Restaurant Week 2023 kicks off, giving guests a taste of the best restaurants in Chicago
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The 16th annual Chicago Restaurant Week kicks off Thursday night with a culinary celebration at the Field Museum, giving guests a taste of some of the best restaurants across the city.
We caught up with two very different restaurants in Chicago to find how they are preparing to bring in some hungry new customers.
City restaurant kitchens are bustling. Packed with busy crews who are getting ready to prepare the best dishes they can offer.
"We are showcasing Oysters Rockefeller, so we're bringing in an incredible quality of oysters. It's clean, it's sweet," said Rebeca Peterson, director of operations with Gage Hospitality Group.
At the Gage on Michigan Avenue, tables are filled up for the lunchtime rush.
Peterson said restaurant week is their chance to bring in some new guests who will hopefully become regulars.
"It's huge. It presents the opportunity where the guest is able to have multiple courses through different styles of cooking, but then creating that connection of coming into a space that maybe they haven't come into before," Peterson said.
Over 360 restaurants from 33 different Chicago neighborhoods are participating in Chicago Restaurant Week; 64 of them are women or minority-owned businesses.
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Restaurant Week arrives as new data from the reservation app, OpenTable, shows that Chicago restaurants saw a 26% dip in reservations last year when compared to 2019.
However, some owners said they have not experienced that decline.
"We have not seen that decrease. We've actually seen the opposite. We've seen a significant increase," Peterson said.
It's the same at Bar Takito in West Loop.
"Our revenues are increasing, so we're pretty happy about the state of the economy," said Mario Ponce, owner of Takito Brands.
Chef Yanni Sanchez is prepping in Bar Takito's kitchen and said there is nothing like pleasing hungry customers.
"It's passion, it's love," Chef Sachez said. "When the people are smiling, it immediately says to me, they like it."
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Ponce said Chicago Restaurant Week is all about trying something new.
"It's what we want, new people to come in and try new things, try new environments, try new concepts and if we're doing a good job, they'll return. Win-win," Ponce said.
Chicago Restaurant Week runs from January 20 to February 5, and it includes 65 restaurants making their official restaurant week debut.
For more information or to make reservations at participating restaurants, visit the Chicago Restuarant Week website.
