Inside Harbor, Opening Today to Sate the Restaurant-Deprived South Loop

Walk through the space, which pays homage to the Great Lakes, and read the menu

by Ashok Selvam@Shokdiesel Jan 13, 2020, 1:35pm CST

A storefront for a restaurant. — Harbor is open in South Loop.

Ashok Selvam is the editor of Eater Chicago and a native Chicagoan armed with more than two decades of award-winning journalism. Now covering the world of restaurants and food, his nut graphs are super nutty.

A beloved South Loop restaurant space will roar once more starting on Monday night when Harbor opens at 1312 S. Wabash Avenue. The restaurant pays homage to the Great Lakes and its owners’s passion for sailing. Harbor replaces Gioco, an Italian restaurant that lasted 19 years before closing in May 2018. The opening is a big deal for South Loop residents eager for more neighborhood restaurants.

Chef-partner Anthony Bernal, formerly of Mastro’s Steakhouse in River North, put together a tight menu that includes lentil falafel, a raw bar, and plenty of lake fish. The kitchen features a wood-fired oven for thin-crust pizza, and fans may be interested in the New Haven, Connecticut-influenced clam pie. The owners — Joe Taylor, Chris Parth, and Adam Ellis — are industry veterans.

Take a tour through the space and read the menu below. Harbor official opens on Monday afternoon.

Harbor, 1312 S. Wabash Avenue, (312) 736-1570, Open 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday; 4 p.m to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.