About Smyth
There are restaurants that receive three Michelin stars. Then there are restaurants that belong in a different conversation entirely. Smyth — located on the second floor above The Loyalist gastropub at 177 North Ada Street in Chicago's West Loop — sits in the latter category. Named one of North America's five best restaurants by the World's 50 Best in 2025, Smyth operates at a frequency that makes even other three-star establishments seem conventional.
Chefs John and Karen Urie-Shields have built something genuinely singular: a fine-dining restaurant that sources nearly all of its ingredients from a 27-acre farm they own in Goshen, Indiana. This isn't farm-to-table as marketing language — it is an entirely farmer-led culinary practice, where what grows this week determines what appears on the menu tonight. The result is a tasting menu that changes every single day and has never repeated itself.
The dining room is deliberately stripped of theatre. No elaborate tablescapes. No dramatic presentations for their own sake. The room — 30 seats, warm tones, open kitchen — focuses everything on the food. The cooking itself is the spectacle, and it is extraordinary: precise without being clinical, seasonal without being predictable, and technically demanding without ever becoming a technical exercise.
The Experience
Dinner at Smyth unfolds over approximately fifteen courses, each built around something that was picked, raised, or foraged from the Shields' Indiana property or from carefully selected regional producers. Expect preserved vegetables from summer harvests appearing in January dishes. Expect protein preparation — particularly fish and fowl — that reflects a depth of technique rarely encountered outside of Japan or France's grandest restaurants.
The beverage program is equally serious. The Smyth Pairing ($245) matches each course with wines selected by the sommelier team; the Reserve Pairing ($475) escalates to trophy bottles. Non-alcoholic pairings are available and receive equivalent care. The total experience — with beverage, tax, and gratuity — should be budgeted at $900–$1,200 for two people.
Why Smyth for Impressing Clients
Bringing a client or prospective partner to Smyth communicates something that no slide deck can: that you understand quality at its most refined, that you value rarity, and that you consider the relationship worth an extraordinary investment of time and thought. The restaurant's reputation is global enough that an international client will recognise the reference. Its intimacy ensures the conversation takes centre stage. This is not a restaurant that overwhelms with spectacle — it deepens attention.
Why Smyth for a Proposal
The deliberate, unhurried pace of Smyth's tasting menu creates extended windows of private conversation in a setting of uncommon beauty. The kitchen team can be notified in advance of a proposal and will accommodate with quiet, appropriate ceremony — typically a single dessert moment — without turning the evening into a performance. The intimacy of 30 seats means your evening feels genuinely private even in a shared room.
Signature Approach & What to Order
The menu changes daily, so specific dishes cannot be anticipated. What remains consistent: the bread course — house-milled and wood-fired — is one of the finest in America. Dishes built around preserved and fermented ingredients from the farm demonstrate extraordinary depth of flavour. Any course involving duck or venison from the Goshen property represents the pinnacle of meat cookery available in Chicago. Ask your server what the kitchen is proudest of that evening. The answer will be honest and worth following.