Charlie Trotter's
Fine dining restaurant · Sheffield Neighbors ·
Legendary fine dining, tasting menus, innovative vegetable cuisine
Information
816 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 Get directions
Legendary fine dining, tasting menus, innovative vegetable cuisine
816 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 Get directions
"While the Jean Banchet Awards took place on January 26, Emeril Lagasse and his son were dining at this renowned restaurant." - Ashok Selvam
"A landmark fine-dining address at 826 W. Armitage Avenue that sparked a culinary revolution in Chicago after opening in 1987, famed for its obsessive commitment to sourcing, daily changes to an elaborate tasting menu, a celebration of vegetables, and a willingness to push boundaries (including a love of game meat as a counterpoint to wagyu hysteria). Patrons were famously loyal and willing to spend — one diner, investment banker Ray Harris, “claims he never had the same meal twice after visiting 424 times.” The space closed in 2012 and the chef died in 2013, but the bronze sign and many memories remained; the son has taken control and is restoring the 1881 building with a DIY approach (replacing paint, matching the original crimson carpet, updating exit signs and lighting) while reimagining the interior into a nostalgic first-floor “Charlie’s Room” and a more personal second-floor “Dylan’s Room” with new Italian sconces and a rebuilt wine cellar. Cookbooks (now out of print) are prized artifacts—he plans to digitize photos to inspire a new generation—and memorabilia still lines the kitchen walls. Friends and colleagues repeatedly stress the weight of legacy: Carrie Nahabedian told him, “He wants to preserve his own legacy — this is his to preserve — not necessarily just his father’s... He’s the guardian of it.” Tentori reflected, “Being in a restaurant with so much culinary history and getting to dine in the kitchen gave me chills,” adding, “The next generation doesn’t know Charlie’s story.” Dylan Trotter, who found his father after the stroke and says, “I’m the one who found him,” is deliberate about reopening: “I want to get it right.” The history also includes controversies and toughness — the chef once ranked No. 2 on a list of the city’s worst bosses and was openly competitive about it — but many protégés acknowledge both his exacting manner and his influence on chefs nationwide." - Ashok Selvam
"A pioneering fine-dining restaurant that opened in 1987 and ran for 25 years, it helped define American dining by popularizing the tasting menu and a full vegetable menu, introducing thoughtful wine pairings and non-alcoholic options, and championing sustainability long before it was a buzzword. Produce arrived from artisanal farmers up to three times a day as the kitchen cultivated direct relationships with fishermen, livestock raisers, and vegetable growers, and its curiosity drove bold, ahead-of-its-time fusion that smartly wove French, Japanese, Indian, and Vietnamese influences with a backbone of flavor, even spotlighting then-obscure ingredients like quinoa. Menus changed daily—often 10 courses—and vegetable cookery demanded improvisation, with memorable plates like goat cheese wrapped in zucchini with a hazelnut vinaigrette. Inside, Trotter led with precision and high expectations but also empowerment, sending cooks to present their own dishes tableside and delivering galvanizing staff speeches that built confidence and philosophy. His generosity matched his drive: he quietly extended acts of kindness, hosted three weekly tastings for public high school students (who were prompted to ask two questions before food was served), and even pulled passersby in off the street for impromptu nine-course dinners. The restaurant ignited Chicago’s reputation as a serious dining city and launched a lineage of chefs—among them Grant Achatz, Curtis Duffy, Markus Glocker, and John Shields—who continue to carry his legacy forward." - Michael He
"At Charlie Trotter’s in Lincoln Park I learned that the late, legendary chef Charlie Trotter took Lopez under his wing, hiring him to work summers in the late 1990s and setting him on a path toward fine dining; under then-sous chef Reginald Watkins Lopez was impressed with the importance of familiarizing himself with the kitchen’s plethora of fresh ingredients. That early mentorship was pivotal in steering Lopez toward culinary school and a professional career." - Serena Maria Daniels
"A Michelin-starred fine-dining establishment celebrated for an inventive vegetarian tasting menu; the chef-owner publicly praised a pioneering vegetarian cookbook author, saying her two volumes were the only cookbooks from which he had cooked every single recipe, highlighting the author's significant influence on upscale approaches to vegetable cuisine." - Aimee Levitt