The Kennison Debuts in Lincoln Park

The Kennison, a contemporary American neighborhood restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Hotel Lincoln, is now open. The Kennison is a new restaurant from 90/94 Restaurant Group partners, Ryan See and Dan Warren, in partnership with Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm of Chicago’s Boka Restaurant Group.

The Kennison’s menu will be characterized by classic flavors with unique twists. Bill Walker, a Springfield native who honed his culinary skills working in a variety of Chicago restaurants, including Old Town Social, Wood Restaurant, Salero and The Green Zebra, will oversee the menu. He plans to utilize the restaurant’s close proximity to Green City Market and will focus on both seasonality and sustainability.

Featured dishes are:

● Tagliatelle with buckwheat, green garlic, fava, maitake

● Chicken with peas, asparagus, sausage, lemon

● Vegetarian “Pastrami on Rye:” pastrami-spiced and smoked carrots with sauerkraut, beets, horseradish, caraway

● Kennison Burger with cheddar, house pickles, russian dressing, charred onion, romaine

● Mussels with chorizo, sorrel, sourdough

● Little gem salad with buttermilk, goat cheese, celery, radish

One of the restaurant’s features will be their “rawtender,” who will man the restaurant’s selection of raw seafood on ice at the end of the bar. Expect him to be dishing up bites like fluke crudo, tuna tartare and fresh oysters with a frozen champagne mignonette.

The drink menu features nine fresh summer cocktails, like the Hard to Please (Peligrosso tequila, watermelon, lime and tajin) and The Kennison Old Fashioned (Old Forrester bourbon, root beer, vanilla and sassafras tincture). Eight beers will be on tap, along with eight bottles and cans. The wine list features eighty wine bottles, with 24 offered by the glass.

Photo credit: Huge Galdones