Come 2026, Avec, one of Chicago’s most acclaimed restaurants, will open its first suburban spot inside a former boxing gym in Highwood.
The restaurant, from the James Beard award-winning group One Off Hospitality behind popular spots The Publican and Big Star, is slated to open at 250 Waukegan Ave. in the spring of 2026, the group confirmed to NBC Chicago in a release.
Earlier this week, rumors of the popular Mediterranean restaurant coming to the North Shore swirled after a flyer for an upcoming Highwood Design Week event surfaced.
“After years of building our presence across Chicago’s neighborhoods, we are thrilled to continue our expansion into the suburbs with the opening of avec Highwood,” Donnie Madia, Partner & Restaurateur, One Off Hospitality said in the release. “Chicago’s vibrant North Shore has always been a community we admire. We’ve spent time engaging directly with residents, asking what they hoped to see from One Off Hospitality, and the overwhelming response was a desire for avec. We’re proud to bring one of our most enduring restaurants to such a special neighborhood.”
According to the release, the new Highwood spot will transform an empty boxing gym and vacant lot into two dining rooms, including a bar. Construction on the 5,000 square-foot space will begin in November of 2025.
More details about the opening and architectural renderings of the space are expected to be revealed at a preview party for Highwood’s 7th Annual Design Week, the Chamber of Commerce said, which takes place throughout the city Sept. 16 through 19th.
The suburb, approximately 28 miles north of Chicago, is known for its restaurant scene, with longstanding spots including the family-owned and decades-old northern Italian restaurant Del Rio, and French bistro Miramar.
This past spring, local restauranters Josh Kaplan and Todd Stein opened Deere Park, at 200 Green Bay Road, in the former Greenwood space.
Avec first opened in 2003 in the West Loop, with a minimalist, communal aesthetic and Mediterranean- and Midwestern-inspired shared plates using ingredients from local Midwest purveyors the release said. In June, the restaurant landed on the New York Times’ list of the 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago, and gained even more popularity after appearance on Season 2 of FX’s restaurant dramedy The Bear.
Avec currently has three locations in Chicago, at 615 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop, 141 W. Erie in River North and bar Avec, at 640 N. LaSalle.
Dining and Cooking