{"id":14387,"date":"2024-12-04T06:44:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T06:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/?p=14387"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:27:07","slug":"bazaar-meat-and-bar-mar-chef-jose-andres-debuts-two-new-food-concepts-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/bazaar-meat-and-bar-mar-chef-jose-andres-debuts-two-new-food-concepts-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Bazaar Meat and Bar Mar: Chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s Debuts Two New Food Concepts in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the simultaneous launch of his fourth and fifth restaurants in Chicago\u2019s River North neighborhood, world-renowned chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s gleefully further cements his relationship with a city that has already shown feverish appreciation for his approach to food.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChicago is one of the top culinary destinations in the world\u2014one which we\u2019ve been excited to join<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

for many years,\u201d remarked Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s on the opening of his newest Chicago outposts. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait to add these new concepts to the city, and there\u2019s no better place to do so than from the Loop and overlooking the Chicago River!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And based upon the initial reception received by the two radically different concepts, Chicago has also been eager to embrace Andr\u00e9s\u2019 latest offerings. Spread over two floors of prime real estate and anchored in the gleaming new Bank of America Tower, the tallest commercial building to be added to the Chicago skyline in 30 years, Chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s stunning new restaurants take the notion of surf and turf to an unprecedented new level.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bazaar Meat, which dominates the top floor of the space, is a carnivore\u2019s dream wrapped in a theatrical reimagining of a traditional steakhouse. Unlike the previous iterations of Bazaar Meat, the Chicago edition was not designed by Phillippe Starck but instead by Barcelona-based designer L\u00e1zaro Rosa-Viol\u00e1n who has created over 40 distinguished interiors for some of Spain\u2019s most successful restaurants, boutique hotels and retail establishments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Philippe,\u201d says Bazaar Meat General Manager, Christopher Bugeya. \u201c[But] for this Bizarre, I think they really wanted to…go Spanish. L\u00e1zaro Rosa-Viol\u00e1n\u2026 has done a lot of restaurants and things of that nature so I think that matching up with Catalonians for a restaurant ended up working out well. They love to play with texture and height and it’s dramatic. The colors and the space really look like you’re walking into the hearth, the fire, these blowing embers on the inside.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The notion of Bazaar\u2019s dining room evoking the sense of blowing embers is actually a very real one as a handmade IPSOR oven, one of only two in the U.S., provides a dramatic \u201cfire stage\u201d used for preparing the suckling pig that is one of the highlights of the meat intensive menu. This handsome and dramatic oven, which took three Spanish gentlemen three days to build and install is also used to grill and\/or roast everything else on the menu from poultry and fish to vegetables and the exceedingly rare Vaca Vieja (Spanish for \u201cold cow\u201d), which is prepared using hand-selected eight- to ten-year-old working cows, known for their more pronounced flavor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In stark contrast, on the first floor at Bar Mar, the more accessible of the two eateries where guests are initially greeted, the menu focuses primarily on beautiful seafood and cocktails, served in a spacious, airy space with a buzzy, Mediterranean vibe. While a massive octopus, also designed by L\u00e1zaro Rosa-Viol\u00e1n, hangs from the ceiling acting as a showstopping centerpiece in the dining room, 40-foot floor-to-ceiling windows peering out over Upper Wacker Drive play their own part in adding drama to the Bar Mar experience. Atmosphere aside, it is ultimately the food that takes center stage at this unique bo\u00eete. Menu highlights include the Everything Bagel Airbread served in the shape of a fish, filled with cream cheese espuma and topped with smoked salmon, the Not so Po Boy Jos\u00e9! featuring a fried oyster with Platinum Malassol caviar and tartar sauce in a steamed brioche bun, a Margarita Oyster, and Cobia \u201cRosa\u201d Ceviche.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the differences in the two spaces, however, they are both bound by their innovative cuisine, the sense of whimsy that has become one of the hallmarks of Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s establishments and, of course the legendary service for which those establishments have become known.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c[Here] everybody’s a VIP. Every single person is important. We need everyone to leave here happy,\u201d Bugeya emphasizes. \u201cIt’s just a fact. They’re going to leave here happy, whether or not they want to. We’re going to do everything within our power to make that possible.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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