Star Chef Iliana Regan to Close Her North Center Restaurant and Bakery

About a month since its resurrection, star chef Iliana Regan has closed Bunny the Microbakery and Workshop and she also plans to close the Japanese restaurant that housed the bakery, Kitsune. Bunny has already ceased operations, according to a newsletter blast sent this afternoon. Kitsune is set to close on July 13 in North Center.

This is the second time Regan has had to close Bunny. The bakery, which featured cute and unique items like foie gras toast with a topping shaped like an owl, originated in 2016 in Lakeview after a lengthy wait. It closed after four months in April 2016.

Regan has continued to find success at her Lincoln Square restaurant, the Michelin-starred Elizabeth. In 2017, she would open Kitsune, a more relaxed option. She applied her forager philosophy to Japanese food with creative spins on ramen and more. There was also tasting menus. Later that year, Regan began selling ramen meal kits for home consumption. She used crowdfunding to help open Kitsune and Bunny, and reservations for the former are still fairly open until its closing date.

“Thank you for all of your love and support over the last couple years from visiting us to supporting our ramen kits, classes, Kickstarter and everything else in between,” the newsletter announcement read.

Kitsune opened to national accolades, earning a spot on Esquire’s Best New Restaurants list for 2017. Her work at Kitsune earned Regan a 2017 Eater Award nominee for Best Chef in Chicago. Kistune’s success also helped Regan receive a James Beard Award nomination this year for Best Chef: Great Lakes.

Besides Elizabeth, the acclaimed chef has plenty to keep her busy including the Milkweed Inn, a farm and inn in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She will also soon release a memoir, Burn The Place.

Regan wasn’t immediately reached for comment. Read the full statement from the Kitsune newsletter below.