Openings

Get Ready For Tickets, Elizabeth Arrives September 19

Iliana Regan, of upcoming Elizabeth.
Iliana Regan, of upcoming Elizabeth. Photo: Sky Full of Bacon

It could be the hardest-to-get ticket in town since Next and Alinea. And it will be a ticket, using the same ticketing system that Nick Kokonas and team developed for Next. Longtime underground dinner chef Iliana Regan’s Elizabeth will open on Wednesday, September 19 and ticketing will go live “soon,” likely the next few days. The Lincoln Square storefront restaurant, only the fourth restaurant to use the system after Next, Alinea, and New York’s NoMad, will use it to take reservations for two or four, while larger and odd-numbered parties will be booked by telephone.

Prices will range from $65 to $95 (depending on day) for the farm to table Owl Menu of 8 to 10 courses, to $125 to $155 for The Deer Menu, 12-14 courses driven by foraged ingredients, to $175 to $205 for The Diamond Menu of 20 to 25 courses described as “gastronomic” and “challenging.” Even moreso than with Next, the very specific nature of booking dinner at Elizabeth for one of its three menus served at communal tables, and the desire to reduce food waste from parties who don’t show up, led Regan to want to use Next’s system— albeit with more of a human interface befitting the handcrafted feel of her restaurant.

We tried a few of Regan’s dishes and saw the space in progress while shooting video for an upcoming Reader profile, and while it may seem presumptuous of a north side storefront to charge those kinds of prices or display that kind of fine dining ambition, we have little doubt that Regan, who has pulled off those kinds of miracles for several years in her apartment as One Sister Dining, is going to create one of the most unusual, personal and magical dining experiences in the city.

Get Ready For Tickets, Elizabeth Arrives September 19