John and Karen Urie Shields at Smyth

Six Chefs, One Night, and 10 Years of Smyth

7 Minute read

12 Aug 2026

Ari Bendersky

Writer

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John and Karen Urie Shields mark a decade in Chicago with close friends, revived signatures, and an ambitious anniversary menu.

After being named the best restaurant in North America and retaining the third Michelin star it earned in 2023, how does Smyth celebrate its 10th anniversary? By throwing a fabulous dinner, of course.

On August 22, chefs, owners, and spouses John Shields and Karen Urie Shields will welcome five guest chefs to their restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop. This is more than a gathering of culinary talent: Each chef has played a role in John Shields’ life and remains a close friend.

“I wanted this 10 years to be about people I wanted to hang out with to do this dinner,” Shields said. “It’s really a celebration for friends and family. It’s a full-circle moment.”

John and Karen Urie Shields met while working at Charlie Trotter’s, and John later became a sous chef at Alinea. In 2008, they moved to rural Chilhowie, Virginia, to lead the kitchen at Town House, where their cooking attracted national attention. After four years in Virginia, the couple returned to Chicago and, in August 2016, opened Smyth and its downstairs bar, The Loyalist. Smyth earned its first Michelin star two months later and its second in 2017.

Over the past decade, Smyth has become known for inventive cooking grounded in carefully sourced ingredients from farmers, fishermen, and other purveyors, as well as its in-house growing and fermentation programs. For the anniversary dinner, Shields will revisit several dishes from Smyth’s early years, including a caviar-topped chawanmushi infused with crab and foie gras and a savory-sweet licorice-cured egg yolk.

Joining Shields in the kitchen will be Christopher Kostow, a Chicago native and co-owner of The Charter Oak in Napa Valley who previously led the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood before it was destroyed in the 2020 Glass Fire; Kyle Connaughton, chef-owner of three-Michelin-starred SingleThread in Healdsburg, California; Johnny Spero, who worked with Shields at Town House and is now executive chef of Passage at The Inn at Langley on Washington’s Whidbey Island; Trevor Moran of Nashville’s Michelin-starred Locust; and Toronto-based Ron McKinlay, chef-owner of RWMcKinlay Culinary and formerly executive chef at Canoe.

For the roughly three-hour dinner, priced at $1,000 per person before beverages, service charge, tax, and gratuity, each chef plans to create two or three courses. Shields expects the final menu to include 16 to 19 servings once smaller bites are included.

“It could be a snack or canapé or full dish,” he said. “Bites could be mixed in between, but we’re calling them servings.”

The menu will emphasize seasonal seafood and vegetables, with dishes including cured, smoked, and shaved black cod; tenderized Taylor Shellfish geoduck shaved thin and served with preserved citrus and sake lees; duck liver pâté with Gravenstein apple; and lamb sweetbread tempura.

Although Urie Shields generally leads Smyth’s pastry program, Spero and Moran will handle dessert for the anniversary dinner. Moran is bringing his Japanese kakigori machine from Nashville for an Earl Grey shaved ice with mochi and raspberry.

Connaughton and Shields became friends in 2016, when Connaughton was preparing to open SingleThread and Shields was opening Smyth. Connaughton will travel to Chicago from Sydney after completing a four-week SingleThread residency at Bathers’ Pavilion on Balmoral Beach.

“We could not be more happy for John and Karen and the incredible success of Smyth these past 10 years,” Connaughton said from Australia. “To see how far they’ve come, the incredible impact they have had realizing their vision has been just astounding to watch and wholly unsurprising for those of us who have always known what incredible talent they have.”

Looking back on Smyth’s first decade, Shields credits Chicago with embracing the restaurant.

“We’ve done well and have been very fortunate,” he said. “It’s been 10 years of a really big push. The first five years went so slowly and felt like they lasted forever. The last five feel like I blinked and here we are. It’s been an amazing, amazing run. I love this city. I’m blessed to be here.”