Restaurant in Chicago, United States
Michelin Plate value that rewards repeat visits.
S.K.Y. delivers globally minded contemporary cooking — tikka masala lamb, Korean-inflected bibimbap, and a dependable banana budino — at a $$ price point that's hard to match for Michelin Plate, top-100 OAD-ranked dining in Chicago. Easy to book, with Saturday–Sunday brunch adding a second register worth exploring on return visits.
Yes — and it rewards repeat visits more than most restaurants in its price range. S.K.Y. sits at the $$ price tier for globally minded contemporary cuisine, holds a Michelin Plate (2024), and ranks #89 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual in North America list (2024) — credentials that put it well above its price point. If you've been once and wondered whether to return, the answer is go back and work through the menu systematically. The kitchen at 2300 N Lincoln Park W keeps a rotating roster alongside reliable classics, which makes the second and third visit as purposeful as the first.
S.K.Y. now operates from the first floor of the Belden-Stratford apartment complex in Lincoln Park. The room reads formal enough for a special occasion but relaxed enough that you won't feel out of place in smart-casual clothes. Tall ceilings and dim lighting define the space , it's the kind of room where the lighting does real work, keeping the atmosphere intimate without making it feel cramped. If you're returning after the previous location, the physical setting has changed but the cooking sensibility has not.
Chef Stephen Gillanders runs a globally informed menu that doesn't stay confined to a single culinary tradition. Roasted lamb meatballs with tikka masala butter sit alongside bibimbap with charred vegetables and mushroom bulgogi , dishes that draw from South Asian and Korean technique without forcing a fusion narrative. This is cooking that takes reference points seriously rather than using them as decoration. The menu has both evolved signatures and newer additions, which is exactly the dynamic that makes a multi-visit approach worthwhile.
On your first visit, anchor around the kitchen's classics. The banana budino has staying power on the menu for a reason , order it. Build the savory portion of the meal around one of the globally inflected mains, the lamb meatballs being the obvious entry point given how well the tikka masala butter works as a framing device for what the kitchen is trying to do. This visit tells you whether the cuisine's cross-cultural approach clicks for you.
The kitchen adds new dishes alongside the classics, and the second visit is where you stress-test them. Newer dessert constructions , like strawberries and champagne with pistachio cake, strawberry ice cream, and crémant , are worth prioritizing here. The format rewards diners who are willing to let the menu evolve rather than defaulting to the same order each time. Ask your server which dishes are recent additions; at a place like S.K.Y., that question gets a useful answer.
Saturday and Sunday brunch (10 am–2 pm) is a different experience from dinner and one that Lincoln Park regulars tend to underuse. The same kitchen, a lower price pressure, and a room that reads differently in daylight. If you've done two dinners, brunch is where you consolidate the relationship with the restaurant rather than treating it as a one-register experience.
The OAD rankings are particularly telling here. Moving from Highly Recommended in 2023 to a ranked position in 2024 suggests a kitchen that's trending upward, not coasting. At $$, S.K.Y. punches above its price category against Chicago peers that charge significantly more for comparable or lesser cooking.
Reservations: Easy to book , no weeks-long wait required, which is unusual for a Michelin Plate restaurant in Chicago. Book a few days out for weekends, walk-in availability may exist mid-week. Hours: Monday–Thursday 5–10 pm; Friday–Saturday 5–10:30 pm; Saturday–Sunday brunch 10 am–2 pm; Sunday dinner 5–10 pm. Address: 2300 N Lincoln Park W, Chicago , first floor of the Belden-Stratford complex. Budget: $$ price range makes this one of the better-value credentialed restaurants in the city. Dress: Smart casual is the standard; the room's dim lighting and tall ceilings read as a dressed-up space, but there's no formal requirement. Group size: Works well for two or four; larger groups should confirm table configurations when booking.
See the comparison section below for how S.K.Y. stacks up against Chicago's other leading tables.
If S.K.Y. is on your list, these are worth knowing: Boka and Elske operate in similar contemporary New American territory but at higher price points. Girl & The Goat is the casual alternative if you want a livelier room with a lower commitment. For something more experimental and intimate, EL Ideas is worth the research. Alinea remains the ceiling for progressive American cooking in Chicago if budget isn't a constraint.
