Press
They Call the Suburbs Home
February 11, 2022
Megan Curren, 35, an owner of the Graceful Ordinary, a fine-dining restaurant in St. Charles, Ill., said that while many Chicago restaurants are still hurting financially because of the pandemic, St. Charles’s are recovering faster. Spaces like hers have plentiful room for outdoor dining, she said, and people are moving into — not out of — the area.
Readers’ Choice Food Awards 2023: Best Suburban Restaurant
June 12, 2023
Wife-and-husband team Megan and Chris Curren made a gamble when they launched The Graceful Ordinary in November 2021. They built not in Chicago, where the industry veterans could expect diners to take to their “modern colonial tavern,” but in the far west suburb of St. Charles.
The 30 Best Things We Ate This Year
April 26, 2023
Chris Curren’s salmon is pure alchemy. Its skin is crispy as karaage, while its flesh is supple as conservas. How does he do it? Two baptisms by fire: first seared on an open-hearth grill, then finished in a wood-fired oven to seal in all its precious oils and omega-3s.
Chicago’s hot new dining spot? The suburbs.
November 10, 2022
As more of their customers move to suburbia, high-end Chicago restaurants follow.