Bucktown's Most Anticipated Opening Is Still Months Away. The Blocks Around It Are Already Spoken For.

On Western Avenue, in the building that housed Taqueria Chingón, a towering Old Hickory rotisserie sits near the front window. It holds 80 chickens at a time. The restaurant is Chez Poulet, from brothers Oliver and Nicolas Poilevey. It opened on August 25. The brothers had more than one reason to build it. Le Bouchon, the Damen Avenue bistro their parents opened in 1993, had outgrown its kitchen and needed more prep space, and Chez Poulet gave them a place to make the bistro's charcuterie.

Around Armitage and Damen, most of the growth comes from operators who are already here, or who have proved themselves elsewhere in the city, taking on one more address. Newcomers fill in around them. Bucktown's biggest upcoming opening fits the same pattern, and it won't serve a plate until next year.

A Bistro That Ran Out of Room

Le Bouchon at 1958 N. Damen has been feeding Bucktown since 1993. In October 2025, an Eater Chicago dining report found it serving puff-pastry-wrapped trout and French onion soup. The Poilevey brothers also own Obélix, Taqueria Chingón and Mariscos San Pedro. When the bistro's kitchen got tight, they looked to a building they already had.

Block Club Chicago reported that Taqueria Chingón closed its Western Avenue location in November 2024. It reopened in Fulton Market, and the original building at 2234 N. Western went up for sale. Nicolas Poilevey told Block Club the brothers hoped to sell to "somebody like us who wanted to do a small restaurant concept." The interest, he said, "pretty much seemed it was only big corporate developers who wanted to do something and then flip it." So they kept the building and designed a new concept around it.

The only seating there is an outdoor patio, so the food had to travel. Nicolas Poilevey told Block Club they wanted something that would "eat just as good in 10 or 15 minutes at home as it would here," which the tacos didn't always manage. According to Eater Chicago's opening report, the menu includes:

• Whole and half rotisserie chickens with four sauces
• Sides including curried corn, macaroni gratin, chicken-fat potatoes and collard greens
• Seasonal salads, chicken-liver mousse, pâté and cheese
• Weekend specials

At launch, Eater listed hours of 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 9 p.m. on weekends. Check with the restaurant before you go, since early schedules often change.

The Monteverde Team Picked a Former Bar on Armitage

The same pattern shows up on Armitage, where the operators come from across town. Trattoria Lo So is going into the former Jack & Ginger's at 2044 W. Armitage Ave. It is the second restaurant from chef Sarah Grueneberg and partners Jaime Canete and Rob Mosher, the team behind Monteverde in the West Loop. Block Club Chicago reports the building has been under construction for months as it becomes a 120-seat restaurant with a 17-seat bar.

Monteverde executive chef Bailey Sullivan will lead the kitchen. She was a 2026 James Beard Award finalist in the Emerging Chef category. The plans so far:

• Meats, fish and vegetables cooked over a robata-style grill
• Dried pastas from Italy's Mancini Pastificio Agricolo
• Wines, artisanal spirits and amari from small producers in Italy and the United States
• A custom "batteria" of barrels for aging balsamic vinegar, like the one at Monteverde

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on October 7 that the trattoria will also use a wood-fired oven and plans to open in January or February 2027. Grueneberg described the place to the paper in personal terms.

"It is like the cool aunt that Monteverde wished that they had."

In the same Sun-Times piece, she said the aunt "wears a kaftan and smokes a long cigarette." The name roughly translates to "the trattoria I know." For now, the address is a construction site you pass on the way to dinner somewhere else.

Who Is Already Cooking Within a Few Blocks

Block Club placed Lo So among several restaurants within a few blocks, including Class Act, Pompette, Mirra and Le Bouchon. Add the 2026 arrivals and the pocket looks like this.

Le Bouchon and Pompette are next-door neighbors on the 1900 block of North Damen. Pompette comes from founders Ashlee Aubin, Katie Wasielewski and Aaron Patten, and Patten runs the kitchen. When Eater Chicago covered its opening in 2022, the menu was seasonal and European-influenced, with coffee, pastries and wine. Just around the corner on Armitage is Mirra, from chefs Zubair Mohajir and Rishi Manoj Kumar. It opened in August 2024, and the Michelin Guide now lists it with a Bib Gourmand. Mohajir was nominated for Chef of the Year at the 2026 Jean Banchet Awards.

A few blocks south on Damen, Class Act seats 16 people at a communal table for chef Nicolai Mlodinow's globally inspired tasting menu. Eater Chicago named Shreena Amin as his business partner and described Nightcap, the speakeasy attached to the restaurant.

Storefronts Here Change Hands Without Going Dark

In the past two years, three restaurant spaces on these blocks have gone to new tenants, and in two of those cases the previous business is still operating somewhere else.

El Rinconcito Sudamerica left 2010 W. Armitage for Belmont Cragin in early 2025, and The Origin took over the address. The Origin began a soft opening on April 30 and held its grand opening on May 15, 2026. Taqueria Chingón moved to Fulton Market, and its owners turned the old building into Chez Poulet. Jack & Ginger's became the shell for Trattoria Lo So. Cafe Gimme, from Courtney and Joe Gryzik, opened on Damen north of Armitage in July.

Two of those moves came from established operators adding one more address: the Poilevey brothers on Western and the Monteverde team on Armitage. The Origin took over a space that El Rinconcito left when it moved to another part of the city.

A November Evening, Block by Block

From Thursday on, you can walk the whole corner in an afternoon and an evening.

1. Start at Cafe Gimme, 2115 N. Damen. Its posted hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, so go early. According to Block Club, the menu rotates.
2. Walk south past 2044 W. Armitage. Trattoria Lo So is still under construction there, with an opening planned for January or February.
3. Stop for dinner at the corner. Mirra, Le Bouchon and Pompette are all within a short walk of Armitage and Damen. Pompette and Le Bouchon both take reservations online.
4. Or take dinner home from Western. Chez Poulet built its menu to hold up on the walk home.
5. Go farther south if you've planned ahead. Class Act at 1737 N. Damen has only 16 seats, so book in advance.

On Friday, November 6, the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber holds its free, self-guided First Fridays art walk from 6 to 8 p.m. across both neighborhoods. It ends early enough to get to an Armitage dinner reservation. Next, the chamber's Winter Wonderland and tree lighting runs Saturday, December 5, from noon to 6 p.m. Free ice skating is new this year.

When Trattoria Lo So opens early next year, Le Bouchon will have been serving Bucktown for more than three decades, and its charcuterie will be coming from the kitchen at Chez Poulet on Western.

If you're weighing a move to the Armitage and Damen pocket, or a project that adds to it, Meridian Chicago would be glad to walk the corner with you. Let's work together.