The Berenjak Chicago opening is set for late September at Soho House in Fulton Market, with chef Kian Samyani’s Iranian restaurant arriving in partnership with Soho House and JKS Restaurants. Worth booking if you want London’s Bib Gourmand-backed Persian charcoal-grill format without a members-only barrier; skip the first wave if you need published prices, seat counts, or a reservation calendar before committing.
Berenjak has operated three London locations, and its U.S. Path has already included a members-only residency at NYC's Dumbo House and a Soho Warehouse location in Los Angeles. Chicago is the one to track closely because the Fulton Market restaurant will be open to non-Soho House members, according to the opening report. That changes the decision from 'do I know a member?' to 'can I get a table before the first-month rush?'
The Michelin Bib Gourmand credential and the JKS infrastructure
Berenjak is not arriving as an anonymous import with a vague London pedigree. Samyani started the restaurant in 2018, drawing on childhood memories in Tehran of kebab shops and family-style meals, and the restaurant secured a Michelin Bib Gourmand recommendation during its first year in London. For Chicago diners who follow credentialed imports, that is the useful signal: Michelin did not give it stars, but Bib Gourmand recognition tells you the original London opening landed with value, execution, and identity in the same frame (Eater1).
JKS Restaurants gives the Chicago project another credential. The group is behind two-Michelin-starred Gymkhana, which matters because JKS has experience translating South Asian and Middle Eastern-adjacent dining formats into rooms with international demand. Berenjak is not Gymkhana, and you should not book expecting the same Indian fine-dining grammar. The more useful comparison is operational: compared with an independent overseas pop-up testing an American market, Berenjak Chicago has Soho House space, JKS infrastructure, and a London format already spread across three locations (Eater1).
The Soho House address also shapes the room before you see a menu. The restaurant will open at the private members’ club on Green Street in Fulton Market, but it will sit alongside public-facing Soho House Chicago venues such as the Allis and Fox Bar, according to the source. That means the setting will likely pull a mixed crowd: members, Fulton Market regulars, London Berenjak loyalists, and Chicago diners who usually avoid member-club dining unless the restaurant itself earns the trip.
Book early if you care about first-month openings. The late-September window gives Berenjak a tight runway between announcement and debut, and the restaurant has demand that makes soft-opening gossip more useful than public reservation pages. The seat count, prices, and reservation release timing have not been published in the source material, so the smart move is to track Soho House Chicago 's public channels and Berenjak's own announcements rather than wait for reviews.
The charcoal-grilled Persian menu coming to Fulton Market
The menu detail that matters most is the grill. Berenjak centers Iranian kebabi cooking, with charcoal-grilled meat skewers, lamb khoresht, spiced mezze, and breads meant to carry the meal rather than sit on the side. If your default Chicago group dinner is steak, sushi, or Italian, this is a different format: skewers and shared dishes, not a tasting menu with a lecture attached.
The opening report points to rods of charcoal-grilled meat skewers, cauldrons of lamb khoresht, and platters of spiced mezze. That tells you how to plan the table. Berenjak should work better as a two-to-six-person dinner than as a solo counter meal, because the source-backed dishes lean toward sharing. If you are trying to impress a client who wants a composed tasting menu, wait for more details. If you are booking for friends who order half the menu and pass plates, this is the right format.
The breads are not filler. The London restaurant’s identity, as described in the opening report, ties the charcoal grills to large-format dishes and crispy breads used to scoop and fold. That matters because a Persian grill dinner lives or dies on heat, fat, smoke, acidity, and the pace at which bread arrives. Until Chicago pricing appears, the safest expectation is not “cheap Bib Gourmand meal,” but “order generously and build the table around grill, stew, mezze, and drinks.”
There is also a beverage reason to go early. Berenjak Chicago diners will get an extended wine list and cocktails that had previously been available only at U.K. Locations, according to the release cited in the opening report. The named drinks include an olive leaf martini and a watermelon cocktail. That is more useful than a generic promise of a bar program: one drink points savory and structured, the other points light and carbonated. If you usually start Persian or Middle Eastern meals with beer or something high-acid, the cocktail list is the part of the opening worth testing.
