at peak — reserve well ahead and don't expect intimacy.
Not independently verified — estimated
What it feels like
Reading the room, traveller by traveller
With friends
Ideal for a group that wants to graze and share — order broadly and split everything.
Couples
Fun and lively, but the noise makes it a date for energy, not romance.
Good to know
Before you go
Cost
$$$ — shared plates add up quickly
Time
1.5–2 hours
Last verified
2026-06-17
Best time
Early or late seatings are easier to land
Booking
Reserve well in advance via the website
Accessibility
Vegetarian options exist but the menu leans meat-forward
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Stephanie Izard won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes (2013) for her work here; she was the first woman to win Bravo's Top Chef en.wikipedia.org ↗
Opened in the West Loop in 2010 with Boka Restaurant Group partners Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz; ~130 seats, nose-to-tail menu bokagrp.com ↗
🛡️ Independent — no pay-to-rank🔎 Graded for who you are✓ Verified 2026-06-17How we grade →