Journeyman Distillery

Name: Journeyman Distillery
Location: Three Oaks, MI
Design: DkGr Architects

One of my favorite stops when driving from Chicago up to Michigan is Journeyman Distillery. Located in the historic Featherbone factory,  Journeyman keeps the history of their space front and center. 

Local Favorite; Parson's Chicken & Fish

Name: Parson's Chicken & Fish
Location: Chicago, IL
Design: Land & Sea Dept

As a modern take on the classic neighborhood joint, Parson's created a vibrant and fun space that utilizes color, geometric shapes, and clean lines. 

Local favorite; The Purple Pig

Name: The Purple Pig
Location: Chicago, IL

The Purple Pig is easily one of my favorite dining spots in the city. With an intimate and warm space, great wine list, and fun menu it easily fits the bill for just about any occasion. Even with an hour average wait time (every day, all year long…), The Purple Pig is the restaurant we frequent the most often and the place we are most likely to take visitors.

Local Favorite: Bow Truss

Name: Bow Truss
Location: Chicago, IL


With NeoCon just around the corner, I wanted to give all those headed into town a look at one of my favorite coffee shops near the Mart.

Bow Truss is a local, small batch roaster with two locations in Chicago. While both serve amazing coffee, their newest location in River North is the stand out in terms of design. 

A smaller space than their original, the River North location still maintains the rustic, reclaimed, and hip nature the original East Lakeview location is known for but does it a more thoughtful and concentrated manor. 

Images © Zagat, Doejo

Our Work; The Salsa Truck

Local Chicagoans and food truck fanatics alike have probably already heard the great news. Chicago has officially given out its very first mobile food preparers license which allows chicago food trucks to now cook on-board. This historic moment for the restaurant and dining scene was added to by the fact that we had the pleasure of working with owner, Dan Salls on the first first food truck to ever cook on board, The Salsa Truck.

Kaper Design was responsible for the branding, logo, truck design, packaging, and all other printed goods. Here are a few images of our work;

A Look Back: 2012 Local Favorites

With 2012 over and 2013 just beginning, we thought we'd take a moment to look back on some of the best local favorites from the previous year. 

Clockwise from top left;

1. The Publican

2. Little Goat Bread

3. Ada Street

4. Trencherman

5. BellyQ

6. Telegraph

7. GT Fish & Oyster

Local Favorite; Little Goat Bread

Name: Little Goat Bread
Location: Chicago, IL

The newest venture from local favorite, Stephanie Izard, is a diner meets bakery located just across the street from her acclaimed restaurant Girl & the Goat. 

Local Favorite; Embeya

Name: Embeya
Location: Chicago, IL

One of the newest spots on Randolph Street is the highly regarded Embeya. Focusing on modern Asian cuisine with french technique, the interior corresponds well with the food presented.

Local Favorite; Big Shoulders Coffee

Name: Big Shoulders Coffee
Location: Chicago, IL

Big Shoulders takes cues from it's Chicago location with both the name, and interior.

The interior is kept simple with nods to Chicago's industrial & manufacturing background throughout.

Local Favorite: BellyQ

Name: BellyQ
Location: Chicago, IL

BellyQ, chef Bill Kim's newest restaurant has brought yet another interesting spot to the bustling West Loop food scene.

Our Work; The Savoy (Odyssey)

Name: The Savoy
Location: Chicago, IL

A project we had the pleasure of working on this past spring recently opened it's doors in the Wicker Park neighborhood, right here in Chicago. For this project, we were involved in the schematic & design development phases and helped the client layout the space, design the initial concept, as well as specify the initial FF&E items for within the space. 

The concept behind the space began with the original name for the space; Odyssey. Taking Homer's Epic and applying it to the space allowed us to play with a dark nautical concept. Using this as our starting base, we refined our concept down into natural and classic materials (woods, ropes, subway tile, mirrors) with warm earth tones for colors. To keep the space from going too nautical in feeling, we specified & envisioned industrial lighting, worn antiques and warm brass shelving mixed with pieces already owned. The space was ultimately renamed before opening but the initial concept remained.

Local Favorite; Grass Fed

Name: Grass Fed
Location: Chicago, IL

What I love about the interior of Grass Fed, a Bucktown/Wicker park steak house, is that the interior steers clear of any typical steakhouse associations. You could almost describe Grass Fed as your girlfriends steakhouse. The script font, bright interior, and topiaries all add a distinctive feminine touch to what has typically always been a masculine concept.

Local Favorite; The Publican

Name: The Publican
Location: Chicago, IL

One of my favorite spots in Chicago for oysters and meat is hands down, The Publican.

