The combination of fine dining and fine art is not new; there was a time when restaurants bragged about their art collections, and dining beneath expensive paintings was part of the ritual of going to a fancy eatery. Justin Vaiciunas’s new restaurant, LIA, aims to put a dramatic new spin on the interaction of art and cuisine, with all of the fun and none of the fuss.

Vaiciunas has one of the most geographically diverse resumes that I’ve seen. He’s run restaurants and hotels everywhere from Dallas to the Hamptons, from Palm Beach to San Diego. He even did a stint in Chicago about 10 years ago, working as (of all things) a corporate chef for Whirlyball. Most recently, he’s been running The Jackson in Detroit, an art-focused spot inspired by Jackson Pollock.

After a few expansion deals around Detroit fell through, Vaiciunas looked to Chicago. “We want to be in a food town, a big city,” he says. “Chicago is, in my opinion, the only major food city aside from New York or Miami. My uncle used to play for the Blackhawks; I have a lot of connections here.” The real estate worked out — the space that used to house Bohemian House and Flora Fauna (11 W. Illinois St.) was available and LIA was born.

The restaurant’s name stands for Life Imitates Art, and the first thing that a diner will see when they walk into the restaurant is what Vaiciunas describes as “the biggest painting in the city that weighs over 1,000 pounds — it starts the energy off right.” The restaurant is full of art and the current focus is on the artist behind the Guest Check series at Laundry Room Studios (other artists will be similarly highlighted in the future).

Vaiciunas has created an entire tasting menu inspired by the art, including dishes like “Are you going to eat that pickle?” (black garlic beef tartare served with a housemade five spice pickle) and “Is that salmon farm raised?” (Ora king salmon with chive-parsley aioli, summer vegetables, and lemon hollandaise). Even the servers get into the act — for “Are you going to eat that pickle?,” the intention is for the guest to have enough pickle on their plate that they have some left over, and the server will ask them if they’re going to eat it, tying everything back to the artwork.

The restaurant has both a tasting menu ($110 for six courses) and an à la carte menu. There’s a substantial vegetable section, and the restaurant is very vegan and vegetarian friendly. The tasting menu will offer beverage pairings for $50, with a mix of wine and cocktails, including a mini espresso martini to finish, inspired by another Guest Check piece.

Expect some dramatic looking dishes — every item on the menu has its own specific serviceware (“we have 26 different kinds of plates,” says Vaiciunas) and the dishes have been designed to have more color and vibrancy than you might see at some other restaurants. “We don’t have anything basic,” laughs Vaiciunas.

LIA opens on June 5, and reservations are available now on Resy.