Balena Will Pop Up in River North in January | Eater Chicago

"Boka’s River North private event space at 504 N. Wells Street is hosting the limited pop-up from January 19 through January 26, with reservations via OpenTable. The venue, which was formerly the French restaurant Le Select before its conversion to a private-events space, is being optimized by Boka for pop-ups: Goldberg says they’ve been in talks with other chefs from outside Chicago and that a pop-up series could be in the works. The January timing was chosen in part because winter news coverage of snowstorms tends to encourage diners to stay indoors, and a short, time-limited pop-up creates urgency—if diners cancel, they’ll miss out." - Ashok Selvam