What's Actually New In Evanston This Summer

Something quieter than a boom is happening on Evanston's dining map. Chefs who built their careers inside Chicago's most-booked restaurant groups are opening their own places here, on purpose, because they moved to the North Shore and got tired of driving south for dinner. If you have lived in town for a while, the practical result is that your Thursday-night options changed more between February and July than they did in the previous three years combined.

Here is what that looks like on the ground.

The Carlin Thesis, Now Serving On Prairie Avenue

Burl opened in February at 2545 Prairie Ave., just off the Central Street corridor, in a small triangular building that Tom Carlin and Rachel Canfora-Carlin had been eyeing since they were house-hunting in Evanston. Carlin ran the butcher program at Publican Quality Meats, was chef de cuisine at Dove's Luncheonette, and helped Galit earn its first Michelin star in 2022. Canfora-Carlin runs recruiting and training for Hogsalt, the group behind Bavette's and Au Cheval. Burl is the first restaurant either of them has owned.

The kitchen is built around a wood-fired hearth and a separate wood-burning oven, and Carlin has set a rule that at least 80% of the menu comes from the local food network. The dining room seats 75. It opens at 4:00 PM and is closed Monday and Tuesday, which tells you exactly who they built it for.

Carlin has been unusually direct about the customer he is chasing. He describes them as people in their 30s or 40s who used to live in Roscoe Village or Wicker Park, moved to Evanston or Wilmette, and miss having Chicago-level food and hospitality within walking distance. That is not marketing copy. It is a demographic thesis, and once you hear it you start seeing it everywhere else on this list.

The Rest Of The Wave, By Address

1601 Payne St. — Soul & Smoke's flagship. D'Andre Carter and Heather Bublick, who both cooked at Moto, took the building that has been their production kitchen and turned it into a full-service sit-down restaurant. The menu goes well past the barbecue that made them: housemade pasta, barbecue shrimp, an oxtail "cigar" from their Moto days, and a sweet potato pie with meringue. The bar spotlights producers of color. It is open for lunch and dinner.

1555 Oak Ave. — Taverna Milos. Opened quietly inside the lobby of The GEM Museum Suites. Executive Chef Panagiotis Paschos runs a Greek menu that includes htipiti, fried zucchini with skordalia, handmade spanakopita, and oven-roasted Greek chicken with olive oil, garlic, oregano and lemon. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. This is the one nobody knows about yet.

1710 B Sherman Ave. — Bookman's Alley project. Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark, the James Beard Award winners behind Parachute in Avondale, are aiming to open here by the end of 2026, pending city permitting. The project was pitched to about 15 different Evanstonians as a chance to invest in downtown, which is a financing structure worth paying attention to.

1710 Orrington Ave. — Land & Lake Cafe. LM Restaurant Group's third tenant inside the Hilton Orrington, next to Evanston Corner Bistro and the "17" Plant-Based restaurant. It opens at 6:30 AM, closes at 2:00 PM, seven days a week. Co-owner Nicole Quaisser told Evanston Now that breakfast and lunch have replaced happy hour as their strongest daypart, which is why the format exists.

1701 Maple Ave. — Bat 17, reopened. Closed unexpectedly last winter with a hand-lettered promise to return. It came back in May with reduced hours and the loaded tater tots, Reuben eggrolls, and Buffalo sliders intact. Sandwiches and burgers now come in "regular" and "full" sizes.

"We noticed that a lot of the people that live in Evanston and Wilmette are very similar to us... [they] used to go to all these restaurants. Now they've moved up to the suburbs and they miss having Chicago-level hospitality and food." — Tom Carlin, chef and co-owner of Burl, to WTTW

Thursday Night Has A Shape Now

If you want to test the thesis without a reservation, walk to Fountain Square on a Thursday. Downtown Summer Sounds runs 6:00–8:00 PM from July 9 through September 3, nine consecutive Thursdays. Free. Beer from Sketchbook Brewing, wine and canned cocktails from Five & Dime, food trucks from 5411 Empanadas, La Cocinita, Firehouse Grill, C&W Ice Cream, Evanston Latinos, and Soul & Smoke.

On three of those Thursdays the concert overlaps with the Thursday Night Market, now in its eighth year, with 30-plus vendors and children's craft activities from the Ridgeville Park District. The market runs June 11, July 9, August 6, and September 3, from 5:00–8:00 PM.

The full 2026 concert calendar:

Sketchbook is the local anchor here. That is worth remembering when a friend from Lincoln Park asks where to meet.

The Rest Of The Weekly Rhythm

Sundays for the cars. Evanston Cars & Coffee hosts pre-2000 vintage cars on July 19, August 16, and September 20, from 9:30 AM to noon. Downtown Evanston expects about 75 cars each date.

July 11–19 for the painters. The 5th Annual Evanston Plein Air Festival, presented by Evanston Made, is a citywide competition with events in every neighborhood. This year's Festival Finale is hosted at Rotary International's headquarters on Sherman Ave., where Chef Anthony of Rotary's Cafe International is putting together a small-bites and wine menu to be served in the sunken garden. Best in Show judging is by Mark Cleveland, the festival's founder. A companion exhibit runs July 1–20 at the Saw Room Gallery.

Thursdays in the parks. Movies at Penny Park (June 25), McCulloch Park (July 23), and Baker Park (August 20) start with food at 5:30 PM and the film at 6:30 PM.

Solstice fire. Full Moon Jam runs volunteer fire performances at every full moon and on the summer solstice.

What Left, So You Are Not Surprised

Two closures worth flagging so you do not walk to a locked door.

Guzman y Gomez, the Australian fast-casual chain that opened on Sherman Avenue last year, shut its U.S. operations on May 22. The Evanston store was one of eight in Chicagoland. The company continues to operate in Australia, Singapore, and Japan.

Praline Cauldron, the French patisserie and coffee shop at 500 Davis Street, closed earlier this summer. RoundTable food writer Julie Chernoff attributed it to location and signage rather than the food itself, noting Patisserie Coralie's well-established presence within a block.

A Practical Take For Someone Who Already Lives Here

If you moved to Evanston from the city three or four years ago and told yourself you would get used to driving south for a real dinner, this is the summer you can stop. Burl and the Soul & Smoke flagship are the two openings that would draw a Reader-of-Eater crowd on their own merits. Taverna Milos is a lobby restaurant, which is usually a warning sign, but the menu reads like a neighborhood taverna rather than a hotel concept. Land & Lake solves the coffee-and-a-real-breakfast problem that downtown Evanston has had for a while. And the Kim and Clark project in Bookman's Alley, if permitting cooperates, will be the single most closely watched restaurant opening on the North Shore this year.

Thursdays through Labor Day, the answer to "what are we doing tonight" is Fountain Square. That is a change worth adjusting your calendar around.

If you are thinking about how any of this shifts what your Evanston home is worth, or you are considering a move within town to be closer to Central Street or downtown, Ron Ehlers is happy to walk through it with you. Let's Connect.