By Matthew Fiorentino And Priyanka Rajput By Matthew Fiorentino And Priyanka Rajput | April 26, 2023 | Lifestyle,
A new Coach boutique, a River North restaurant’s revamp and more have Chicagoans out on the town this month.
Vermilion’s Mary Had a Little Lamb dish is crafted with char siu pepper lamb, black pepper grilled soy-oyster, sesame lamb chops and roasted baby carrots.
DINE
After serving sizzling Latin-Indian fare since 2003, notable River North restaurant Vermilion is undergoing a much-anticipated metamorphosis in honor of its 20th anniversary. The restaurant’s reimagined menu melds the best of Far Eastern and South Asian flavors to create dishes such as Squid Games (black squid ink rice noodles with shrimp, squid, black mushrooms and oyster sauce); Hakka Chowmein (a Desi spin on wok-fried noodles with vegetables); and Not Your KFC (beloved Chinese dish Chongqing meets its Indian counterpart, chicken 65, in a dish of fried chicken fritters glazed with sweet sauce). Founder Rohini Dey has lived in over a dozen Indian cities and noticed that Indian-Chinese food was the one thread tying all her experiences together. With Vermilion’s new bill of fare, she brings her childhood favorites from the streets of India to Chicago. “I want to share [this cuisine] with Chicago; the Desi community knows it well,” Dey says of the new offerings. “I am deliberately not taming the flavors, and, in fact, have taken it up a notch with our rendition. I’m having fun with this.” 10 W. Hubbard St. –PR
SIP
Calling all oenophiles: After a five-year hiatus, the Lyric Opera’s Wine Auction is back with a three-day event to benefit the company’s operations and Lyric Unlimited, its learning and engagement division. This year’s event will begin with private dinners hosted by philanthropists across Chicago and the North Shore, where a custom menu and wine pairings courtesy of participating vintners will be served. This will be followed by a vintner tasting reception in the Lyric Opera’s foyer, featuring a selection of wines from 30 wineries around the globe. In addition to the live events, an auction will feature experiential packages, such as a trip to Canada’s Nimmo Bay Resort, tours of iconic distilleries in Louisville and a five-course dinner at celebrity chef Rick Bayless’ Chicago home. May 11-13, Multiple locations –PR
Guests can sip Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux at Lyric Opera’s Wine Auction.
SHOP
Immersive experiences are all the rage in retail right now, and Coach is the latest brand to get in on the action with the debut of its new concept store, Coach Play Chicago, ahead of Singapore, Tokyo and Utah. The shop highlights and celebrates local neighborhoods in a 3,000-square-foot space in River North with a curated mix of leather accessories, bags and ready-to-wear, as well as Chicago-specific touches like vintage street signs, familiar marquees and a baseball glove art installation. Sandeep Seth, the brand’s global CMO and North America president, says, “Our new store concept allows Coach to connect more closely with customers and the neighborhoods that they are a part of.” And those looking to add a personal spin on their selects can head to Coach Create, which features workshops with local artists where guests can adorn their Coach bags with monograms, embellishments and digital prints, including special patches and pins exclusive to the location. 444 N. Michigan Ave. –PR
Coach embraces the experiential shopping trend with its new Michigan Avenue boutique.
VIEW
Puerto Rican artist, educator and community organizer Edra Soto’s largest exhibit to date is all the buzz at the Hyde Park Art Center. Showcasing her large-scale GRAFT series featuring sculptures that blend elements of Afro-diasporic architecture, accompanied by documentary photographs and drawings that counter colonial narratives, Destination/El Destino: a decade of GRAFT illuminates the past through her work, highlighting the enslaved sub-Saharan African population’s influence on Puerto Rican architecture. “The exhibit marks a full-circle moment in my career, with the first iteration of GRAFT developed over a decade ago at the Art Center,” she says. “I hope my work inspires visitors to dream of their own destinations that have to do with their lives, their memories and their own concerns.” Through Aug. 6, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., Hyde Park –MF
Edra Soto’s 2016 work “Open 24 Hours (Albright-Knox)” will be on view at the Hyde Park Art Center this season.
DISCOVER
Chicago architecture aficionados have the good fortune to live in close proximity to dozens of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed abodes, and this month, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust takes a deep dive into some of these structures with the beloved annual Wright Plus Architectural Housewalk in Oak Park. Three residences, including the Arthur and Grace Heurtley House (one of the earliest examples of Wright’s prairie-style aesthetic) designed or remodeled by Wright will be open to ticket holders who will be accompanied by tour guides as they provide an explanation of the history of Wright’s work and unique elements of each home. May 20 –MF
The E.E. and Rossie Roberts House is just one of the abodes featured on the Wright Plus Architectural Housewalk.
Photography by: FROM TOP: PHOTO BY: RYAN BESHEL; TODD ROSENBERG; PHOTO: BY BRENDA BIEGER; COURTESY OF BRAND; BY JAMES CAULFIELD