Bohemian House, River North’s Acclaimed Central European-Inspired Restaurant, Shutters

Bohemian House, River North’s acclaimed Central European-inspired favorite, is closed for good effective today. The restaurant’s representative confirmed the news with an email statement, less than two weeks after Michelin awarded it a Bib Gourmand for the fourth year in a row. It gave upscale diners in downtown Chicago a fresh, chef-driven take on heritage Bohemian, Czech, German and Polish dishes for more than four years.

Bohemian House was long lauded for opening chef Jimmy Papadopoulos’ creative versions of classic Central European dishes such as schnitzel and more, as well as cocktails and its ornate interior on 11 W. Illinois Street. Papadopoulos, a suburban diamond in the rough discovered by the restaurant’s ownership, won Eater Chicago’s Chef of the Year award in 2015 before departing in June 2016 and eventually garnering more accolades after opening Bellemore in the West Loop with the Boka Restaurant Group. Multiple chefs have successfully run Bohemian House’s kitchen since and kept food quality high although business arguably dipped.

Ownership’s statement did not give specific reasons for the shutter beyond an ambiguous “in order to focus on other projects” line. They put the restaurant up for sale early this year but co-owner Dan Powell said at the time that they were simply exploring the market. A sale didn’t happen then and it stayed open.

Bohemian House’s rep says ownership still hasn’t sold the restaurant despite its shutter today and that no more information is immediately available. There’s no word yet on what could happen to the space, its staff, or the other projects ownership is working on. The full closing statement is below.

“After four-and-a-half years, having earned four consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand Awards, routine national recognition and a host of Chicago dining accolades, it’s bittersweet for us to share that today, we are closing the doors of Bohemian House in order to focus on other projects. We are grateful for our incredibly hard working staff and management that made all of the above possible.

We built something completely new to Chicago’s dining scene, centered around community and the Bohemian experience. We hope that you enjoyed dining with us during the past four years as much as we enjoyed hosting you.

We want to give a heartfelt thanks to our loyal customers, regulars, family and friends who have supported us over the years.”