Graham Elliot to relocate

10-Nov-13 – Graham Elliot Bowles, arguably River North’s hippest restaurateur, says he will close his eclectic restaurant on West Huron Street at the end of the year but relocate and open a new restaurant that is “something cool and different.”

“Good things come to an end, great things evolve,” tweeted Bowles on Friday afternoon. “My heart’s in Chicago, where I’ll always live and cook.”

Eater Chicago reported on Friday that the new restaurant, in a smaller space when its opens next spring, would have “an entirely new concept.”

The current 6,000 square foot restaurant, named Graham Elliot, opened in June 2008 in a 120-year-old former warehouse. It seats 140 people in the dining area and 20 near the bar. It currently has two Michelin stars.

In February 2010, Bowles, who is also a judge on the Fox television show MasterChef, told Loop North News that business was good. “We have surpassed everything that we ever planned. We’re really happy.”

The restaurant will close on December 31. The last menu will feature “greatest hits from the past,” according to a spokesperson quoted by Eater Chicago, “but will also offer your first glimpse into what you’ll find at our new venture in 2014.”

Grahamwich, a sandwich shop opened by Bowles on North State Street, closed in August after two years and seven months.

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