LOGAN SQUARE — After a busy afternoon cooking dishes for a menu preview event, Christian Hunter took off his apron and looked to his three sous chefs behind the kitchen counter.
“I want you guys to take two days off for all your hard work today,” Hunter said to them.
Hunter’s calm leadership and communal energy were evident as he prepared for Thursday’s opening of Hooligan, 2528 N. California Ave., a neo-Midwestern bistro and bar with a meat- and seafood-focused menu rooted in the culture of the Great Lakes region and his Kentucky upbringing.
The rotating menu is inspired by food made by Black people during American colonial times, influenced by French cuisine at the time, Hunter said.
“The beginning of American food started with African Americans who were obviously enslaved Africans at the time, but French chefs were brought over to train them,” he said. “Although historically it’s there, there’s very little to do with people of color, especially Black people, when we talk about American food.”
Hunter, a Lexington, Kentucky native, said he has often been the only Black chef in the kitchen and in leadership during his career. With Hooligan, he wanted to showcase the importance of local food and history while reclaiming the term “hooligan,” which has historically negative connotations.
“Hooligan is like this three-phase situation: There’s this historical thing, there’s this personal thing, but then hooligans are also people seeking out really cool dining experiences, not necessarily because of the pretentiousness of it, but because it’s really great food and it has a story behind it,” he said.
Hooligan’s neo-Midwestern cooking blends classic French techniques with ingredients and recipes from the Great Lakes region. The restaurant isn’t a fine-dining concept, but it will have à la carte dishes that reflect his fine-dining skills, he said.
Caviar, deviled eggs, butcher’s steak and local bean ragoût are some of the items on the starting Hooligan menu, seen Sept. 22, 2026 in Logan Square. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
Deviled eggs with beef tartare and burnt chermoula is a complimentary item on the Hooligan menu, seen Sept. 22, 2026 in Logan Square. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
The butcher’s steak on the Hooligan menu has sauce bordelaise, bistro salad and pommes grand-mère, seen Sept. 22, 2026 in Logan Square. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
An old fashioned and a mezcal sour cocktail are some of the drink options at Hooligan, seen Sept. 22, 2026 in Logan Square. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
The opening menu, which will rotate depending on the season and local ingredients, includes a complimentary dish of deviled eggs with beef tartare and burnt chermoula; local bean ragoût, a French dish with a base of regional beans, mirepoix, herbs, tomato-cabbage summer salad and cured smoked pork served on the side; butcher’s steak with bistro salad; paddlefish caviar service and more.
Hooligan will also offer freshwater fish dishes, local cheese plates, a Southern cornbread, a vegetable bucatini side and desserts like profiteroles and puff pastries with chocolate sauce and cocoa nibs, served with toasted rice butter pecan ice cream.
“Fine dining is what I think others will apply to us but … [we] want to feed our neighbors coming in and experiencing the service and the food … and then we hope you come back,” Hunter said.
His team, which includes head bartender Aaron Michael Wells and general manager and partner, Tyrone Redic Jr., hopes to add to the diverse cuisines found along California Avenue and revive the storefront that was briefly home to Good Fortune, which opened in 2019 and closed at the pandemic’s start.
Hooligan was originally going to open inside Time Out Market in Fulton Market but had to find a new home after Time Out closed in January. That search took Hunter and Redic to California Avenue, which has seen newer restaurants open in recent years.
Hooligan at 2528 N. California Ave. in Logan Square takes over the former Good Fortune spot and has 50 seats, seen Sept. 22, 2026. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
Hunter, a James Beard Award finalist, headed the kitchen at Atelier, where he won the 2023 Michelin Young Chef Award before departing the now-closed Lincoln Square restaurant. He stepped out of the executive chef role in early 2024, looking for a fresh adventure — but didn’t plan to open his own spot, he said.
“It was not the intention when I moved here, but I felt the need to want to finally put all of my years of experience and a culmination of my history, my time, my experience, into one place,” said Hunter.
Hooligan has received national buzz even before opening with a mention in Bon Appétit magazine as one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in the U.S. this fall.
Hooligan will be open for dinner 5-10 p.m. Thursday-Monday and for private events Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
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