Make plans for new restaurants coming to the suburbs in 2026

A new year brings with it the promise of a plethora of new restaurants that are anticipated to open in the suburbs in 2026. Here’s a taste of what we know is to come, including Chicago darling avec, The Grand Social House & Tavern and two locations from all-you-can-eat Waygu experience Chubby Cattle BBQ.

And here we go.

Wheeling’s Restaurant Row will be welcoming a new eatery at 550 S. Milwaukee Ave. in the space formerly occupied by Tuscany. Owner Arun Sharma, who operates Indian Garden Chicago in the Streeterville neighborhood and Mantra by Indian Garden in Schiller Park, says Ahara will be a “a destination restaurant” and promises upscale Indian dining with a lounge, private event space and exterior dining areas for patrons.

One of Chicago’s most celebrated restaurants — avec — is opening its first suburban location this spring in Highwood. It will be the third location for the restaurant, which won Jean Banchet’s Restaurant of the Year Award in January 2025 and was included in Season 2 of FX’s series “The Bear.” The anticipated restaurant at 250 Waukegan Ave. will feature a menu described as “rustic,” with a focus on Mediterranean and Midwestern-inspired shared plates.

Burl, the debut restaurant from the husband-and-wife team of chef Thomas Carlin and Rachel Canfora-Carlin, promises to bring a warm, community-centered dining experience highlighting the deep relationships between chefs and local farmers to Evanston in early 2026. The restaurant will be at 2545 Prairie Ave.

Chubby Cattle BBQ will make its presence known in the suburbs with two new locations in 2026, one in Rosemont’s Parkway Bank Park and another at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. The rapidly expanding chain that started in Los Angeles in 2023 offers what they describe as a “premium, all-you-can-eat Waygu experience.” Diners can choose from a three-tier, all-you-can-eat menu priced between $55 and $85 per person featuring American and Australian full-blood Wagyu, Japanese A5 Wagyu, and a variety of seafood, sushi, hot dishes and vegetables.

810 Billiards & Bowling will take over the space formerly occupied by Pinstripes in The Arboretum of South Barrington. The venue will combine bowling, billiards, arcade games, virtual sports and full-service dining in what they characterize as an upscale, family-friendly environment. They currently operate about 15 locations across the United States, including in Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, California and Arizona.

Schaumburg-based Ala Carte Entertainment plans to open a Finn McCool’s Irish Sports Pub and Banquets at 373 W. Dundee Road in the Wheeling Town Center complex. The roughly 6,600-square-foot building had been occupied by Mia’s Cantina, which closed in April after less than five years in business. Ala Carte operates numerous suburban staples including Moretti’s, Bella Napoli, Chandler’s and more.

Fire + Wine will bring its wood-fired gourmet pizzas, shareable Italian-style tapas and plentiful pastas to the east side of St. Charles in January. The eatery, at 200 N. Kirk Road, will be the second location for Fire + Wine, joining the original in Glen Ellyn. Owner Brian Goewey also operates Gia Mia Pizza Bar and moto imoto in St. Charles.

The Grand Social House & Tavern will bring homestyle Italian comfort food, handcrafted cocktails and more to Wauconda in early 2026 to the former Middleton’s at 110 S. Main St. The restaurant’s name pays homage to the original use of the building as the Grand Hotel, said to date to the mid-1800s.

You may have read this before in a very similar story, but HopScotch is expected to open in Schaumburg in 2026. The long-promised restaurant at 40 S. Roselle Road will offer British-, Indian- and American-style pub fare with menu items such as chicken and mushroom pies, Cornish pasties, beans on toast, samosas, lamb keema, chicken curry, Chana masala, sliders, wings, jumbo shrimp, hummus, mac and cheese bites and more.

Indiyaana is expected to open at 1301 American Lane in Schaumburg with a menu including dishes from multiple regions of India featuring both traditional and modern influences. The 22,000-square-foot restaurant and banquet hall space first opened in 2006 as Entourage and has since been occupied by David Burke’s Grillhouse, The Clubhouse, and was most recently divided between the co-owned Schaumburg Indian Grill and Schaumburg Banquet until both closed in February 2024.

Little Pops NY Pizzeria will open a new dine-in restaurant at 1033 Kilbery Lane in North Aurora. It will be the local eatery’s fourth location offering its award-winning pizza. It also will offer a bar, party room, NY slices, delivery and carry out.

Wheeling will welcome Red Bottle Restaurant, which will open in the vacant storefront at 401 E. Dundee Road in Riverside Plaza. Dmitry Khlebnikov, who owns Red Bottle Bar in Elmwood Park, envisions a full-service restaurant with entertainment that will be open daily for lunch and dinner. The space has been vacant since Social Bar & Grill closed following a fatal shooting in November 2024.

Rosebud Steakhouse will join the new Fox Haven Square lifestyle development under construction in St. Charles. It will be the fifth location for the Chicago-style steakhouse, which offers locally sourced dry- and wet-aged cuts of Angus beef.

Uzu Revolving Sushi — a dine-in restaurant with a fresh take on rotary sushi that embraces cutting-edge mechanized delivery of sushi created by hand — is expected to open in Yorktown Center in Lombard. The small dishes, which include rolls, nigiri, sashimi and more, are delivered on conveyor belts and by server robots.

Vibez on the River is coming to 29 W. New York St. in Aurora, promising to bring “flavor, music and community together” with a view of the Fox River. Signature dishes are slated to include “lamb chopz,” catfish filet and “marry me chicken pasta.”

Yardhouse, the national chain known for its craft beer selection and extensive sports bar menu, will build its fifth suburban Chicago location on the northeast corner of Berwyn Avenue and Pearl Street in The Pearl District in Rosemont in 2026. It joins locations in Glenview, Lombard, Naperville and Vernon Hills.