Boka

Michelin starred Boka Restaurant has been a fixture in Chicago dining since 2003. In January 2014, Chef Lee Wolen joined as Executive Chef/Partner after the restaurant underwent a major renovation. Since his time at Boka, critics have taken notice. Phil Vettel of Chicago Tribune and Eater Chicago both named Lee as “2014 Chef of the Year.” Most recently, Lee was named 2015 “Chef of the Year” and...

The restaurant stops serving dinner at 11pm nightly.

When weather allows, the moody outdoor terrace is an ideal place to sip sake, wine and champagne.

Boka's menu, which was already good, has become considerably better with time. We find first courses are a real strength --- complex, artful and highly seasonal. Find proof in wisps of raw fluke with curried sepia, Thai basil, black radish and ground cherries. Other treats may include beef carpaccio with crispy purple potatoes and Parmesan foam. But that’s not to say entrées don’t deliver....

Parachute has "got soul" and the menu features "assertive, bright, uncompromising flavors," writes Mike Sula. The dolsot bibimbap is "one of the best versions of it outside of a Seoul street market" while a modernist, flan-like boudin noir is a "mind-blowing dish" with "wildly divergent flavors and textures that still somehow seem right in place."

Homely dishes are just as "unforgettable,"...

Mike Sula is "not sure if [Laughing Bird] is going to be the great popularizer of Filipino food it seems to want to be." There are "unnerving results" on items like a bowl of gelatinous beef tendon with spring peas and watercress that seems "completely out of step with the dish." Similarly, charred octopus dressed in dinuguan sauce is "lost in the deep, livery intensity" and broiled bluefish...

The latest edition of Boka is a welcome transformation that will "knock you for a loop," writes Phil Vettel. "Memorable" starters include soft ricotta gnudi and Lee Wolen's octopus in a burnt-orange seasoned pork broth, which will "spoil you for other versions." The veggie work is "joyful and delicious," with the "picture-perfect" broccoli salad a "must-order" dish of stems and florets with...

Boka restaurant, chicago illinois195251attr:barcateringrestaurant