Sonin took his first step onto the suburban dining scene in high school, working at popular Italian-American eatery Nick’s Pizza in nearby Elgin. Wine Director & Assistant General ManagerĪ lifelong native of the Chicago area's Fox Valley, Jack Sonin is excited to help enhance the area’s dining landscape through his role as wine director and assistant general manager of The Graceful Ordinary, the elevated riverfront concept opening late summer 2021 in downtown St. At the helm of the riverfront eatery's beverage program, he focuses on curating an impressive collection of high-end whiskies and other sought-after spirits, creating inventive yet approachable cocktails and overseeing a diverse selection of locally brewed beers. In 2021, Mish returned to his suburban roots to become bar manager of The Graceful Ordinary, the elevated American restaurant opening late summer in downtown St. From here, he made the move to Chicago where he continued honing his skills behind the bar while working at popular downtown hotspots over the next decade including Texas de Brazil, Zed 451, the Virgin Hotel’s rooftop concept Cerise and the Adamus Lounge within the Silversmith Hotel. Realizing his knack for guest interaction and front-of-house operations, Mish changed his educational path and graduated with an Associate of Applied Science in Hospitality Management in 2011. After spending several years holding various roles within the hotel’s food and beverage program, he enrolled in culinary classes at College of DuPage to explore his interest in cooking and landed a bartending job at nearby Tanna Farms Golf Club.

And that’s particularly unfortunate, because when you’re paying $50 a head for unlimited amounts of food, fatigue is the only enemy you have.Hailing from just outside the Chicago metropolitan area in Illinois’ Fox Valley, Ryan Mish got his start in the hospitality industry at age 16 bussing tables at The Herrington Inn & Spa, an upscale boutique hotel in suburban Geneva. No matter how much variety there is, all the sugar and cream gets old really fast.

Beets were paired with a raspberry dressing, and pineapple-sweet enough on its own-was baked with brown sugar and pushed by our server as the perfect first course. Warm three-cheese biscuits were brushed with a cloying tangerine butter. Perfectly rendered lamb chops were overshadowed by baked-on goat cheese. A delicious pork sausage was paired with a honey mustard-horseradish sauce. But there was a theme to the food here: It was all sweet, cheesy or, often, both. Likewise, the harvest table options were impressively fresh, and they seemed to be replaced every three minutes. Every piece of salmon, chicken, beef and lamb I tried was cooked to a deliciously tender and juicy consistency. But whoever is cooking the meat is doing a good job. When pressed about whether he cooked the food, one of our “chefs” backtracked and said he was merely responsible for cutting and serving it. Whether the servers are truly chefs is doubtful. At ZED there’s a gimmick, too: We’re asked to believe that the people carrying the dishes to us are the chefs who actually cooked them. At churrascarias there’s a gimmick to this: The people carrying the meats to your table are called “gauchos,” and they’re dressed in high-waisted riding pants and poofy blouses. “Would you care to indulge?” they ask, and before they can slide a portion onto your plate, another server is at the table with a different dish. Almost instantaneously, men holding enormous skewers of meat approach. Which is to say that meals here follow a very strict formula: Diners start at a salad bar (the ZED term for these is “harvest tables”) then, when they’re ready, they signal (by conspicuously placing a river rock on the table) that the protein parade may begin. But other than that, the restaurants are almost exactly the same. And sure, maybe Sal didn’t have great cocktails like ZED’s crisp cucumber-sage martini. Yes, ZED looks completely different-the space is now gorgeous, sunny and sprawling. But with all due respect, that’s a ridiculous claim. ZED451 would like you to believe it is nothing like Sal & Carvao, the chain of churrascarias it bought, renovated and moved into.

Sunday bunch at zed 451