Ruxbin

Ruxbin rocks my world… and what I really mean by that is that this is my favorite restaurant in all of Chicago and OF ALL TIME. I have visited several Michelin-​starred restaurants and much-​hyped and loved Chicago eateries, and at the end of the day, I honestly think Ruxbin deserves all the hype it gets and much more because I really think it tops many of these places.
I’ve been here three times now, and I’ve still never been disappointed. My first time visiting was back in 2012. This was before their new format with the shared courses. My friend and I decided to come here knowing that it was a BYOB place. We bought a pack of Bell’s from the corner liquor shop and stopped in, totally unprepared for this amazing culinary experience. The octopus totally lived up to all of the talk. I ordered a pork dish, and she ordered a seafood dish. Mine was excellent, hers was mindblowing. Upon finishing, we were sadly still hungry, but totally left smitten with the food and wishing we could have had more.
A year later, I returned with my SO with a bottle of wine, and I raved to him about the octopus. I ordered hanger steak, which went beautifully with our tempranillo, and he ordered a prawn dish. Mine was good, his was fantastic. Again, this was before the revamped menu.
Finally, December 2015, one year after moving to Los Angeles, I came back home for the holidays and took my parents here for their anniversary. This was the first time I encountered their new sharing menu. My parents don’t drink, so we didn’t take any alcohol this time, and mind you, my parents are all-​you-​can-​eat-​buffet type people, so I expected some grumbling over the size of the plates. My parents left full and shocked about it, and the lack of alcohol did not detract from the complexity and utter deliciousness of the dishes.
Ok, by this time, I had learned, and I was prepared. What is Ruxbin’s specialty? Not the meat. Go for the seafood. You hear? THE SEAFOOD.
Now that you know that important tidbit, let me give you a list of all the great things about this place and some helpful suggestions for getting the most out of your Ruxbin experience:
–Make a reservation and go with a group of 2 – 3. Trust. Otherwise, you will have to a.) wait a really long time, and b.) split your small plates between many hungry mouths.
–With a small group, the new sharing menu actually gives you more food for your money than the old menu.
–Yes, the plates are small. I honestly feel like this cultivated a respect and greater appreciation for the complexity of the flavors. My parents did grumble about the size of the dishes, but since the small plates were paced out, the three of us ended feeling very full by the end of the experience, but not disgustingly bloated to the point of hating ourselves and maybe despising the food a little.
–For the hungry, just know that for dessert, you get individual plates. You do not have to split your dessert between the people in your party. Each person can get whatever dessert they want on the menu.
–Appreciate the skill of the wait staff. They know the menu like the back of their hands, and their presentation of the food is wonderful.
–Check out the bathroom! It’s sooooo cool. Seriously, coolest bathroom ever.
Bonus points: I love Asian food, and this place has heavy Asian influence in flavor. Yum. Also, they gave my parents an extra dish courtesy of the kitchen for their anniversary. Very kind.
Ruxbin, you are the bomb.

Really, 4.5 stars but decided to round up. This place has been on my bucket list for the past couple years. The food met and exceeded my expectations.
The atmosphere is perfect for an intimate group dinner (or in my case, dinner with the BF and my dad). I chose the restaurant specifically for the shared plates in hopes that it would exude a (subliminal) communal, less formal feel. Also my dad was paying.
The best dish of the night? For me it was definitely the jackfruit carnitas, just for the experience. It tasted like nothing I’ve ever had before and I totally did a double take. For a while I was certain I was eating shredded pork, except somehow the lightest pork I’ve ever had. Surprisingly satisfying.
For my boyfriend, it was the shrimp and scallops. He loved the broth so much that he tried to steal mine. No dice.
Only drawbacks, the bread pudding dessert with coconut. It was an extremely chef-​y dish, very composed and tweezer-​ified. I get where it was trying to go, the taste profiles just didn’t gel together as well and it was slightly soapy. The chocolate dessert on the other hand… *muah*
P. S. Sometimes they’re hard to reach on the phone. They don’t always return your messages as well.

Ruxbin is just one of those restaurants. I’m constantly trying to find ‘another Ruxbin’ in whatever city I’m traveling in — it was a special experience with absolutely delicious food in a great environment. BYOB, so bring a bottle (or two) of wine to enjoy while you work your way through this amazing menu. The octopus was awesome, we were picking the dish apart at the end and asking the waitress about the different ingredients so we could one day recreate it. It’s not cheap, but it was an unforgettable meal. Can’t recommend enough!

