The Loyalist

The Loyalist sits at garden level beneath Smyth at 177 N Ada Street in the West Loop, the more casual half of a two-restaurant building run by husband-and-wife chefs John Shields and Karen Urie Shields — upstairs holds three Michelin stars, downstairs does not try to. It opened in summer 2016 and built its reputation on a dry-aged burger that has turned up on national best-of lists for the better part of a decade, now on the menu as The French Smash with herb butter, cornichon, mornay and frites at $28. Around it the kitchen cooks with the same seriousness as its sibling but far less ceremony: half chicken with sourdough, smoked dates and foie gras mousse at $39, and trout à la grenobloise with Meyer lemon, brown butter and gooseberry at $34. The New York Times has placed it among the twenty-five best restaurants in Chicago, and Chicago Magazine included it in its fifty best.

The zero-proof list is one of the strongest in the city, and it is worth explaining how it is organised because it is easy to misread. The section is headed "Spirit Free Cocktails" and holds six drinks, all $12 — and the names are the drinks, not flavour categories. Bright & Refreshing is built on AMASS Riverine with chamomile, lemon, lovage and non-alcoholic prosecco. Herbal & Citrus uses Seedlip Garden with basil, yuzu and ginger; Juicy uses Seedlip Grove with pineapple, smoked morita pepper and lime, which gives it heat and smoke rather than sweetness. All Barq's, No Bite is the cleverest of them, working St. Agrestis Amaro Falso under a vanilla bean foam into something closer to a root beer float than a cocktail. Italian Spritz is Lyre's orange with non-alcoholic prosecco and bubbles, and Velvety & Smooth is Lyre's Amaretti with almond orgeat, lemon, lime and egg white — worth knowing if you avoid egg, since it is the one drink here that is not vegan. Every one is priced the same as the others and made behind the same bar as the full-proof list. Dinner is Monday to Saturday, 5–10pm, booked through Tock.