We’ll take a break from our breathless James Beard Awards coverage to note that there might be something major happening in River North: stemming the seemingly endless tide of River North taco joints, a flood so massive that we renamed the neighborhood “Taco Valley,” come two steakhouses! Crain’s Chicago reports that the new construction at 300 N. LaSalle will play home to Chicago Cut Steakhouse, a new spot from the former owners of Rosebud Prime. The riverside restaurant, slated for a June opening, plans to offer on-site butchering of dry-aged meat.
Meanwhile, West Coast-based chain Mastro’s plans to open their first Chicago location in the old Blue Water Grill spot on Dearborn and Grand. The seem to have gotten around the semi-cursed nature of the massive space (before the now-shuttered Blue Water Grill, the spot was home to Wolfgang Puck’s not-so-hot Spago) by signing a lease with their landlord that gets him in on a cut of the profits. “The better we do, the more successful” he’ll be, co-owner Thomas Heymann told Crain’s.
River North to get 2 high-end steakhouses [Crain’s Chicago Business]
