Bucktown’s Upscale Southern Restaurant, Dixie, Has Closed

Dixie, the upscale Southern restaurant from the owner of Lillie’s Q, has closed. Those who held reservations to Charlie McKenna’s Bucktown restaurant were emailed on Monday that those reservations were cancelled. McKenna and his staff are holding onto the space and are considering opening a new restaurant at 1952 N. Damen Ave.

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“The restaurant is closed until further notice,” the email read. The restaurant’s Tock reservation page reads that all tickets are sold out. The restaurant had just moved to Tock — the online reservation portal for fine-dining restaurants from Alinea Group’s Nick Kokonas — last month. It’s unclear what will happen to Dixie’s neighboring bar, 1952 ¹⁄₂ Liquorette. McKenna didn’t immediately return a text message for comment.

Dixie was a two-level restaurant that opened in July 2016. McKenna said he wanted to change Chicagoans’ perception of Southern food with a more elevated take. Before Dixie opened, the space was home to Michelin-starred Takashi. The Japanese restaurant closed in January 2015. Before Takashi Yagihashi’s restaurant opened, another Iron Chef, Stephanie Izard, cooked in the same building at Scylla.

McKenna runs Lillie’s Q, his barbecue spot, in Bucktown, along with another smaller location at Chicago’s French Market. This story will be updated with any word from him.