How long does it take to open a restaurant in the West Loop? For Jimmy Papadopoulos it took about 17 years. He wrote the business plan for Black Briar in 2009, when he was a sous chef at a hotel in the suburbs. The restaurant opened on September 26, 2026, at 201 N. Morgan St.
His wait is long but not unusual this season. Most of what opened around Fulton Market this fall was planned years ago, and in one case on another continent. The restaurants are new, but the plans behind them are old, so in its first weeks each place looks more like what its owners pictured years ago than like a fresh concept.
A business plan that outlasted two jobs
Eater Chicago reported that Papadopoulos kept the Black Briar plan with him through two head-chef jobs. The first was Bohemian House, where his Central European cooking won him a 2015 Eater Award for Best Chef. The second was Bellemore, Boka Restaurant Group's West Loop restaurant, which closed during the pandemic. "That name sounded cool to me, so I carried it with me for years and years," he told Eater.
He opened it with co-owner Tim Anderson, who also worked at Bellemore. Eater describes the result as a gutsy gastropub filtered through an American lens. It has an open kitchen full of high-end equipment, a large basement prep area, and a seafood-heavy menu that includes black bass with garlic butter clams. If you ate at Bellemore, Black Briar is the same chef coming back to the neighborhood, this time under his own name.
Gibsons spent years looking for a Fulton Market address
Gibsons has run its Rush Street steakhouse in the Gold Coast since 1989. Its search for a spot in Fulton Market ran nearly as long as Black Briar's wait, and signing the lease did not end it. When the group announced its lease in October 2023, CEO Steve Lombardo III said this in a statement quoted by Block Club Chicago:
"For years, we were looking for the right opportunity to expand our brand into Fulton Market, and after an exhaustive search we have found the perfect location and partner."
Eater's 2023 report put the search at about a decade. Crain's Chicago Business put it at almost 15 years. Here is how the timeline went once the lease was signed:
- 2022 to 2023: The ground floor of the new office building was supposed to hold a Dom's Kitchen & Market. That deal fell through after the grocer decided the retail space wasn't the right fit.
- October 2023: Gibsons signed a ground-floor lease in Fulton Street Cos.' 11-story office building, which was still under construction. The restaurant was expected to open by the end of 2024.
- August 2026: Block Club reported that the concept would be called Gibsons Tavern and that it was slated to open this November.
Alex Najem, founder of Fulton Street Cos., told Block Club in 2023 that Gibsons was the restaurant that made him fall in love with Chicago and that he had made it his mission to get one into one of his buildings. Gibsons wanted Fulton Market, and the landlord wanted Gibsons.
Gibsons Tavern at 925 W. Fulton Market is a 14,000-square-foot room with cathedral-vaulted ceilings and a design inspired by the turn of the last century. The menu is an updated take on classic American food, with steaks, seafood and desserts like the Rush Street original. The group's release described the bar program as a nod to the Prohibition era. Gibsons Tavern is a new concept under the Gibsons name, built for this address.
Berenjak took its plan from London to Green Street
Berenjak's plan started even farther away. Chef Kian Samyani founded it in London in 2018 as a tribute to the kebab shops of his childhood in Tehran. It earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in its first year, and it now runs three London locations plus outposts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Its first Chicago location opened on October 2 at 113–125 N. Green St., inside Soho House, as a partnership with JKS Restaurants, the group behind the two-Michelin-starred Gymkhana. You don't need a Soho House membership to eat there. The food centers on charcoal grills and large shared plates served with baskets of crispy bread, according to Eater's preview. Eight years after it started in London, Berenjak picked a Fulton Market building for its first Chicago location.
The fastest openings came from groups already nearby
The two openings with short timelines both came from operators who already had restaurants close by.
Lettuce Entertain You opened Pizzeria Gabbo on October 22 at 834 W. Fulton Market St., Suite 200. It sits next door to Beatrix, which Lettuce already runs in Suite 100 of the same building. In Lettuce's opening announcement, executive partner Marc Jacobs called it a "new meeting spot for the neighborhood." Chef partner Andrew Ashmore's menu offers Chicago thin-and-crispy and New York crispy pizzas, antipasti, housemade pastas and soft-serve gelato. The dining room has 60 seats and the bar has eight.
Victory & Vice opened even earlier, on September 9, at 318 N. Carpenter St. It comes from the team behind Dearly Beloved, Machine Cocktail Bar and Headquarters Beercade. Eater's fall preview counts 30 screens, including a custom 17-by-10-foot viewing wall, plus a 1,000-square-foot patio and a menu with a bulgogi cheesesteak and tavern-style pizza.
Your West Loop calendar, Nov. 12 through Dec. 13
The new restaurants are opening as the outdoor market season ends and the indoor holiday markets begin, all within a few blocks of each other. Here are the dates, in order:
- Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15: Randolph Street's Holiday Market at 1340 W. Washington St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. An Early Buy hour runs from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, and a percentage of it goes to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boys and Girls Club. Tickets are on the market's site.
- Sunday, Nov. 15: Chicago Artisan Market at Morgan MFG, 401 N. Morgan St., from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. That's two blocks north of Black Briar. See the calendar.
- Saturday, Nov. 21: Green City Market – West Loop's last Saturday of the season, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 900 W. Monroe St. The city's 2026 farmers market schedule lists the season as May 2 through November 21.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, and Sunday, Dec. 13: Randolph Street's December holiday market, back at 1340 W. Washington.
- Sunday, Dec. 13: Chicago Artisan Market's December date at Morgan MFG, again from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For a Saturday on Nov. 14 or Nov. 21, start at a market in the morning, then have dinner at Berenjak on Green or Black Briar on Morgan. Both are a short walk from any of the market sites.
If you own a condo near Fulton Market, the restaurant openings within walking distance are part of what a buyer is paying for, and they belong in how your home is marketed. Matt Laricy and the LARICY Team know these blocks and the West Loop market. List with Laricy: sell faster, reach more buyers.