Located in Chicago's booming restaurant scene over in the West Loop, the space is communal and raw which goes perfectly with the food it serves.

Local Favorite; Ada Street

Name: Ada Street
Location: Chicago, IL

Tucked away in an industrial part of Chicago, Ada street restaurant is a welcome contrast to the gritty urban exterior. You enter through the dimly lit lounge and are guided down a long hall lined with vintage lockers storing the restaurants wine selection. At the end of the hall is additional vintage storage, but this time for their extensive record collection. The dining space opens up from here allowing you to pass by the open kitchen and head chef Zoe at the helm. 

A look at the intimate space;

A wide range of design aesthetics were used but all were kept minimal and comfortable. A banquet wrapped in army blankets flanks the wall with two-top spots in the center. The opposite wall is dominated by their large glass-backed, and well stocked bar. 

 Past the dining room is Ada's great outdoor back patio complete with artificial grass, picnic tables and checkered table clothes. While we were visiting, Ada was featuring a menu focused around the grill and luckily we got to experience some wonderful dishes cooked right outside our table. 

A look at what we ate;

Stuffed zucchini blossom with heirloom tomatoes, foie gras with bing cherries & toasted ciabatta, grilled market flatbread with zucchini, scallop with corn puree and crispy potato, and we ended the night with brioche donuts with port wine caramel.

I would go back for the scallop, flatbread and donuts. The zucchini blossom is always a win but I only wish they could have given two. The foie gras, was good, but served cold which threw me off a bit.

Photos 1&3 © Ada Street Facebook

Photos 2 &4 © Kaper Desgin

Local Favorite; Butcher & the Burger

Name: Butcher & the Burger
Location: Chicago, IL

One of the great things about the Chicago food scene is that you truly can create anything, and have it be successful as long as you stick to a concept. Butcher & the Burger did just that and created a great local burger spot in the process. Focused on made-to-order, custom burgers (think grass-fed, salmon, bison, etc.) and thick cut Kennebec fries, the local burger joint is also a butcher shop and classroom of sorts giving hands-on butcher & cooking experience to anyone interested.

The interior is a great mix of industrial and traditional Chicago. Exposed brick walls, industrial stools & fittings, antiques from old butcher shops, and hand-cut Carrara marble subway tiles help create a blend of high & low. 

With a traditional Chicago row-house space, seating was maximized with stools that swing out from under the metal & pipe bar. 

Image 1-2 © Timeout Chicago

Image 3 © LTH Forum

Image 4-5 © Google+

The Trencherman

Name: The Trencherman
Location: Chicago, IL
Design: Kevin Heisner

One of the newest restaurants to pop up here in Chicago is The Trencherman. With vintage details, rich woods, and some surprising pops of color, the space is one I'm excited to try out. I love the utilization of the pipes above the booths for lighting and the bar extending beyond, creating a table of sorts built-it. The pop is blue found in the seating area on the upper level, is separated enough for it to define the space while also providing a bit of a transition from the entry to the main dining space.

Happy 4th of July

In honor of the 4th, 

I wanted to share a few of our favorite spots here in the US.

The Bedford Post Inn

Bedford, NY

Hope & Union Cafe

Charleston, SC

Jeffery's Grocery

New York, NY

The Walrus & The Carpenter
Seattle, WA


Lillies Q
Chicago, IL



Blue Duck Tavern
Washington, DC

Local Favorite; GT Fish & Oyster

Name: GT Fish & Oyster
Location: Chicago, IL
Design: Karen Herold/555

GT Fish & Oyster opened up in the Near North area of Chicago over a year ago and I'm not sure how I've not posted about it yet. The space is extremely well designed and found it's inspiration from luxury yachts. With a bright and open entry and bar area featuring a boomerang shaped table, the space seamlessly evolves into a darker, more intimate dining space tucked in the back.

Pizza East

Name: Pizza East
Location: London ( & soon, Chicago!)

One of my most anticipated openings for Chicago is Pizza East, even though it isn't scheduled to open until Spring 2014. Already a staple for progressive pizza in London, the Chicago location will be tucked away off of Randolph Street (located inside the upcoming SoHo House). Using the location as the inspiration, the interior takes on an industrial-rustic feel. In addition to the actual dining space, Pizza East Shoreditch, also houses a deli, allowing you to take the seasonal and specialty ingredients home with you. Chicago's Randolph Street also has an industrial past and I can hardly wait to see a few similar elements and materials in their first US Pizza East space.

All images © Pizza East