The Best Restaurant Openings in Chicago This Month

While technically opening in late March, Kitty’s has already created quite the buzz. It’s sophisticated. It’s sexy. It’s subterranean. And it’s from the team behind Gus’ Sip & Dip and Three Dots and a Dash. The charm hits as soon as you enter the intimate 60-seat club below Crying Tiger in River North. Emerald-green fabric drapes across the ceiling, alongside glimmering glass blocks and plush velvet seating. But it’s the bartender-servers, including beverage director Kevin Beary and bar managers Scott Kitsmiller and Tyler Maclellan, dressed in black tie, that really make the experience. They’ve crafted a cocktail list that builds on the classics. The From the Cold Room section features drinks like a Vesper, Martinez, and Rosita, held in the bar’s negative 16-degree walk-in cooler, while made-to-order cocktails in the From the Bar section include a mezcal Margarita with celery and vermouth blanc and a Mai Tai with two kinds of rum and yellow Chartreuse. The show-stopping bar cart offers two drinks: Kitty’s Gin Martini and the $55 Japanese whisky Old Fashioned. And before you ask, yes, it’s worth it. Don’t skip the decadent bites, including chilled shellfish, dim sum nibbles like vegetable gyoza, and the must-have Chips & Dip, a creamy French onion dip topped with 10 grams of Golden Kaluga caviar and served with housemade waffle chips.

One of Chicago’s best dumpling houses has opened a sister spot. Once a destination for those outside of Chinatown, QXY Dumplings has opened in Wicker Park near the corner of Division and Damen. The bright, modern, minimalist space has taken over the former Picante Taqueria and offers steamed, pan-fried, and boiled soup dumplings, all handmade behind a large window into the kitchen, filled with wagyu and onion, pork and cabbage, lamb and coriander, chicken and mushroom, vegetables, and other specialty ingredients. You can also find barbecue kabobs and dishes like wood ear mushroom salad and spicy pig ears with chili oil. While the original location is BYOB and walk-in only, this new outpost takes reservations and has a liquor license.

QXY Dumplings wasn’t the only expansion. Schneider Deli, which opened its first location a couple of years ago in a small space on the edge of the Ohio House motel parking lot in River North, has expanded with a second, much larger spot in Lincoln Park. As part of a broader Jewish deli revival in Chicago, alongside the recently opened Zeitlin’s Deli, Schneider Deli, with its welcoming red facade and walls filled with family photos, is “blending heritage recipes with a modern mensch spirit.” That means hot, fresh bagels with schmear or egg and cheese, house-cured lox, corned beef hash, hot pastrami or corned beef, matzo ball soup, kugel, latkes, babka, and more.

As the two-MICHELIN-starred Oriole celebrates its 10th anniversary, chef-owner Noah Sandoval could be forgiven for taking a victory lap. Instead, he teamed up with chef de cuisine Larry Feldmeier to open All Well, a space offering more approachable, though still refined, food to a wider audience. The 50-seat dining room features a $120 five-course prix fixe menu with dishes like foie waffles, marinated bluefin tuna with shiso and Sungold tomato, and maitake en croûte. The more casual 30-seat bar offers an à la carte menu with items including chilled clams in ham broth, raclette potatoes, and a short rib sandwich with horseradish aioli.

What started as an underground supper club with a cult following is now a Euro-style all-day café in Logan Square. The menu at this third space features rotating specials like an egg and pork breakfast sandwich with umeboshi aioli, savory yogurt with granola, squid ink, and pecan, and a daily congee. Staples include cold noodles with XO sauce and a papaya salad with tahini, sumac, and peanut. Coffee drinks run all day, while cocktails and wine, including a pinot noir rosé from local Middle Brow, take over in the afternoon and evening alongside aperitivi and dinner.

It’s all an illusion, or is it? Businessman and magic aficionado Glen Tullman bought the 36,000-square-foot, five-story, 37-room McCormick Mansion in River North, formerly home to Lawry’s The Prime Rib, and invested $50 million into transforming it. The result is an immersive experience with multiple performance spaces, from intimate drawing rooms to grand salons, along with culinary and bar offerings from Levy Restaurants. Details remain intentionally scarce, as guests are not allowed to take photos or video, in keeping with the idea that “they want to keep the magic inside.” Expect world-class magicians from around the globe to perform as you sip cocktails and dine on black truffle Parker House rolls, relish plates, prime beef carpaccio, and Amish chicken Vesuvio in what is being described as one of the most ambitious magic-driven dining destinations in the country.