Nearly two years to the day after leaving Spiaggia, celebrated chef Sarah Grueneberg will unveil her long-awaited first restaurant tomorrow. And Grueneberg, along with partner and longtime colleague Meg Sahs, hope that Monteverde will bring something new and exciting to both the packed West Loop dining scene and the saturated Chicago Italian scene as a whole.
The Madison Street corner restaurant, under construction since March 2015, is a bright, casual, yet sophisticated addition to both of those scenes. Designed by Karen Herold of Studio K, Monteverde is full of relaxed earth tones: Creams and greens and sky blues, lots of classic hardwood, non-industrial exposed ceilings, and handmade shelves and furniture. Pasta openly dries on racks flanking the butcher-block 15-seat bar, wooden pizza palettes are used as decoration, and bagged pasta and other retail items line some of those shelves. The dining room seats 50, the bar area has a 28-person capacity, and a 25-seat patio will open next spring.
Take a look around one of the year's most anticipated new restaurants in the photos above, and stay tuned for more on Monteverde's food and drink before tomorrow's opening.