We tried Beacon Tavern last week and I was really impressed with the food, service and the space. It's owned by the folks who run the Gage and Acanto and it's tucked behind the Wrigley Building in what apparently used to be a McDonald's, but the space is beautiful, they really put a lot of thought into the decor and the outdoor patio overlooking the river walk is lovely. I was with a group of ladies and we tried a large sampling of what was on the menu, starting with Oysters that came with a delicious mignonette, the pimento cheese and relish tray, which was outstanding, ricotta gnocci (which was listed as an entree, but we all wanted to try it) and the beet salad. The gnocci were amazing, fresh, light and had a ton of flavor. For mains I did the roasted chicken, which was excellent, one of my friends did mussels, which looked really good...not a closed one in the bunch and another friend did the porkchop, which had some nice fatty marbling and was very well seasoned. We were too full to the get the whole bannofi pie for dessert, but I can't wait to go back and try it. We had the citrus cheesecake, which was very good, and a chocolate rasberry cake which was kind of meh compared to everything else. I knew very little about the place going into the evening, but came out a big fan!
Beacon Tavern
405 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611