When Oliver and Nicolas Poilevey closed the original Taqueria Chingón at 2234 N. Western Ave. in November 2024, they planned to sell the building. According to Eater Chicago, the only interest came from large corporate developers who wanted to build something and flip it, so the brothers took the property off the market and worked out a new restaurant for the space themselves.
The space they kept has a limit, though. It has almost no indoor seating. Whatever they opened there had to travel well.
That limit explains Bucktown's 2026 restaurant openings. The quickest ones all landed on Western Avenue, in rooms another restaurant had already built, and they run small: counter service, pickup windows and carryout. By mid-November, after the patios have closed, that makes Western the neighborhood's carryout row.
The building that stayed independent
Chez Poulet opened Tuesday, August 25, as a French rotisserie and wine shop. Block Club Chicago reported that the brothers, who own the building, had hoped to keep it with a smaller, independent restaurant. Oliver Poilevey explained the concept simply: "When we're in France, rotisserie chicken is one of the things I look forward to eating."
Eater reported a second reason for the concept. Le Bouchon, the Bucktown restaurant the Poileveys' parents opened in 1993, needed more production space. So the Western Avenue kitchen also does prep work for a neighborhood institution a short drive away.
Most of the work happens in the front window. Per Eater, a tall Old Hickory rotisserie holds about 50 chickens. It arrived with the name "Eduardo" written on it in Sharpie, and no one knows who wrote it. The birds are Ivory Amish chickens from a small Pennsylvania farm, sourced through Regalis Foods. Each one takes three days: a day in brine, then air-drying in the cooler for crisp skin, then chef Keagan Beresford's rub of onion, garlic, paprika, Thai pepper, celery, salt and MSG.
The menu is short:
- Birds: whole or half, with four sauces. The chimichurri gets cornichons, the garlic toum is creamy, the salsa macha comes from a Taqueria Chingón recipe, and there's chicken jus.
- Sides: Moroccan curried corn with yogurt, chicken-fat confit potatoes, Papa Louis' Macaroni Gratin made with Comté, and Oliver's collard greens, which use maple syrup, sherry vinegar, fish sauce, bacon and sambal.
- Extras: "chicken bread" from Mindy Segal of Mindy's Bakery, plus house charcuterie such as chicken liver mousse and pâté de Campagne.
- Dessert: chocolate mousse, and rice pudding made with milk from Illinois' Kilgus Farmstead.
The only seating is a covered side patio with room for 40 when the weather allows. The Chez Poulet website lists hours of 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. Every shift ends at closing time "or sell out." Those hours are shorter than the ones listed when it opened in August, so check the site before you go.
Two more reused rooms, under half a mile south
Head south on Western toward the Blue Line and two more 2026 openings follow the same pattern. Both moved into former restaurant spaces, and both opened in July, according to Block Club Chicago's roundup that month.
| Address | Business | Previous tenant | Opened | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2234 N. Western Ave. | Chez Poulet | Taqueria Chingón | August 25, 2026 | Walk-up and carryout, covered side patio |
| 1912 N. Western Ave. | Bucktown Pizza | Oromo Cafe | July 2026 | Counter service |
| 1858 N. Western Ave. | Jomon Sushi and Izakaya | Wave Sushi and Sake | July 2026 | Dining room plus online pickup ordering |
Bucktown Pizza sits right under the Western Blue Line station. Owner Joe Smith is from the Newark, New Jersey, area and has run pizzerias in the Chicago suburbs and along the East Coast. He opened in July with five pies: cheese, Margherita, pepperoni, sausage and garlic white. "Everything we do by hand, hand-roll the dough, hand-stretch the dough, homemade sauces, personalized service," Smith told Block Club. "You're going to see the product made in front of you." Opening hours were noon to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. In its August review, The Infatuation praised the thin slices, especially one combining vodka cream, pesto and red sauce, and the sausage and pepperoni slices topped with whipped ricotta.
Bucktown Pizza's address also shares a coincidence with a new shop. Bucktown Pizza is at 1912 N. Western. Folklore Fabrics, the newest storefront on the Damen side, is at 1912 N. Damen. On the street grid, the two sit directly across the neighborhood from each other.