Wow, what a quaint and quirky restaurant in Noble Square. Servers were stellar and very polite.
Wednesday’s prix fixe menu included a wide selection of savory appetizers, entrees and desserts where you can pick any five dishes of your choosing.
For starters, we were greeted with a sample of apple cider in its early stage and soft-​core bread with onion butter, parsley and radishes.
Onwards with the delectable ensemble:
1. Foie gras with croutons, water chestnut purée, and chestnuts.
2. Octopus garnished with ginger, scallion, grapes and lightly roasted chickpeas.
3. Jackfruit carnitas with three sister grits, smoked tomatoes, escabeche.
4. Day boat scallops and wild golf shrimp with black garlic, fennel, and shrimp bisque.
5. Rohan duck over green lentils.
Very delicious and beautiful presentation. A+

I like the food here. I’ve been here twice. Both times to celebrate my birthday. The second time, we were told that we had to participate in a sharing menu. Picking four or five dishes for the entire table. As a control freak, I didn’t like the sound of this at first, but I embraced it. It turned out to be a better experience. The sharing. Just the act of the four of us collaborating, voting and compromising to come up with our menu was fun. I can’t remember what we had but I do remember being very happy, enjoying the company and that we all liked everything very much.

Love love love the ambiance of the place. The food was really good! Fine dining that is BYOB, you can’t really get that anywhere else. Great place to bring a date but don’t bring your own dessert (it’s not allowed).

Looking at the restaurant menu I never would have chosen this place for dinner. But fortunately my friend picked it for her birthday dinner and because it was her birthday I went along. I am so glad I did. To start, the restaurant is BYOB, so pack a good bottle or two for the table. If you forget to bring your bottles, no worries, the Noble Grape will deliver and can recommend bottles to pair with your meal. Second, it’s a prix fixe dinner. 5 plates for $ 65 per person. Everything but dessert is served family style. For dessert you can get individual orders, so you can try both. The restaurant is intimate with quaint décor.
Service was impeccable and the wait staff is able to provide great recommendations. Think about the types of proteins and vegetables you like to eat to make your decision, but don’t go just by the menu because it sounds like a lot of stuff, and when the food comes out it is a lot of things you may have never had before but you’ll be glad you took this food adventure. Everything was delicious with unexpected flavors that somehow all worked together. I never would have thought of making jackfruit carnitas, and had no idea what to expect, but the waitress recommended it and I’m so glad she did. I’m sad I couldn’t try the entire menu, but the food we had was perfectly portioned to fill us up. The only negative was that the kitchen courses out the meal, and we felt a little rushed to get through each course. Because the location is so small, I’m sure they have to be cognizant of the time tables spend, so if you’re hoping to have a more leisurely dinner, I recommend making a later reservation.
Honestly, I can’t say enough great things about this restaurant, it makes a great date restaurant or small group dinner. The food is outstanding and the service matched the food.

Ate here the other night and they started something AMAZING. They are now doing a thing called a SHARED DINNER.
What is this you may ask. Well, a shared dinner is essentially a dinner format where you can choose a bunch of different menu items, and share it! No more ordering two different things on the menu to just take one bite out of it. This menu is design specifically so you can try everything! This is almost a cultural thing in that a ton of Asian cultures do it, but never has it been done in a finer dining type of establishment like Ruxbin.
Not only is it a absolutely wonderful idea, it’s an experience in that everyone shares the food and enjoys it together. A most memorable and wonderful meal.

As yummy as I remember from a few years ago! Tried the new menu structure (5 course communal dishes @ $ 65/​pp)… Many of the reviewers are saying its not enough food, but this is actually the amount that you should be eating to not get you grossly overstuffed. Each dish had tons of flavor and was beautifully put together.
We ordered:
Chickpea Perogies: friend recommended and glad we got them. Soft pillows of goodness and the whole cloves of garlic melt in your mouth
Octopus & Pork Belly: loved this dish and the sauce that it was on
Foie Gras: not a fan of torchon… but thats just my style. It was good otherwise.
Scallops&Shrimp: perfectly undercooked and tasty
Venison: we loved it so much we ordered 2 orders. Persimmons was a nice touch!
I’ll miss you Ruxbin, till next time. Loved Ruxbin so much the 1^st time i named my pup after them.

