Evanston is getting two new restaurants from the group behind Late Bloomer (Lincoln Park). Kinship and Next of Kin (625 S. Davis Street, Evanston) will together bring breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the northern suburb.
The two side-by-side spots will be helmed by chef Marco Bahena, who worked for years under chef Jean Joho at Everest. Next of Kin will offer a breakfast menu (think pastries, waffles, and biscuits) and a coffee bar via counter service, morphing into an extensive salad bar with grab-and-go options for lunch.
Things will be a bit more upscale at Kinship, which has a menu that Bahena describes as “rustic traditional American,” with most entrees coming out of a giant stone oven. “You can imagine it already,” Bahena says, “a fire-breathing oven with rustic wintery dishes.” Think: fall-off-the-bone roasted short ribs, crispy roasted chicken, meatballs, and lamb shanks. And it won’t just be about big hunks of meat: “I’m really excited to get vegetables out of that oven,” Bahena says.
The 100-seat spot is encased in glass, and during the summer, a glass garage door will open the entire space to the outdoors. With the better weather will come lighter dishes with Asian flavors, including a rice wine- and miso-glazed salmon with crispy kale.
Bahena is particularly excited about Kinship’s pastry program, calling the homemade eclairs a highlight item for both Next of Kin and Kinship. “Eclairs haven’t really hit Chicago yet, and we don’t want them to be too elaborate, but beautiful and approachable.”
Next of Kin opens on January 31, while Kinship will open the next week, on February 6. “What I want Kinship to be is an end-all be-all neighborhood restaurant for Evanston,” Bahena says.