GT Fish & Oyster spent 12 years in River North. Boka Restaurant Group
Boka will serve more seafood at sibling restaurant GT Prime Steakhouse
After a dozen years as one of the most popular restaurants in River North, GT Fish & Oyster customers will shuck their last mollusk on New Year’s Eve. Boka Restaurant Group announced it’s closing the seafood institution fronted by chef Giuseppe Tentori.
A news release reads Boka will begin offering some of GT Fish & Oyster’s menu items (lobster roll, clam chowder) at a sibling restaurant, GT Prime Steakhouse, also in River North. They’ll also operate Boka Catering out of GT Prime.
Boka says they have no plans for the GT Fish space. GT Fish & Oyster opened in 2011 and Tribune critic Phil Vettel lavished praise on the restaurant with a three-star review. GT Fish showed Chicago could house a restaurant serving upscale and contemporary seafood, despite being far from the Atlantic and Pacific. At the time, GT Fish was the first Boka restaurant to serve lunch. Boka even ran a blog to keep the public updated on construction.
GT Fish will run out classic items, like soba noodles, fish tacos, and oyster po’boys, in the next few weeks to celebrate its 12 years. Tentori will continue at GT Prime, which opened in 2016. Beyond his local recognition, Tentori, an Italian native, earned multiple nominations for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes. GT Fish was also a regular on Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list which recognizes value for the money.
Boka has two announced projects for next year. There’s the Lakeview project with a trio of restaurants, including the relocation of Stephanie Izard’s Little Goat. Then there’s the new French restaurant in River North. Le Select is a collaboration with esteemed chef Daniel Rose.
Meanwhile, GT Fish fans have only until December 31 before the restaurant at 701 N. Wells Street closes.