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If you're benchmarking S.K.Y. against contemporary American cooking in other cities, relevant comparisons include Lazy Bear in San Francisco, The Wolf's Tailor in Denver, and Sons & Daughters in San Francisco. For fine dining at significantly higher price points, Le Bernardin in New York City, The French Laundry in Napa, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, Providence in Los Angeles, and Emeril's in New Orleans provide useful calibration for what the leading of the category looks like.
Smart casual is the right call. The Belden-Stratford room has tall ceilings and dim lighting that make it feel like a proper dinner-out setting, so jeans and a blazer or a simple dress works well. There's no formal dress code, and arriving overdressed would be as out of place as arriving in athleisure. For context, S.K.Y. sits at the $$ price range, which tracks with a relaxed-but-considered dress standard rather than the jacket-required formality you'd find at a $$$$ Chicago table.
Bar seating availability isn't confirmed in the available data, so call ahead if that's your preference. What is clear is that the restaurant is easy to book , no extended lead time required , so securing a table rather than relying on bar access is direct. For a globally inflected New American menu in Chicago where bar dining is a more established option, Girl & The Goat is worth considering as an alternative.
The banana budino is the dessert to anchor your meal around , it has remained on the menu through the kitchen's evolution, which is a signal worth taking seriously. On the savory side, the roasted lamb meatballs with tikka masala butter are the dish that leading illustrates what chef Stephen Gillanders is doing: technically grounded cooking that pulls from South Asian and Korean reference points without losing coherence. On a return visit, ask your server which dishes are new additions , the kitchen rotates in fresh items alongside classics, and that's where the second-visit interest lies.
S.K.Y. operates at the $$ price range, which positions it as a la carte or prix-fixe dining rather than a full tasting menu format in the style of Chicago's $$$$ tables. If you're looking for a structured tasting menu experience in Chicago, Alinea or Elske are the more appropriate options. S.K.Y.'s value case is strongest in its price tier: Michelin Plate recognition and top-100 OAD rankings at $$ is a combination that makes the per-head spend easy to justify without needing a tasting menu format to deliver it.
For a first visit, go at dinner , the dim lighting and full evening menu give you the clearest read on what the kitchen is doing. Brunch (Saturday and Sunday, 10 am–2 pm) is the better choice for a third or fourth visit once you've already worked through the dinner menu. The daytime room reads differently, and brunch tends to carry lower price pressure. If you've been to S.K.Y. for dinner twice and want to keep the relationship with the restaurant without repeating the same experience, brunch is the logical next move.
Dress as you would for a considered night out — not black-tie, but not casual either. The room at the Belden-Stratford has tall ceilings and dim lighting that reads special-occasion, so smart evening wear fits the space well. S.K.Y. sits at the $$ tier, which means you won't feel overdressed in a blazer or underdressed in clean, neat clothing. Think date-night register rather than business formal.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in current venue data, so call ahead before planning a walk-in bar visit. What is confirmed: the dining room is the main event, and with reservations described as easy to book a few days out, there's little reason to gamble on walk-in availability at a Michelin Plate restaurant.
Order the banana budino — it has held a place on the menu through multiple iterations, which is a reliable signal that it earns its spot. On the savory side, the roasted lamb meatballs with tikka masala butter and the bibimbap with charred vegetables and mushroom bulgogi reflect the globally informed direction Chef Stephen Gillanders runs. For dessert variety, newer additions like strawberries and champagne with pistachio cake are worth exploring on a second visit.
S.K.Y. is a $$ restaurant, not a tasting-menu-primary format — the kitchen runs a contemporary à la carte menu with globally minded dishes rather than a structured omakase or prix-fixe as its core offering. If a multi-course tasting experience is what you're after, Smyth or Alinea operate in that format at higher price points. S.K.Y.'s value case is the breadth and quality of its regular menu at the $$ price tier.
Dinner is the primary format and where the full menu is available five nights a week. Brunch (Saturday and Sunday, 10 am–2 pm) is the better choice if you want the same kitchen at a lower-commitment time slot — it's a different experience from dinner and reportedly underused by Lincoln Park regulars. First-timers should start with dinner to get the full picture of what Chef Stephen Gillanders is doing.
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