Gosh. Very torn about leaving a 3 star review for Ruxbin.
I can sum up our experience in one fatal flaw: a total lack of generosity.
You see, Ruxbin appears to have once offered a very delightful menu at a relatively acceptable cost. Alas, between the time that we reserved and we actually ate at Ruxbin, they’ve changed the menu pricing and format, and apparently the portions as well.
What you are forced to do now, instead of ordering the individual small plates to share as you wish, is to order a total of 5 dishes to share among the table. You like fish and he likes steak? Oh well — suck it up. You are a vegetarian and she’s gluten free? Sorry, Ruxbin insists that you commune when you dine, whether you want to or not.
Fine, you say, ok, we’ll agree upon 5 dishes that work. But when they arrive, they are TINY. A disc of foie gras hidden among too much squash (squash that was ubiquitous on the night we were there) and amounted to about the size and double thickness of a half dollar to feed two adults. On a standard menu, this would cost about $ 16 – 18, but here, you are effectively paying $ 26 per dish.
An octopus dish with two rings of incredibly well cooked octopus, but really, it was 2 rings. $ 26. A halibut dish with no more than 4 ounces of fish in total, if that. A hangar steak dish with about 8 thinly sliced pieces of steak. $ 26, $ 26, bam. At a normal small plates place, each of these dishes would have been a small plate on its own for $ 18 – 19 (look at Avec’s menu), but here, they charge you nearly full sized prices with ¹⁄₃ size portions.
I’m not usually one to complain about pricing, but when you are two folks who fork out $ 65 per person and leave hungry, there’s something not quite right going on. I do note that the restaurant is BYOB and many people seemed to imbibe happily, so perhaps they had less room than we given that we were not drinking that night.
Very few of the dishes really stood out to us and we were just turned off overall by the pricing. Do note: the pictures you see on Unilocal are ALL, at the time of this review, pre-​menu change, and thus they are not at all reflective of what they are serving at the restaurant at the end of 2015. I think they will need to reevaluate the new format, lower the price considerably or their ratings will truly suffer.

I really want to just say come here, order lots of food, it will be better than you can imagine and leave it at that. However in my quest to be semi thorough I will now spew out a couple paragraphs of high quality review, this time with 15% extra fiber.
We sat at the communal table with our hefty bag of beers since this place is byob. The design of the place is like a hipster wet dream. It’s cool. Rather than drywall that had old recipes and behind us rested a sizable bookshelf full of cook books. Wonderful decorations and also signs that the people here really know their shit. Additionally the bathroom was accessible only through some kind of phone booth like contraption. It’s nice knowing that nobody can interrupt or even pressure you at the door as you are «making room» for the feast you ordered. Good thing you had some extra fiber.
I’m sure this was not her only job but I will always remember one of the kitchen staff as flower girl because at least 50% of what she did was garnish dished with freshly plucked flower petals. They have a flower girl. What other establishment has that?!? How ridiculous and awesome is that?!
We felt powerless because the food was just beating up our palates and eyes with how delicious and beautiful it was. There was no mercy.
The foie gras we had was exceptionally creamy and did not have any of the gamey-​iron like aftertaste that some do. You could seriously eat like a gallon of it if you don’t mind rapid weight gain and very strange bowl movements, it’s that smooth.
My hungry compatriot and I had to order the Berkshire pork loin and hanger steak. You should too if you meet the following criteria.
1. You enjoy breathing air.
2. You walk upright, posses opposable thumbs, and not enough body hair to be considered as fur.
3. Don’t be an idiot, just order these.
The hanger steak had so many flavors going on. I strangely felt like I was eating Italian and Korean food together. I think it resolved my anxiety of speaking to large crowds. I cried a little.
The pork loin came with the best au jus I have yet to ever taste. After ingesting everything solid on the plate, my buddy and I took turns being filthy animals and slurped up the remaining au jus from the dish to the cheer of our heavily inebriated dinner companions (this was the communal table). Let me tell you, a man has not lived until he has double fisted a plate of au jus with one hand and a beer with the other.
The berry shortcake with basil seeds for dessert was the perfect finish. If I had obscene amounts of money I would come here and have it at least once a day. Their berry shortcake sales would probably be 20% of their revenue.
Will return? If the people at ruxbin will let me come back after writing this semi-​obnoxious review than I would love to so that I can chase enlightenment again and write a slightly more obnoxious review.
Rating is 10/​10, two thumbs up, full marks, over 9000. You get the idea.

