All Together Now

West Chicago Avenue and the Dual-Purpose Spot

There is a particular format that has taken hold in certain American neighborhoods over the past decade: the wine shop that is also, genuinely, a place to eat. Not a tasting room with a cheese board, and not a restaurant that happens to stock bottles for retail. A functioning hybrid, where the fromagerie case and the bistro menu carry equal weight, and where the person buying a natural Beaujolais to take home might sit down at the same counter as the person ordering a sandwich for lunch. All Together Now is a restaurant in Chicago's Ukrainian Village at 2119 W Chicago Ave, with a casual dress code, recommended reservations, and an average price of about $25 per person.

The stretch between Wicker Park and the Ukrainian Village has developed an informal identity around independent food and drink operators, small-batch, counter-led, with an aesthetic that leans toward the functional rather than the designed. It sits at some remove from the tasting-menu circuit anchored further north and downtown, where restaurants like Alinea, Smyth, and Oriole define a different register of Chicago dining entirely. All Together Now is not in conversation with that tier. It is in conversation with its block, its neighbors, and the kind of person who wants a well-chosen bottle and a good sandwich without a reservation.

The Hybrid Format and What It Demands

Running a retail wine shop alongside a functioning bistro requires a kind of operational discipline that not every operator pulls off. The two halves can easily undermine each other: a shop that feels like an afterthought to the restaurant, or a restaurant that feels like an apology for the shop. The format works when both sides are taken seriously on their own terms, and when the overlap, the bottle you buy to drink with your meal, the cheese you taste at the counter and then take home a wedge of, feels like an argument for the whole concept rather than a compromise.

All Together Now has been recognized for doing exactly that. The fromagerie and carryout deli component positions it within a small group of Chicago spots that treat provisions as seriously as hospitality, distinct from prix-fixe institutions and tasting-menu formats.

The Menu Register: Fresh, Modern, Approachable

Chicago's sandwich culture has been well-documented, the Italian beef, the jibarito, the mother-in-law, and the city's appetite for casual-format eating with serious sourcing has only grown. All Together Now works in a modern register of that tradition: fresh preparations, rotating deli and fromagerie selections, and a menu that reflects the wine-shop sensibility of the space. The emphasis on sandwiches and charcuterie-adjacent formats suits the neighborhood, where the expectation is quality over ceremony.

The carryout component matters here, too. On a stretch where people are as likely to pick up dinner as to sit down for it, having both options available within the same footprint is a practical advantage. It also positions All Together Now differently from casual spots that only do table service, and from pure retail wine shops that do not offer food at all. The hybrid sits between those categories deliberately.

For context on how different Chicago's dining spectrum runs: the same city that houses All Together Now's counter-and-bottle format also houses Next Restaurant, where themed tasting menus change seasonally and tickets are purchased in advance. That range, from ticketed concept dining to neighborhood wine shop with sandwiches, is part of what makes Chicago's food scene function as a whole rather than a single register.

The Wine Shop Dimension

A wine shop embedded in a neighborhood bistro carries different curatorial responsibilities than a standalone retailer. The selection has to work as both a retail proposition and a by-the-glass or by-the-bottle accompaniment to food, which means the buyer's choices are tested in real time by actual meals. That dynamic tends to produce tighter, more considered lists than shops that only sell for home consumption. It also creates an environment where the staff's knowledge of the bottles is observable in practice, not just theoretical.

Chicago has a range of wine-focused operations, from bar programs at tasting-menu restaurants to dedicated shops, but the neighborhood wine shop with on-premise dining is a distinct format within that range. Comparable hybrid formats in other American cities, in San Francisco, where Lazy Bear has demonstrated how casual-format ambition can coexist with serious sourcing, or in New York, where Le Bernardin defines the opposite end of the formality spectrum, underscore how much format and register determine the dining experience before a single dish arrives.

Planning a Visit

All Together Now sits at 2119 W Chicago Ave in the Ukrainian Village, a neighborhood that rewards on-foot exploration. The dual retail-and-dining format means a visit can run short, a sandwich and a glass at the counter, or longer, depending on how deeply you engage with the fromagerie and bottle selection. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 AM to 9 PM, Saturday from 10 AM to 9 PM, Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM, and the venue is closed Monday. The carryout option makes it a reasonable stop whether or not you plan to stay.