La Maison Marcel opens gourmet restaurant, Sushi Taku expands to Lincoln Park and more North Side Food News

935 W. Webster Ave.
773-799-8149
Noon-3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, noon-3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday

Sushi Taku, an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant, has opened a location in Lincoln Park with a conveyor belt that serves food to customers. The conveyor belt allows customers to grab the buns as they pass by, although the restaurant also offers an a la carte menu, said owner Tom Li.

The restaurant also serves “carpaccio, donburi, ramen, poke bowls and a good selection of desserts,” Li said.

Sushi Taku has locations in Wicker Park and Logan Square.

3231 N. Clark Street
872-315-2034
9 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday

Istmo, an Oaxacan-inspired Mexican restaurant from chef Carlos López Muñoz, opened this summer in Northalsted.

The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch, but will soon expand with dinner hours. Itsmo organizes private dinners with a set menu on certain evenings.

The menu features Oaxacan-inspired dishes like chilaquiles rojos with heirloom corn chips and roasted tomato salsa, topped with a fried egg.

1529 N. Wells Street
312-898-8925
4:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Wednesday to Monday

Gavroche, which opens Wednesday in Old Town, is the latest venture from Jason Chan, formerly of Juno, Butter and Urban Union.

Gavroche, which means “mischievous child” in French and is the name of the main character in “Miserables,” is a 32-seat restaurant serving modern French cuisine.

The kitchen is led by Mitchell Acuña, a classically French-trained chef whose CV includes Michelin-starred restaurants BOKA, North Pond and Sixteen.

“Nouveau cuisine as we know it is more than 50 years old,” Chan said in a statement announcing the news. “Chef Acuña and I love classics – who doesn’t? But there’s a movement happening in other parts of the world — from Paris to London to Tokyo — that we haven’t really seen in the United States yet, and that movement is sharing French cuisine from a modern perspective . Gavroche aims to present the “new news”.

Gavroche’s breads and desserts will be made by pastry chef Christine McCabe, who has worked at Joël Robuchon in Paris, Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago and Metropolitan in Salt Lake City.