Chicago - September 22, 2006

No Joke

De La Costa Opens

What do you get when a celebrity chef and his partners (both with serious West Coast resto/club cred) enlist a local superstar to design their new 12,000-square-foot Nuevo Latino restaurant?

(And the answer is not delay after delay after delay.)

Find out this week as De La Costa has finally opened for business. (Promise.) 

Chef Douglas Rodriguez’s (Alma de Cuba in Philly, Ola in Miami) newest spot is a major production. And who better to set the stage than the scene-stealing designer Suhail (Del Toro, Sonotheque)? Expect jewel-tone tapestries, a wall blanketed in gold masks, and Tim Burton-esque marionette installations to amuse the eye.

Sit at the ceviche or sangria bars, feast in the dining room, host a private soiree in the wine cellar, or reserve one of the five cabanas in the solarium that come with your very own bar and bartender.

The menu leans toward seafaring creatures (Hamachi fish and chips, rum-cured Marlin tacos, sugarcane-skewered tuna), and even though we might expect a swanky place like this to have only bottle service, they actually dole out Rodriguez’s signature popsicle martinis at the bar.

Serious fun plus serious food?

We’d say that was worth the wait. Now just try getting a reservation.

De La Costa, 465 East Illinois Street, between Lake Shore Drive and McClurg Court (312-464-1700 or delacostachicago.com).