Perilla

Flavour first at the grill table

The grill decides the pace before the plate is finished. Executive chef Andrew Lim leads Perilla in Loop, Chicago, a Chicago native and second-generation Korean-American whose stated ambition with the July 2024 opening was to share Korean cooking with his own city. His forte is a contemporary read of Korean staples, and the Riverwalk room asks for precision in more than one register. It is a steakhouse, a Korean barbecue table, and a counter for a paced tasting menu. Perilla gives that instinct a specific set of tools: fire at the table, banchan on the side, prime short rib, steamed egg, kimchi pancake, rice, ssam, and sauces that need enough control to stay clean beside smoke and fat. Minari chimichurri on prime skirt steak and gochujang bibimbop show the same idea from the other direction, a Chicago steakhouse frame carrying Korean seasoning. The restaurant holds Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition. The hand at the station still decides it. The food has to land while the room stays conversational.

Custom grills and a steakhouse vocabulary

Perilla’s method is built around custom table-side grills, set into a modern steakhouse room on the Chicago Riverwalk. The format changes the usual pass. Some of the cooking finishes in front of the guest, with servers able to guide the grill work, and the kitchen has to season for that last contact with heat. The menu works across a la carte and tasting menu formats, with premium beef, short rib, skirt steak, grilled mackerel, Iberico pork, banchan, rice, and wrapped bites moving through the same Korean American frame. The house’s stated signatures, kimchi pancake, steamed egg, and prime short rib, show the range of texture the kitchen has to hold: crisp batter with acid, soft custard heat, and beef that can stand up to fire sauce, soy, herbs, or ssam. The beverage program is curated rather than encyclopedic, built to sit beside grilled meat, pickles, chile, and the sweetness that comes from marinades. In this room, polish is not a garnish. It is timing, portioning, and restraint around a live flame.

The room beside the river

The room carries Korean architectural elements without turning them into scenery. Warm materials, custom grill tables, and an energetic floor make the restaurant feel closer to a working station than a sealed dining room. The pass does not own all the drama here; the counter, the table, and the server’s hand each take part in the final shape of a meal. Smoke, sauce, and conversation stay in the room at a level that suits the format. It is upscale casual in the practical sense, composed enough for steakhouse service, loose enough for shared plates to move. The Chicago Riverwalk gives the place its outside edge, but the craft stays at the table, where prime short rib meets the grill.