Ox Bar & Hearth
Ox Bar & Hearth ranks twenty-sixth because the hearth format is as old as cooking and Asbaty uses it with the confidence of a chef who doesn't need a gimmick.
On North Clybourn in Lincoln Park, Ox Bar & Hearth opened in 2025 inside a building that was already a century old when the restaurant moved in. Chef John Asbaty and restaurateur Alain Uy organized everything around the wood-burning hearth: the cooking is smoke-influenced, locally sourced, and rooted in Midwestern ingredients treated as the main event rather than the supporting cast. The beverage program favors domestic wines and regional spirits, which reinforces the point.
The room has the proportions and warmth of a serious neighborhood restaurant — not a destination in the tasting-menu sense, but a place that earns repeat visits by being reliable and alive. The Lincoln Park address puts it in a competitive corridor; Ox Bar & Hearth distinguishes itself through the specificity of the hearth cooking rather than through concept.
- Wood-fired meat preparations
- Hearth-roasted vegetable dishes
- Midwestern-focused seasonal plates
