HUNGRY?

You won’t be after visiting the mouthwatering TimeOut Market Chicago

By Thomas Connors

We all have our own way to ease into the day. For some, that might be grabbing the phone and scanning the news before rolling out of bed. For others, it’s straight to yoga. For perhaps most, mornings mean coffee and a little something to fuel the body. And for those living or working in the Fulton Market District, a lavender latte and cardamom bun from Lost Larson in the Time Out Market Chicago may be a new normal.

Since its debut in November, this latest food hall from the team behind the globe-spanning Time Out magazines has found a place at the table in Chicago’s ever-growing culinary scene. Newly built on a spot where a meat warehouse went up in 1911 (the brick of the original building was salvaged and used in the façade of the new structure), the 50,000-square-foot space is the largest market in the Time Out Group’s current U.S. portfolio, which includes units in New York, Miami and Boston.

Time Out, which began as a guide to London in 1968, entered the hospitality business in a big way when it opened its first food hall in Lisbon in 2014. An estimated 3.9 million people made their way to the spot last year, roughly 80 percent of them tourists, according to Time Out Market CEO Didier Souillat. “We’re not a food court. We’re more than that,” Souillat says. “We create a destination that people go out of their way to come to. You can stay here for 40 minutes, you can stay here for several hours.”

Size and selection drive that destination vibe. Time Out Market Chicago is a cavernous, skylit space spun around a central communal seating area that is ringed by kitchens and an enormous bar (broken into distinct zones for beer, wine and spirits). Seating 600, it offers diners access to the culinary prowess of 18 of the city’s leading chefs and restaurateurs, from Abe Conlon of Fat Rice and John Manion of El Che Steakhouse & Bar, to Dos Urban Cantina, Mini Mott and The Purple Pig.

“Time Out Market provides a singular experience in that you have Michelin-starred chefs, James Beard Award winners and beloved mom-and-pops, all under one roof,” Time Out Chicago editor Morgan Olsen says. “Chicagoans are adventurous, curious eaters who crave something more than a one-off, grab-and-go experience. At Time Out Market, diners are encouraged to put down their phones and really engage with each other over a shared meal—and a damn good one at that.”

That ambition seems to be working. On a Friday afternoon, the place is packed. And aside from a few diehards lost in their laptops, most people are chatting as they chow down. There’s a sharply dressed young man in a Canada Goose jacket and a middleaged guy in a sweatshirt and baseball cap. A quartet of creative types talk branding. A trio of young professionals discuss plans for the weekend. Eyeing the plate of a mature lady in a fur-trimmed cap, a young woman blessed with Pre-Raphaelite curls leans in and asks, “Excuse me, can you tell me what that is?” Upstairs (which is open to the floor below), diners make themselves comfortable on the amply upholstered stadium seating and glance at the digital mural that hangs across the way, providing a stream of historical images of the neighborhood and content from the magazine.

Between the seated and those circling the room deciding what to order, those who appear instantly at home and those who seem like sightseers, there’s a real energy here—not the rough energy of a crowd, but that of a momentary community with a common purpose. “We are democratizing fi ne dining,” Souillat says. “And you don’t have to break the bank here. We’re talking $9 to $20. If you want to go crazy, there’s the ‘Maximo’ beef rib from John Manion at $38, but that feeds two.”

From Sugar Cube’s layered confetti cake to Band of Bohemia’s eggplant naan, Time Out Market Chicago offers everything from a bite to a full meal. And diners aren’t the only ones finding satisfaction at 916 W. Fulton Market. “Being a part of the market really adds awareness to all the cool stuff we are doing at the restaurant,” chef Brian Fisher of Michelin-starred Entente says. “The menu was crafted the same way I do any other menu, focusing on quality and efficiency. For example, we wanted to do an elevated take on the traditional chicken katsu with chicken mousseline, fermented blueberries, kewpie, shio cabbage, shokupan and Beni shoga ginger. We understand this is a different type of experience than coming to our restaurant, but wanted the same quality to be present on the menu.”

For Erick Williams, owner and executive chef of Virtue Restaurant & Bar in Hyde Park, Time Out Market represents another opportunity for him to make a difference in the community. Although he’s not operating an outpost in the market, he is using its test kitchen—and the ready access to other chefs—to offer young adults an inside view to the workings of the restaurant world. “We’re going to walk kids through the entire market and allow them to experience the sights and smells, and then take them upstairs to do demonstrations, allowing them to ask questions and then taste a completed recipe. The more that we expose young adults, the higher the hopes and the better they retain information. It’s very difficult for them to envision what they can’t see. To see the level of passion, to feel that energy—that’s huge. Time Out Market allows us to expose them to a space where there are that many people working from a bunch of creative angles to do the same thing, and that’s to provide great food to people.”

At 8 p.m. on a weekday evening, the market is still abuzz. Some folks tuck into dinner, others settle in at the main bar for an after-work restorative. At Tony’s—the rooftop bar named after the magazine’s founder, Tony Elliott—music plays softly as patrons enjoy their usual, or sample one of the room’s signature drinks. Several of the city’s top mixologists have created cocktails available at the bar, including Liz Pearce’s Sea Legs, a combo of Plantation 3 Star Rum, Chareau aloe liqueur, blueberry cordial, lime and mint. As the evening progresses, the room begins to fill with couples and small groups, young and old, the hip and merely curious. The place feels as familiar as a corner tap and as special as that favorite spot in a city not your own. Cheers. timeoutmarket.com/chicago/