Ruxbin was a cool little experience. The location is super small so I know understand why it is so hard to get a table at this place.
Right off the bat, we were greeted with our upbeat server (I cannot remember his name for the life of me) and he did a great job explaining everything in which was on the plate in front of us. Every little detail that was put into our meal, he explained thoroughly down to the oils. I thought that was a nice little touch on the service they provided.
We started out with some appetizers, the first one was Octopus. It was very tender and the chick peas were a great touch. The second was the Foie Gras. I’ve never had it before and it was very delicious! To me it was more of a buttery spread on brioche.
My entrée was the highlight of my meal. I had ordered the braised rabbit. It was cooked perfectly and accompanied with a Bay Scallop which was delicious.
Overall, I would rate my experience as very good. It’s always a plus that a restaurant such as this would offer a BYOB service. It definitely kept prices down. I will be back to Ruxbin.

Yay! It’s new, it’s cool, it’s fun. Unless someone wants to go there, I probably won’t go back though.
The bathroom is a total trip and a must experience. Other than that, I think it’s just one of those trendy places with decent food but fairly overpriced food. Worth while to check it out, but to become a regular patron it’s just not good enough.

While I love sharing meals with friends, I also love dining alone at good restaurants, where I don’t need to worry about conversation and can focus on the food. This was my second time at Ruxbin, and I’m just so impressed by one of the best experiences I’ve had as a solitary diner.
I arrived around 9pm on a Friday night, and was immediately seated at the chef’s table. I knew Ruxbin’s size constraints, and was hoping against hope that there wouldn’t be much of a wait. The hostess was friendly, and had me set to rights within five minutes of walking through the door.
The food was spectacular tonight. I ordered the octopus, the tomato salad and a glass of the soda of the day. While the soda was forgettable, the two appetizers were some of the tastiest dishes I’ve experienced in the last few years, beautifully composed both visually and in flavor profile. The tomato salad was a love song written to summer, with gorgeous heirloom tomatoes anchored by tender fennel root, watermelon playfully combined with watermelon radish, and just enough arugula root to offer a bracing bite of pepperiness. The grilled octopus was paired with a creative dark sauce of fermented bean curd, which highlighted the protein’s smoky umami flavor. Fresh microgreens and radish contrasted with the underlying sweetness of the octopus and roasted grapes. Fried chickpeas offered a textural element, although half of them were a touch soggy.
The service was excellent. Frequently, solitary diners are shunted off to a corner, and left alone without even a water refill. My server was incredibly solicitous, and brought over not one but two bites on the house – a lovely hamachi crudo with sweet potato dressing and crisp yellow cucumber, as well as a portion of mango sorbet with puffed rice dusted with star anise. We chatted about the book that I was reading, and he checked in often to make sure I was enjoying myself.
Thank you Ruxbin, for a wonderful night; couldn’t have asked for a better dinner!

I wanted to love Ruxbin because I had heard so many good things about it. My expectations may have been a bit too high.
Their list of rules available on their website was particularly off putting. To paraphrase, they basically say, «Don’t get mad if the wait is long, just deal with it. If you don’t want to wait, then leave. Oh, and we reserve the right to make you leave as soon as your done eating. Bye Felicia.» It came off as extremely pretentious. As if they are so popular that they don’t need or care about your business. I was also surprised to learn that you have to give a credit card number to make a reservation and they charge you PER PERSON if you cancel or if someone doesn’t show up. My initial reaction was, «Who the hell do these guys think they are?!» With the bar set so high, I HAD to check this place out.
Upon entering, I realized that it is a very small space with limited seating, so no large parties allowed. I was also disappointed to learn that the restaurant is BYOB and we had come unprepared. Ruxbin does partner with a local store that will deliver a limited selection of alcohol, which was nice, but overpriced.
Now let’s talk about the food. We ordered pork belly, rabbit, and pan-​seared trout. I apologize for not being able to go into more detail because this review is long overdue and the dishes were not very memorable.
All-​in-​all, the food was good, not great. It’s contemporary American, just like every other new trendy restaurant in Chicago. The one thing I will say is that I’ve heard Ruxbin constantly changes its menu, so it may be a different experience every time.
I would recommend Ruxbin if you live nearby and have the option of leaving if the wait is too long. Unfortunately, I have no intention of going back after my first lackluster experience because this place was underwhelming and out of the way for me.

