Smyth, John & Karen Shields' Fine-Dining Return to Chicago, Opening on Aug. 26

Exciting news to share this morning, as John Shields and Karen Urie Shields will open Smyth, their hotly-anticipated fine-dining restaurant on Aug. 26 in The West Loop. The Tribune reported reservations are available right now via Tock. The Shieldses opened their casual companion bar/restaurant, The Loyalist, earlier this month on the lower level of the Smyth location at 177 N. Ada St.

Guests can purchase tickets for an eight-course tasting menu for $135 per person for parties as large as six. There’s also an optional beverage pairing for $85 more per person.

The Shieldses' backgrounds include stints at Chicago heavyweights Tru, Alinea and Charlie Trotter’s. It’s been a long climb for the husband-wife team, as plans to open a restaurant in Washington, D.C. never materialized over a course of four years.

The Loyalist has already garnered positive buzz. Even actor and North Shore native John Cusack tweeted about the burger. And Cusack knows burgers, as evidenced by this far-out sequence from his 1985 movie, "Better Off Dead."