Jomon is a short walk south at 1858 N. Western. Block Club lists sushi, skewers, gyoza, tempura, and rice and noodle dishes, along with beer, sake and wine. The Infatuation's review says it comes from the Mammoth Poke team and recommends the maki and a kobore of scallop, snow crab and ikura. It also notes a long sake list and a low-key room. Jomon's pickup ordering page splits the day into two windows. Lunch runs noon to 3 p.m. daily. Dinner runs 4:30 to 8:45 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations are on Jomon's own site.
A Thursday night on the Western strip
All three spots have menus that travel well, and their hours overlap on weeknights. On a Thursday in November, one trip can cover them all:
- Start at Jomon after 4:30 p.m. The dinner window opens then, and Thursday pickup ends at 8:45 p.m. Order ahead online and the sushi will be ready when you arrive.
- Walk north to the Western Blue Line. Bucktown Pizza is underneath the station at 1900 N. Western, an accessible stop, according to the CTA. It's the stop to use if you're coming home from downtown.
- Finish at Chez Poulet before the birds run out. The posted weekday window is 4 to 9 p.m., but it ends earlier once Eduardo is empty. A half bird, the macaroni gratin and a bottle from the wine shop make a full dinner without any cooking.
The order matters because Chez Poulet is the only stop that can sell out before closing. Jomon's 8:45 p.m. Thursday cutoff is the other deadline to plan around.
On Damen and Armitage, the big rooms run on a 2027 schedule
The rest of Bucktown's 2026 openings show why Western moved first. The large projects elsewhere in the neighborhood involve building out a new room, and they take longer.
On Armitage, the West Loop team behind Monteverde Restaurant and Pastificio is turning the former Jack and Ginger's bar at 2044 W. Armitage Ave. into Trattoria Lo So. Block Club reported in September that it will have 120 seats and a 17-seat bar. Chef Sarah Grueneberg and partners Jaime Canete and Rob Mosher own it, and Monteverde executive chef Bailey Sullivan is leading the menu. Plans include meats, fish and vegetables from a robata-style grill, dried pasta from Italy's Mancini Pastificio Agricolo, and a "batteria" of barrels for aging balsamic vinegar. The building had already been under construction for months, and the opening target is "early 2027."
The Vienna Beef restaurant and factory store at its headquarters, 2501 N. Damen Ave., has been in the works longer. It was first announced in 2023, and an August update reported by Block Club now targets spring 2027. Vice President Tom McGlade called the project "more of a service to our neighborhood than it is a profit-maker."
The Damen openings that did happen this year are small. Cafe Gimme opened in late July at 2115 N. Damen Ave. Owners Courtney and Joe Gryzik told Block Club they wanted a place for coffee and socializing with an "at-home feel." Further south, Megan Lambert set a noon, October 30 opening for Folklore Fabrics at 1912 N. Damen Ave., a "neighborhood haberdashery" stocked with fabric she sourced in Italy. Block Club reported plans for workshops on smocking and taking measurements, private lessons, and open-sew time once the sewing machines are installed. Lambert described the appeal of handwork this way: "That provides a certain type of dopamine that you just can't get from making a PowerPoint deck."
So Bucktown has two schedules this year. On Western, existing kitchens reopened within months with short menus and carryout counters. On Armitage and the north end of Damen, the larger dine-in restaurants are planned for 2027.
December 5 brings everyone to the south end
The neighborhood's next big shared date is south of all of this. The Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber's WPB Winter Wonderland and Tree Lighting runs noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. Activities include Metzger Court at 1260 N. Milwaukee Ave. and the tree lighting in Wicker Park at 1425 N. Damen Ave. Free ice skating is new this year. The event wraps up at 6 p.m., the same time Chez Poulet's posted Saturday hours end, so a rotisserie dinner from Western Avenue only works if you pick it up before you head south.
The Poileveys kept their Western Avenue building because they had a plan for the space as it already stood. If you own in Bucktown and want to know what your space can become, or what it's worth as it stands, Carol Collins brings renovation and staging experience to that question. Book an appointment.
