Chicago’s West Loop added a new neighborhood spot in April when All Well opened, offering both a five-course tasting and casual bar bites under the direction of former Oriole chef de cuisine Larry Feldmeier. The restaurant’s mix of meticulous technique and relaxed service makes it useful whether you’re marking a milestone or just stopping in for a late-night sandwich after a game.
All Well was launched by Feldmeier with co-partner Noah Sandoval, another familiar name from Oriole’s kitchen. The concept deliberately blurs lines between formal tasting menus and approachable, a la carte cooking: reservations for the curated tasting sit alongside bar seating that serves standalone dishes and beers.
What the kitchen is doing
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Early mornings in the kitchen start with hands-on preparations. Chefs grind sausage in-house, folding truffle and mustard into ground chicken to fill dry-aged quail that rest before service. Elsewhere the team bastes a rich, steak-sauce-coated short rib that’s served as a late-night sandwich—an answer to Chicago’s upscale burger trend that aims for the same comfort without pretending to be a burger.
The pasta course features half-moon ravioli—known as mezzelune—packed with cheese and potato, finished in a glossy beurre monté with fresh peas. A warm chicken brodo arrives at the table to be poured over the pasta, and a puffed-grain toast topped with buckwheat butter accompanies the dish.
Small plates and technique
Starters on the prix-fixe route include an inventive sunchoke beignet: a truffle- and sunchoke-flavored custard is flash-frozen and dropped into batter before frying, creating a contrast of textures and temperatures. Other early bites pair luxurious and rustic elements, such as a foie gras mousse sandwiched in a stroopwafel with rhubarb jam and fresh strawberries, alongside a smoked trout tart that keeps the menu grounded in savory flavors.
Feldmeier frames the project simply: the aim was to build a place that serves different needs for different nights, rather than chasing accolades. That philosophy shows in the menu balance—refined techniques applied to dishes people will return to on casual evenings.
- Prix-fixe: five-course tasting that highlights seasonal and technical cooking
- Bar bites: a la carte options including the hearty short rib sandwich for late service
- Signature preparations: house-ground sausage for quail, frozen custard-filled beignets, mezzelune with beurre monté
- Service style: flexible seating and menus suited to both special occasions and walk-in nights
An episode of Now Open documents a full day in All Well’s kitchen, from prep to service, illustrating how a team from a two-Michelin-star background adapts to a more relaxed neighborhood model while keeping creative ambition intact.
| Practical info | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant | All Well |
| Address | 111 North Carpenter Street, Chicago, IL 60607 |
| Phone | 312-854-0122 |
| Website | allwellchicago.com |
Why this matters now: the opening reflects a broader shift among chefs trained in fine-dining kitchens who are translating their skills into restaurants that must serve many roles—neighborhood hangout, destination for tasting-menu diners, and late-night stop—responding to how people want to eat in a single evening.
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