We ate there a few weeks ago and had a tremendous time. The space is quaint and small and while the tables are close together, I feel it only adds to the intimacy. Our server was very sweet and welcoming. She was attentive without being smothering. One of the highlights is that the restaurant is BYOB with only a $ 5 corkage fee. We brought one bottle and probably could have dived into a second one as the meal is nicely paced.
The concept of Ruxbin is small plates made for sharing. Between my girlfriend and I, we shared 4 plates. The highlight was definitely the rabbit. Served with bay scallops and gnocchi, the dish was hearty without being heavy. The rabbit was cooked to perfection and paired nicely with the anise sweet potato.
While it’s a decent drive from our hotel in River North, the drive was definitely worth it. I would definitely return.

The food here is really really good!
I tried:
–prawn with squash sauce;
— foie gras;
— rabbit (the best!!)’
— hanger steak.
Honestly everything is very good, rich in flavor but not pretentious. The only problem is that the portions are very small even compared to other fine dining restaurants. The rabbit, that was my favorite, was 30 $ for a little leg. I was ok after dinner but my boyfriend was still hungry even after they brought the dessert…
The place is small and the interior is very nice but not special.
And dont forget it is BYOB!!!

Yes… more please. That about sums it up. Everything so perfectly done. I had the rabbit, and my other 2 family members had the grouper and the duck. Everything was cooked to perfection and the waitress guided us to the perfect amount of food to order. Honestly… I’m still drooling at the memory of my meal here.
Also, as crazy as this sounds — be sure to use the restroom while you are here. It is an experience.
Oh and cheap cheap corkage is a huge plus! Well done! Bring your favorite bottle of wine with you.
Make reservations well in advance. They book up quickly and it is a tiny restaurants. There won’t be room for you if you walk-​in without a reservation.

If you ate here and complain about the price or portion size you truly don’t understand dining. When you eat at a place like Ruxbin you aren’t just paying for the amount of food that gets placed in front of you. You are paying for the quality of the ingredients, you pay for the chefs ideas and beautiful presentation and you pay for the server’s genuineness and knowledge about the dishes. If you want a huge plate of food to be dumped in front of you by a server who hates his job this isn’t the place for you.
With that said Ruxbin is my favorite restaurant in West Town. I love the neighborhood vibe it has
and the food is always impeccable. My server yesterday, Charlie, was so passionate about what they were serving and I let him course out my dinner for me. We started with the beats and foie gras for appetizers and then some more duck and rabbit special for our entrées. The food was fresh and packed with so many flavors. My favorite was by far the rabbit, paired with pomegranate seeds and sweet potato purée it was truly to die for.
Everyone that works here from the owners to the servers are pleased to have you, which really completes your experience here. We as Chicagoans need to support locally owned and independent restaurants like Ruxbin and Mott st. (their sister restaurant). We can’t let all the big chain and restaurant groups own the entire city!
:) Ruxbin

A friend of mine told me about this Gem located on Ashland. I can’t thank her enough for introducing me to another but one of the best BYOB in town!
To start… It is a tiny restaurant! This isn’t the type of restaurants for groups! I would say it is best for an intimate night with one other person. They do have 2 booths that can sit 4 people and 1 large table by the kitchen. Reservations are a must!
So where do I begin describing the delicious food I consumed… I think now is a good time. First. They bring pepper/​salted popcorn to your table! Next. They open your bottle of wine (5 dollar corkage fee). We ordered 2 appetizers. The first was the garlic fries. The garlic fries are definitely worth the 5 dollars! The dipping sauce was addicting! I didn’t taste too much garlic but that’s what made it outstanding! The second appetizer we ordered was the Foie Gras! Can’t really describe it… But was very good! I recommend it!
Now as for entrees. We ordered their special which was their Rabbit Leg and the Red Grouper! It was the first time I ate rabbit and I loved it! It tastes similar to chicken! The chef made it perfectly tender! The grouper was mouthwatering! Perfectly cooked fish! They use all sorts of ingredients that makes these dishes outstanding! Your taste buds are in for an adventure!
Last but not least… DESSERT! We had the chocolate… Perfect way to end the evening! We also had their coffee! Not sure where they bought this coffee but it was best coffee I ever had!
My favorite part of this place is the bathroom! Just check it out!