Est. 2011 · Chicago
Our Story
A derelict bank, a wood hearth, and a stubborn belief that fire deserves patience.
“Anyone can cook a steak fast.
We chose to do everything slowly —
the aging, the fire, the evening itself.”
Adrian Voss — Chef & Founder
2011
A fire in an old bank vault
Chef Adrian Voss found a derelict 1920s bank on Beacon Row, its granite walls black with age. He built a wood hearth where the vault once stood and swore never to install a gas line. The first menu was five items long. The line was around the block.
2014
The salt chamber
We carved a dry-aging room into the old vault itself — walls of Himalayan salt brick, air held at two degrees. Cuts rest there for forty-five to ninety days, developing the deep, nutty character that made our tomahawk famous.
2018
Six hundred bottles deep
Sommelier Elena Marchetti joined from Burgundy and built a cellar that now holds over six hundred labels — grand crus, first growths, and bottles that exist nowhere else in the city. The Sommelier's Table was born that winter.
Today
The fire never goes out
The hearth is lit at noon and burns past midnight, seven days a week, tended by hand. Two Michelin stars. One rule, unchanged since the first night: wood, salt, and time.
What We Hold Sacred
Wood. Salt. Time.
Wood
White oak only, seasoned two years, burned to embers each afternoon. Gas has never entered this kitchen.
Salt
A chamber of Himalayan salt brick cures every cut we serve. Nothing else touches the beef until the fire does.
Time
Forty-five days minimum in the chamber. Three hours minimum at the table. Some things refuse to be rushed.