The Best Restaurant Openings in Chicago - July 2026

Chef Zubair Mohajir is on a creative tear. Following the success of Mirra, his acclaimed Mexican-Indian restaurant with chef-partner Rishi Kumar (the team also opened Mariela in the Staypineapple Hotel in May), Mohajir partnered with longtime chef de cuisine Jacob Dela Cruz on his most personal project yet. Muhājir opened July 1, followed by its sibling cocktail lounge, Bobo, on July 8. Named for the Arabic and Urdu word for migrant or immigrant, Muhājir traces culinary connections from India through the Middle East, North Africa, Andalusia, and beyond. Live-fire cooking and regional spices shape dishes such as thaali with assorted dips and wood-fired focaccia, grilled fish with tea-infused bouillabaisse, beef cheek nihari with black garlic naan, and a tableside duck preparation inspired by a 10th-century North African recipe. Hidden behind the restaurant, Bobo serves cocktails incorporating ingredients such as calamansi, pandan, coconut, and Filipino rum alongside street-food-inspired bites and complimentary late-night lumpia.

After opening Beaumont’s downstairs in late May, the team followed on July 1 with The Bull Moose, an intimate, dimly lit steakhouse on the second floor. Tufted booths, fireplaces, dark wood, and an in-house dry-aging and butchering program give Lincoln Park a neighborhood alternative to the steakhouses of River North and the West Loop. The dry-aged steaks come in large formats intended for two, including a 23-ounce bone-in New York strip, 26-ounce bone-in ribeye, and 32-ounce porterhouse. The rest of the menu delivers the expected steakhouse comforts: shrimp cocktail, steak tartare, oysters on the half shell, wedge salad, Parker House rolls, a griddled cheeseburger, and creamy Robuchon potatoes. The global wine list features a well-curated selection of bottles from smaller producers.

Artist Theaster Gates continues to transform Chicago’s South Side, this time through the culinary arts. Gates partnered with entrepreneur and arts patron Heiji Choy Black to open Han Cha, a Korean-inspired tea salon, and Yunomi, a cocktail bar and lounge, inside the Stony Island Arts Bank in South Shore. Han Cha combines East Asian tea traditions with the format of English high tea through a reservation-only, three-course experience lasting two hours. Tea and bites such as English cheddar with Korean quick pickles, Japanese egg salad sandwiches, and honeydew-flavored mochi-coconut canelés are served on ceramics handmade by Gates’ Dorchester Industries studio. Yunomi welcomes walk-ins for artist-designed cocktails, natural wine, local beer, and spirits, including selections from Judson & Moore, Letherbee, and Half Acre.

The Loop got a little sweeter when Fulton Market bakery and coffee shop Good Ambler opened its second location at 2 N. Riverside Plaza in late June. The expansion brings sweet and savory creations from award-winning executive pastry chef Meg Galus (Boka, NoMI), including ham and cheese croissants, morning buns, quiche Lorraine, and banana bread. At lunch, the menu expands to grain bowls, salads, and sandwiches such as veggie hummus wraps and turkey clubs. Good Ambler also offers full coffee and tea service alongside Galus’ decorative bonbons.

Gilda opened July 23 in West Town with roughly 40 seats and considerable buzz. Chefs and longtime friends Rafael Esparza (Evette’s, FAFO) and Jeremy Leven (mfk., Mama Delia) partnered with chef Anthony Baier (FAFO, Kimski) and beverage director Inés de Haro, turning to a community-backed investment program after traditional financing fell through. The 1,600-square-foot tavern takes its name from both the classic Basque pintxo of pickled pepper, anchovy, and manzanilla olive and the 1946 Rita Hayworth film Gilda. Northern Spanish traditions meet Midwestern ingredients across pintxos and dishes including tortilla española, cod croquettes, grilled sardines in beurre blanc, jamón ibérico, saffron spaghetti alla chitarra with shrimp, and lamb meatballs with romesco. Cocktails and a wine list focused largely on Spain complete the menu.

When DineAmic Hospitality opened Prime & Provisions near Wacker Drive and LaSalle Street in 2015, the splashy steakhouse became a fixture in the Loop. A kitchen fire closed the 350-seat restaurant just after Thanksgiving last year, but following an extensive reconstruction, it reopened July 18, more than seven months later. The refreshed dining room features gleaming chandeliers, olive-green velvet-backed booths, curved ceilings, and an atmosphere channeling old Hollywood. Through a new window into the dry-aging room, guests can glimpse USDA Prime Black Angus beef alongside selections of A5 Japanese Wagyu. Chilled seafood towers, lobster croquettes, Kaluga caviar potato skins, tuna tartare, lump blue crab cake, and “ducks in a blanket” made with duck sausage and foie gras add to the renewed luxury. Don’t let the new tableside sundae cart roll by without building your own sweet finale.

Noema quietly opened in May on an equally quiet stretch of Fullerton Avenue, aiming to become a destination while retaining the feel of a neighborhood restaurant. Styled as a Greek gastrobar and led by chef Konstantinos Kvasilava (New York’s Kyma), the restaurant offers modern interpretations of classic Greek flavors. Start with spreads such as taramasalata and mezze including braised cabbage dolmades stuffed with ground beef and aromatic spices, crispy feta with orange blossom honey, and wood-fired octopus atop celeriac purée. Larger plates include cauliflower steak with baba ganoush, shellfish linguine, pulled lamb steak, and moussaka layered with eggplant, beef, and béchamel. Mediterranean wines and cocktails round out the beverage program.