If there is a room so pretty and so dripping with history that it just reaches out and demands diners to fill it, it’s the main dining room at the Chicago Athletic Association hotel. Formerly home to Cherry Circle Room (which closed in 2025 when the hotel ended its contract with restaurant group Land and Sea Dept.), the space has been reborn as The Ives, a modern grill room that keeps the best parts of the space while going more classic with the cuisine.
The Chicago Athletic Association’s food and beverage operations are now under the control of Boka Restaurant Group, and the group has slowly been making its mark. The entrance lounge and the Game Room have expanded menus. They turned the space that was once the Milk Room cocktail bar into the omakase spot Midosuji (it is also currently being reimagined and reopens June 9). For The Ives, Boka’s owners tapped Chris Pandel, chef at Swift and Sons and Zarella (and for those of you with long memories, The Bristol). “Rob [Katz] and Kevin [Boehm] told me they wanted to do a classic grill room, and that’s kind of my repertoire these days,” laughs Pandel. “It’s such a gorgeous room, I thought it would be fun to put together a program that makes sense for an old school, lounge-inspired restaurant.”
While Boka has made some modifications to the space (more green accents; less carpet) the bones are the same as always, especially the iconic gigantic bar. While Cherry Circle Room had a menu that, while excellent, was very eclectic, Pandel is leaning hard into the grill room idea. What does that mean? “Stuff that is Midwestern, craveable, fun, and a little bit of a throwback without being too on the nose.” Take the restaurant’s signature dish — prime rib, carved tableside. For Pandel’s version of the classic supper club treat, he takes A4 wagyu ribeyes, cures them for days, slow cooks them with a peppercorn crust, and seasons the jus with star anise, cinnamon, and chiles. “The challenge of doing things that are ubiquitous is how to make them surprisingly good.”
The prime rib isn’t the only tableside touch at The Ives. There’s a relish cart, a nod at least in name to the supper club tradition of a relish tray, though a bit more upscale. Diners who order the cart are served a variety of small starter bites, like a spring onion tea sandwich or chicken liver mousse with strawberry and miso. There’s a baked Alaska flamed tableside, a Champagne cart, and a take on an Alpine dish that Pandel is calling chocolate toast — think crispy bread covered with chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate, shaved in front of you.
Most welcome for fans of that giant bar is a new bar menu filled with snacks. Crispy smelts with tartar sauce (local when in season), smoked whitefish dip, “hidden valley” crudites (with housemade ranch) and even, if you’re craving something super simple with your cocktail, housemade chicken nuggets. And of course, there’s a full menu of classic cocktails to sip alongside the snacks.
The Ives soft opened earlier this week, and its first official day was yesterday. The restaurant is only open for dinner.