A mix of stylish supper club and super-serious sushi eatery, Japonais is a Chicago hotspot that’s been around since 2003. Designer Jeffry Beers, former of I.M.Pei & Partners, pens a series of spacious vignettes accessed through a copper-wrapped revolving door. Inside a moody lounge bar is accessed downstairs, beyond a red brick wall with waterfall, leading to a space of low-back silver and orange upholstered sofas facing an outdoor riverfront patio with additional sofas wrapped in white drapery and quirkier rocking chairs. Two dining rooms offer contrasting red and green theme with the previous in a more traditional Japanese setting with sushi bar and circular booths lined in gold and red fabric on chocolaty wooden floors. The Green Room is flanked by a large fireplace and center-room booth with floral arrangement bursting from its center.
The Food
Since opening along the River, the restaurant has garnered the city’s top restaurant awards for its multi-accepted menu that includes staples of Japanese sushi and itzakaya kitchen. Lunch and dinner begins with an ala carte menu of cold and hot appetizers like Tokyo drumettes with scallion dipping sauce, Wagyu carpaccio and sweet shrimp tartare with wonton shells. Main course includes house specialties like Kobe Prime Rib with uni hollandaise, Kani Nigiri spicy baked king crab and Maple Leaf smoked duck house with hoisin sauce, mango chutney and mushu wraps.
Last Word
Chicago sushi supper club designed by former I.M. Pei protégée offer starry dinners and sexy riverfront lounge in Chicago's River West.
