Esme Chicago

Esme Chicago, located on North Clark Street, offers a unique community-focused dining experience with philanthropy and art integrated into their tasting-menu model. Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo partner with No Us Without You to provide food security for the undocumented community in Los Angeles. Join them for La Raza Latina tasting menu or industry night to taste their inspired dishes.

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10/20/2026

Above the Clouds. Crisp-skinned red mullet on a cloud plate by Depy Zepo, with fermented Jimmy Nardello pepper, plum, basil, and beef tongue rillettes finished with a fennel nage. Sweet, savory, and a little funky in the best way.
Part of Once and Future, Hebru Brantley’s exhibition at Esmé, curated by Frame Chicago. Reserve your table, link in bio.

10/15/2026

Watermelon. Tableside, watermelon dashi is poured over king crab, compressed watermelon, and heirloom tomato, finished with melon flowers and pea tendrils. Part of Hebru Brantley’s tasting menu at Esmé. 🍉

Illumination. Norwegian king crab, compressed watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, and finger limes, with salsa macha and lemon verbena oil pooled underneath.

The last touch is a spoonful of tomato-kukicha granita, which melts into the watermelon dashi as you eat.

10/04/2026

Would you eat the art? Here, you do. 💥

Passion fruit sorbet, clementine, black sesame praline and an edible Fly Boy. Swipe for the break.

The pre-dessert is an edible print of Hebru Brantley’s Fly Boy, set in a Frame Chicago frame on a custom DTK ceramic plate. Swipe to see it shatter.

Part of the Hebru Brantley tasting menu at Esmé, Chicago.

09/29/2026

Still thinking about this one.

An unforgettable evening at Esmé welcoming Chef Jonny Black of Michelin-starred Chez Noir into our kitchen alongside Chef Jenner Tomaska for a dinner built around collaboration, creativity, and a shared love of hospitality.

A huge thank you to Jonny and the entire Chez Noir team for making the trip to Chicago and sharing your talent with us, to our incredible Esmé team for bringing every detail of the evening to life, and to Salty Magazine for bringing us all together in the first place.

These are the nights we love most: chefs learning from chefs, teams working side by side, new ideas taking shape, and a dining room full of guests there to experience it all.

To everyone who joined us at the table, thank you for being part of it. And to every person behind the scenes who made the night possible, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Until the next one.

09/25/2026

Every puzzle piece is different, and every piece belongs to something bigger. That idea sits at the center of our Marigold canapé.

A custom puzzle box arrives tableside. Pull open a drawer and find the Marigold: tempura fried marigold, peach, truffle, and pickled candy striped and yellow beets, cut into interlocking puzzle shapes.

09/22/2026

Happy Birthday to the person behind so much of what makes Esmé and Petite Édith what they are. 🤍

Jenner, we’re constantly amazed by the way you balance it all. The hours, the creativity, the precision, the pressure, the constant pursuit of getting better, and, somehow, still making space for the people who matter most.

Your talent as a chef is undeniable, but it’s the person behind that talent that we’re especially grateful to celebrate today. You lead with an incredible amount of heart. You care deeply about the food, the experience, the people you work alongside, the artists and communities you support, and, above all, your family.

Watching you move between chef, leader, mentor, husband, dad, friend, and about a hundred other roles makes us wonder where you find the hours in the day.

Both Esmé and Petite Édith carry pieces of your vision, your creativity, and the standards you’ve spent years building. We’re incredibly lucky to be part of it.

Happy Birthday, Chef. We hope today gives a little back to someone who gives so much to everyone around him. ❤️

With love,
Your Esmé + Petite Édith family

09/20/2026

Chevre cheese cremeux, apricot filling, sunflower bavarian, yellow sugar glaze, sunflower leaves, and chevre cheese ice cream. The final course of Once and Future, plated on a sunflower hand designed by Hebru Brantley, a symbol of optimism, resilience, and hope.

Every dish in this series was designed by Hebru Brantley for Once and Future, our collaboration exhibition at Esmé. Five plates, five moods, one closing course.

09/15/2026

Meet Cyrus Dobbs, Chef de Partie at Esmé, former architecture student, drummer, artist, and the reason you might hear “beep beep” echoing through our kitchen.

