Kristin B.
Yelp
Wow, what a lovely lunch surprise! Located inside of the Grant Park Market, Gather has no exterior/building signage. However, I'm a-okay with this as hopefully, this keeps this hidden gem actually hidden just a little bit longer! Once you're inside the Market, Gather is actually quite large, taking up at least a third of the Market's interior space. They have counter seating, and several large picnic style tables inside at which to sit. Order at the counter and they'll bring your order to you when it's ready. While the space and ordering set up have more of a lunch counter feel, the decor is beautiful and light filled. It's a "fancy" lunch counter, for sure!
The menu is quite large for lunchtime, and after perusing, for some time, we decided on the Reuben sandwich (paying the slight upcharge for garlic and herb fries), a cup of the broccoli cheddar bisque, and the crab louie stack. The prices are immensely reasonable considering the exceptional quality of the ingredients, the complexity of the flavors, and the beautiful presentation. I would have expected to pay much more for a lunch this delicious - I would order every dish again. The crab Louie stack was off of the "small plates" portion of the menu, but the portion size was generous. It was more than sufficient as a lunch entree, and all of the sauces and layers to the dish made it complex and special. The Reuben was also something special, with TGM bread as the base and delicious crispy sauerkraut.
Even though this is a lunch counter type of environment, their service was also exceptional. They refilled our water glasses, and the cook even noticed that I was struggling to get the special hot sauce to pour easily out of the bottle on our table and gave me his own bottle from the kitchen.
All in all, this was certinaly "as good as it gets" when it comes to lunch time spots!