Boka Restaurant Group announced that Swift & Sons will open this October. Located at 1000 W. Fulton Market in Chicago, the chef-driven steakhouse will pay its respects to the area’s historic meatpacking district in the neighborhood where it all began. Executive Chef Chris Pandel will run the kitchen, providing the restaurant with his signature focus on high quality, locally sourced ingredients and classic cooking techniques.
“We are excited to open our collective take on a steakhouse in the area that first put Chicago on the map as a steak destination,” says Rob Katz, co-owner of Boka Restaurant Group. “The Fulton Market District has steak in its heart and soul and we plan to celebrate the West Loop’s heritage with one of the most classic restaurant concepts.”
Chris Pandel, also of Chicago’s Lincoln Park hotspot Balena, will lead the kitchen at Swift & Sons. Pandel’s menu will incorporate his method of using responsibly raised meat and high-quality products prepared with seasonal ingredients. In addition to meat, Pandel’s menu will also deliver thoughtful vegetarian options to accommodate dietary restrictions. It will include steakhouse staples, like a Cold Seafood Tower of prawns, king crab, oysters, clams, and bay scallops; Beef Wellington for two; and Caesar Salad with pecorino, black pepper, and creamy dressing. A few sample menu highlights include: French Polynesian Spiced Bay Scallops with Coconut, Chiles; English Pea Pierogi with Farmers Cheese Lemon; Crab and Potato Croquette with Basil Aioli; Lobster a la Nage with Champagne, Fennel, Fines Herbes.
Swift & Sons will also serve a number of high quality cuts of “boutique beef,” including a 38-ounce dry-aged Cote de Boeuf, a 36-ounce Porterhouse, a 24-ounce Bone-in Ribeye, 14-ounce Bone-in Fillet and A5 Japanese Wagyu. These superior cuts of meat will be served alongside a number of savory sauces, like Roasted Porcini and Marrow Bordelaise, Anchovy Garlic Emulsion, Beer Mustard, and “AS1” Steak Sauce. The à la carte sides will include Creamed Spinach with Potato Chips, Wood Fired Broccoli with Corned Beef Spices, Sweet and Sour Crispy Cauliflower, Sherry Roasted Mushrooms, and French Fries with Béarnaise.
Pastry Chef Meg Galus, also of Boka Restaurant and Momotaro, will create the dessert program at Swift & Sons, which will feature modern desserts with an American sensibility rooted in French technique. Sample dishes will include Black Bottom Pudding—layers of cake, fudge, cookie crunch, pudding, and sorbet and a Lemon Tart—poppy seed angel food cake, lemon curd, and toasted meringue in a graham cracker shell with sour cream ice cream. The dessert menu will feature a rotating selection of seasonal, elegant soufflés, the first being a riff on Peach Melba with roasted peaches, and raspberry sorbet.
Marcello Cancelli, certified sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers, will join the restaurant to create a wine program that perfectly complements the food menu with a 600-plus bottle wine list and 30 wines by the glass, using Coravin wine system to offer exceptional labels. The list will include big, bold wines of value such as the Carignan, Mourvedre, and Syrah from Leon Barrel Faugeres. In true steakhouse tradition, Swift & Sons will have a beautiful bar area, called The Tavern, located in the front of the restaurant. In addition to the full menu, The Tavern will feature a classic cocktail program, highlighting timeless favorites.
Swift & Sons will offer a specialized program, unique to the restaurant industry: an in-house concierge desk. During hours of operation, the concierge will be on hand to provide memorable and personalized experiences, such as restaurant and hotel reservations, floral arrangements, auto detailing, premium theater and concert tickets, and gift purchasing.
“Warm service and attention to detail have always been the cornerstones of our establishments,” adds Kevin Boehm, co-owner of Boka Restaurant Group. “As we open Swift & Sons, we want to offer a concierge program that will continue to extend our hospitality to our valued guests both inside and outside of the restaurant.”
AvroKO, the design firm responsible for Swift & Sons, drew their inspiration from the original titan of Chicago’s meatpacking industry, re-imagining what their company headquarters might look like in the retro-future. Throughout the space, the raw concrete columns and mushroom capitals are left exposed, providing peeks of the building’s original architecture, which was once a cold storage facility in the middle of the meatpacking district.
As guests walk into the restaurant, their experience will mirror that of walking into a luxurious, old boys club—a turn of the 20th century office building with high ceilings, stained glass lighting, and mosaic marble floors. The Tavern will channel what the trading floor of this company would have looked like when deals were made in bank teller-like booths. An over-sized, washed-out painting of a pastoral scene will cap the room in a modern nod to Victorian tradition. Once inside the dining room, the space will boast a series of arched and vaulted ceilings with grand spaces to house what could have been back offices replete with wood wainscoting and office-inspired furnishings.
