Celebratory dinner for 40th Anniversary -- any suggestions?

Hi All:

My boss is going to be celebrating his 40th anniversary at our organization this year and his managers want to wine him and dine him someplace special. We tried Boka but they couldn't accommodate us on the date we were interested in -- so I'm looking for other suggestions. 12 people -- we don't need private space (especially at a $2500 minimum) but we want excellent, creative cuisine. Nothing too informal - -but certainly not Alinea. Someplace that people think is special would be lovely and nothing too rock n roll.

North side or River North, Loop-ish is probably the best locations although going a bit west would probably be good too (Wicker Park, Bucktown).

Any thoughts?

Sounds like Sepia might fit the bill.

=R=

Sepia
123 N Jefferson St
Chicago, IL 60661
312-441-1920

We had a great anniversary dinner at North Pond, but that was for two people. What do LTHers think about them being able to accommodate 12?

LPython wrote:We had a great anniversary dinner at North Pond, but that was for two people. What do LTHers think about them being able to accommodate 12?

Ditto this, also two people. Very special evening and very gracious service. They have the space for a party of 12, but I'm not sure what their booking (and ideally for you where they seated you) would be like.

Thanks for these suggestions. Sepia is on my list and North Pond is a maybe. My boss lives very close to North Pond -- I'm not sure that would be as special to him as it would be to others. Any other ideas would be very welcome -- my biggest issue is that we're doing this on a Monday night....

Sepia is what jumped to my mind as well; if you like Boka, I find Sepia to be similar vibe, price-point and somewhat comparable style of cuisine. Both venues have excellent service and strong beverage programs (in fact Sepia has among the best in Chicago).

Another venue that came to mind is a new restaurant in the West Loop called Honey's. Contemporary American with Mediterranean influence. Also reminds me a bit of Sepia and Boka in terms of the vibe and price-point. Also has really friendly staff.

Both of these venues are open Mondays; North Pond is not.

http://honeyschicago.com/#welcome

I've done similar sized group dinners in private rooms at GT Fish & Oyster, RPM Italian. Shaw's and David Burke's Primehouse. The minimum for the rooms was reasonable and achievable for my groups.

How about one of Carrie Nahabedian's places, either the contemporary American Naha or the contemporary French Brindille? Seems like they would be perfect for what you're looking for. (So would the previously-recommended North Pond, one of my favorites, but unfortunately they're not open on Mondays.)

Another possibility is a place that just opened, GT Prime, the "contemporary steakhouse" from Giuseppe Tentori, the chef-owner at the similarly-eponymous GT Fish & Oyster (and the opening chef at Boka). All three of these are part of Boehm and Katz's Boka group.

All of these are open on Mondays.

We had a very nice anniversary brunch for 11 at North Pond
It wasn't a private room, but they printed out special menus and made us (and my folks ) feel very special. It's a lovely memory, as I don't think we'll every have that many of us together again -if ever- for a long time.
Food and service were fabulous, and being brunch, we could really enjoy the views, etc,
and walk around after.
Good times (sigh)
E

I feel like MK might work well for this too. Also open on Mondays.

Hey all -- thanks for your suggestions! I called many of them and gathered lots of information but we are going with MK. Their service focused approach really came through on the information calls -- so I'm really looking forward to the dinner in a few weeks.

Cheers!

MK has been one of Chicago's top-tier restaurants for quite a while. I ate there last year and I thought it was superb, as good as ever. I think it's a great choice and I'm confident it's a perfect fit for your needs. (And props to claypoolfan for the suggestion!)