When Cyrus first joined Esmé, his habit of saying “beep beep” whenever he needed to get past someone was not exactly embraced.

So naturally, he kept doing it.

Now, everyone says it.

“I think when we’re in such an intense environment where the stakes are really high, a little joy goes a long way.”

After a year and a half at Esmé, Cyrus has watched the kitchen evolve, but what makes him proudest is the team it has become and the cohesion they’ve built together.

Get to know Cyrus, and the personality he brings to our kitchen every night.

What does architecture have to do with cooking?

According to Cyrus, quite a lot.

Before becoming a chef, Cyrus studied architecture, where he learned to think about composition, texture, color, cohesion, precedent, and the experience of the person interacting with what you create.

Today, he applies many of those same principles to food.

“Chefs will ask when I’m going to pursue architecture and I say I’m doing it right now, chef!”

That creative thinking extends beyond architecture and cooking. Cyrus draws, paints, takes drum lessons, and plays in a band, finding unexpected connections between all of them.

To him, creativity is about returning to something again and again, each time finding a way to make it a little better than the last.

Swipe through to see the world of Esmé through Cyrus’ perspective.

It wasn’t exactly the career path he imagined while studying architecture.

After realizing life at an architecture firm wasn’t the right fit, Cyrus spent a few years figuring out what was. He continued drawing and painting, delivered for Amazon, and eventually found himself working at a bagel shop in Oak Park.

There, something clicked.

He loved making the dough. He loved learning the rules and rigor of a kitchen. And he wanted to know more.

So he bought Sohla El-Waylly’s Start Here and began teaching himself how to cook.

Today, he’s a Chef de Partie at Esmé, bringing everything he learned before the kitchen into it.

And after a year and a half here, his goal

09/10/2026

Every story needs a beginning. Ours starts here.

Egg (Origins) opens the tasting menu with a fermented white asparagus custard, chamomile beurre blanc, smoked trout roe, and orange sabayon, served in a small handcrafted milk crate made in collaboration with artist Hebru Brantley.

The milk crate is one of the most familiar objects on a city block, easy to walk past without a second look. Brantley has spent his career doing the opposite, taking the overlooked and turning it into something iconic. Reimagined as tableware, it becomes the very first vessel of the evening, a quiet and elegant introduction before the puzzle boxes, the cloud plates, and the clay that follow.

That’s the idea behind Origins. Before the story can unfold, it has to start somewhere honest and familiar, just seen a little differently.

09/03/2026

Chicago-based United Airlines is calling on a famous Chicago chef to make up the menu.

Address

2200 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL
60614

To get to the restaurant on North Clark Street in Chicago, public transport options include taking the CTA Red Line to the Clark/Division stop or taking the CTA Bus #22 or #36 to the Clark & Division stop. For those driving, parking options are available on nearby streets or at parking garages in the area.

Opening Hours

Wednesday	5pm - 10pm
Thursday	5pm - 10pm
Friday	5pm - 10pm
Saturday	5pm - 10pm
Sunday	5pm - 10pm

Website

http://www.esmechicago.com/

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What people say

Esme Chicago, located on North Clark Street, is a restaurant that truly stands out from the crowd. With a name that means "beloved" in French, it's clear that Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo have put their hearts and souls into creating an exceptional dining experience. What sets Esme apart is their commitment to philanthropy and art, which are integrated into the foundation of the restaurant.

One of the highlights of Esme Chicago is their tasting menu, which has been reimagined by Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo. The menu is not only delicious but also community-focused, reflecting their vision for the restaurant. In addition to the tasting menu, Esme also offers a variety of other dishes that are sure to please any palate.

Esme Chicago has also made a name for itself with its special events and collaborations. From partnering with Don Julio Tequila to celebrate Cinco De Mayo to teaming up with J.P. Graziano for a specialty sandwich, there's always something exciting happening at Esme.

Overall, Esme Chicago is an exceptional restaurant that offers not only delicious food but also a unique dining experience. With its commitment to philanthropy and art, it's clear that Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo have created something truly special on North Clark Street.