What London’s track record tells you before you book
Berenjak’s London record is the reason this opening should be on your September list. Samyani opened the first Berenjak in 2018, and the restaurant secured a Michelin Bib Gourmand recommendation during its first year. It now operates three London locations, with expansions listed in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. That is enough history to suggest Chicago is not a one-night residency trying to find its footing.
The Bib Gourmand credential is especially relevant because Berenjak is not being sold as luxury in the white-tablecloth sense. The appeal is a defined format with enough discipline to travel: charcoal grills, skewers, khoresht, mezze, breads, and a bar program that can hold a night together. Compared with Gymkhana, the JKS-backed restaurant with two Michelin stars, Berenjak should be judged less on ceremony and more on whether the food carries heat and rhythm from the first skewer to the last piece of bread.
That distinction helps set expectations. Do not book Berenjak Chicago because you want a starched tasting-menu room. Book because you want a London restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand in its backstory to test Chicago’s appetite for Persian charcoal-grill dining in a public-facing Soho House setting. The restaurant’s first-year Michelin recognition in London is the trust signal; the Fulton Market address is the access play.
The U.S. Rollout also matters. Berenjak began a residency at Dumbo House in New York in 2024 that was available only to members, then opened a garden-level location at Soho Warehouse in Los Angeles in August 2025, according to the source. Chicago is framed differently because non-Soho House members can dine there. Compared with Dumbo House, the Fulton Market opening is the more useful booking for travelers and locals without club access (Eater1).
Soho House, JKS, and the access question
The Soho House partnership could easily be the reason some diners hesitate. Member-club restaurants can feel like they are built for the room first and the food second. Berenjak has a better case than most because this is its third Soho House partnership and because JKS Restaurants is involved. The source specifically names Soho House and JKS as partners for the Chicago opening, which is a stronger setup than a licensing deal with no visible restaurant operator.
The key detail is public access. Soho House Chicago sits in Fulton Market, on Green Street, and the opening report says Berenjak Chicago will be open to non-members. That puts it in the same practical category as the Allis and Fox Bar, both cited as public-facing Soho House Chicago offerings. For diners, the membership question should not block the reservation decision. The better question is whether you want to eat Persian charcoal-grilled skewers and lamb khoresht inside the Soho House ecosystem.
That answer depends on the night. For a date or small group, the member-club setting may help: you get the address, the bar, and the club infrastructure without signing up for the club. For a destination dinner built entirely around food, you may want to wait for the menu, prices, and booking cadence. A restaurant can arrive with real credentials and still need a few weeks to settle into a new city, new staff, and a new room.
The partnership history gives Berenjak Chicago a built-in operating map. NYC tested the relationship as a members-only residency. Los Angeles followed with a Soho Warehouse location. Chicago now widens the door to the public. If the team executes, Fulton Market gets the most accessible American version of Berenjak to date. If the opening gets swamped, early diners will be paying with time as much as money.
Practical details: dates, location, and reservations
The confirmed basics are enough to plan around, but not enough to price the night. Berenjak will open in late September at Soho House Chicago in Fulton Market, in partnership with Soho House and JKS Restaurants. The restaurant will be open to non-Soho House members. Treat any unsourced specifics circulating before launch with caution.
For booking strategy, assume the first two weeks will be the hardest. This is a known London name, a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient from its first year, and a restaurant landing in a neighborhood already conditioned to chase openings. If reservations appear online, take the earliest reasonable weeknight slot rather than holding out for a prime Friday. If the restaurant staggers access through Soho House channels first, non-members should watch for public booking language tied specifically to Berenjak, not just Soho House events.
Order with the format in mind when you get in. Start with spiced mezze and bread, build the center of the table around charcoal-grilled meat skewers and lamb khoresht, then use the beverage list as part of the point of the Chicago opening. The olive leaf martini and watermelon cocktail are the two named drinks, and the extended wine list is part of the Chicago pitch. If you only have time for one drink and snacks, the bar may be a smart early read on execution before committing to a full dinner.
The Berenjak Chicago opening belongs on your late-September shortlist if you value access to a proven London restaurant more than you need a fully reviewed room. Track the first reservation drop, watch how the public-access language appears, and expect the real test to be simple: charcoal heat, bread timing, lamb khoresht, and whether Soho House can make a public restaurant feel like the reason to enter the building.
