Miru

Miru occupies the eleventh floor of the St. Regis Chicago, the Jeanne Gang tower at 401 E Wacker Drive where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, and the room is designed around the view: rich wood, floor-to-ceiling glass and a summer terrace that faces Navy Pier. The kitchen works through nigiri, sashimi and maki, a robata section of smoked pork belly and charred octopus skewers, and larger plates such as white miso black cod, with desserts by pastry chef Juan Gutierrez. Service runs from 7am breakfast through a 2pm-5pm lounge menu into dinner, which means the bar list is available across the whole day.

That bar list is where the restaurant earns its place here. A Spirit Free section sits directly beneath the seasonal and classic cocktails and runs to six drinks rather than the usual one or two. Setting Sun combines fresh yuzu, Valencia orange, lychee and soda at $14; Sunny Day pairs lemon and passionfruit with a rice cordial and ginger beer, also $14; the N/A Rita strips a margarita back to agave, fresh lime and sea salt at $14; the Coffee Cloud uses Metropolis cold brew with demerara and vanilla at $14. Two are built on bottled non-alcoholic products - a $16 Phony Negroni Bianco using St. Agrestis's white expression, and an N/Aperol Spritz at $14 made with Lyre's Italian Orange and Lyre's sparkling. Beyond the cocktails, a zero-proof wine list carries Prima Pave brut blanc de blancs, brut rose and brut rose dolce in 200ml at $18 each, plus Oddbird's Presence gewurztraminer blend and GSM by the glass at $14 and bottle at $56, and the daytime menu adds cold-pressed juices. A non-drinker at a celebration table here has as many decisions to make as anyone else. Breakfast runs from 7am, a lounge menu covers 2pm to 5pm and dinner starts at 5pm, so the Spirit Free list can be ordered at almost any point in the day rather than only at dinner service. In summer the terrace is first come, first served and faces the Navy Pier fireworks on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.