The Michelin-starred Atelier abruptly closed last week despite its owner’s efforts to make it more visible and appeal to more casual diners.
The restaurant with connections to award-winning chefs Christian Hunter and Iliana Regan had just relocated in October to a larger space at 4544 N. Western Ave. and added a bar menu with small plates for customers seeking a more casual dining experience. But it struggled to sustain its operations.
“We weren’t able to get enough people through the door,” owner Tim Lacey said. “The reservations just weren’t coming in.”
Lacey opened Atelier in 2023 at 4835 N. Western Ave., previously home to Regan’s fine-dining restaurant and neighborhood staple Elizabeth. He hired executive chef Christian Hunter, who curated a tasting menu that featured ingredients from Midwestern farms and drew influences from diverse cuisines.
Under Hunter, the restaurant received a Michelin star in its first year. In 2024, Bradyn Kawcak took over as executive chef when Hunter left to start his own restaurant.
The closing comes amid industry-wide economic challenges worsened by inflation. Though the shuttering of Atelier follows the recent closings of two other neighborhood fixtures, Gather and Cafe Selmarie, business leaders say Lincoln Square’s dining scene continues to attract diners and new restaurant operators.
“While the restaurant industry as a whole is struggling with rising cost of food, rent, wages, taxes, licensing, permitting and inflation, we are fortunate in Lincoln Square to maintain a vibrant dining community,” said Rudy Flores, president and chief executive officer of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce. “While it is always disappointing to see a restaurant close, especially an acclaimed establishment like Atelier, the reality is that the restaurant industry remains one of the most challenging industries in which to operate profitably, particularly for independent operators who are not part of larger restaurant groups.”
Flores said the neighborhood has relatively few restaurant vacancies and is currently awaiting new openings, such as Zimi’s Pizza in the former 016 Restaurant space. And this year, the new Ardor by Chance opened in the previous Carbon Arc adjacent to the Davis Theater.
When asked if it was more difficult for a fine dining restaurant to flourish in a neighborhood such as Lincoln Square compared to Downtown, Lacey said he didn’t know. But he tried to make Atelier more approachable by adding options beyond the tasting menu.
“Our aim was for people to be able to come in and have a bite without having to commit to the tasting menu, and draw more spur-of-the-moment diners as a way to make the restaurant more accessible,” Lacey said.
Both executive chef Bradyn Kawcak and beverage director Ali Martin announced their departures on May 17 on Instagram.
“I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has helped me along this journey,” Kawcak wrote. “Building a team of passionate chefs over the past few years has been the biggest honor of my career thus far. There would be no awards without your hard work. I hate to abruptly end this journey after so much hard work, but I’m excited for the next chapter.”
Martin told the Sun-Times that she was proud of the community Atelier created.
“The support from former guests has been moving and the strength of the staff to be here for each other is inspiring,” she wrote in an Instagram message. ”I feel truly blessed to have been able to work with such talented folks and call them my friends. They are what made the restaurant, I’m so sad we don’t get to do it anymore.”
Reflecting on his time at Atelier, former chef and Kentucky native Christian Hunter told the Sun-Times that the role was an opportunity to gain experience in the Chicago market. He said he never expected to win a Michelin star.
“The only thing I told my team was, we have a high standard that we have to hold ourselves to,” he said. “I was very surprised. It was a struggle doing that sort of menu in Chicago as an unknown chef for nine months, but thanks a lot to the staff that we had, we were lucky enough to be awarded.”
Hunter cited the restaurant’s “good bones,” or previous reputation as Elizabeth, for helping to garner acceptance in the community.
“You have to win your neighborhood over,” he said. “If you have a really big-name person or group, you’re ahead of the game, but no matter what restaurant you open, your neighborhood has to support you first. Otherwise, nobody’s going to know where to travel to come see you.”
Following his departure from Atelier, Hunter planned to start a seafood bar in Time Out Market before the food hall closed in January. Now, he is working to open Hooligan as a bistro at a to-be-announced location in Logan Square.
“Nobody wants to hear that a restaurant has closed,” he said of Atelier. “That’s people losing jobs, that’s a small little ecosystem that just disappears. So, it’s very sad to hear.”