With 750 wines and Longman & Eagle alum, The Oakville Grill & Cellar bringing Napa Valley vibes to West Loop

Already, 2023 is shaping up to be a huge year for Lettuce Entertain You. Along with two upcoming high-profile concepts in the third-largest skyscraper in Chicago, the restaurant group is opening an ambitious multilevel wine-focused restaurant in Fulton Market called The Oakville Grill & Cellar. Look for it to open in the spring at 163 N. Green St.

Specifically, it will be a California wine concept, as wine director Richard Hanauer expects to have more than 750 wines exclusively from that state — “one of the rare places where you could do an entire wine program and have this much quality and diversity,” Hanauer said.

The restaurant was conceived to mimic the feeling of being on a wine tour, Hanauer said. “I started realizing that every time I was traveling for wine, the meals in the wine country were phenomenal,” Hanauer said. “I was obsessed with the quality of the product and how unpretentious it was.”

Chef Max Robbins, whose resume included lauded stints helming Longman & Eagle, Soho House Chicago and Gilt Bar, wants to create a menu full of “simply prepared dishes with high-quality ingredients,” he said.

“It’s not a chef-driven menu,” Robbins said. “It’s a guest-driven menu. As a chef, cooking this style is a big departure. But I look where I am now, and I want to cook the food I enjoy preparing for my family and friends.”

While the official menu hasn’t been finalized, Robbins said it will show a lot of versatility. If you want to visit with a large group, there will be shareable items, including chilled and raw seafood. If you want to go for a date night, the kitchen has a wood-fired grill, where you’ll find various kinds of meat, larger seafood options and seasonal produce. But if you just want to stop by for lunch, there will be salads, a burger and a few kinds of pasta.

Robbins said he’s focused on celebrating the quality of the products he gets. “With wine, it’s all about tasting the terroir of the grape,” Robbins said. “I want you to taste the quality and understand the flavor of each ingredient.” But the menu won’t be old-fashioned. “It’s not modern cuisine, but it is contemporary,” Robbins said. “I can’t just replicate the classics, but it’s not about keeping up with the trends. How can we meet in the middle?”

[ Two new St. Regis Chicago hotel restaurants revealed, with Japanese and Italian cuisine on the menus ]

As one would expect, California’s most prestigious wine region will be well represented. “The list is anchored by Napa Valley,” Hanauer said. “We’ll have five or six pages of cabernet producers.”

But he’s also excited to showcase different grape varietals in other parts of the state. “One of the joys of California is that you can get amazing wine sourced from lesser-known regions,” Hanauer said. “There are all these young, passionate people in places like Paso Robles and the Anderson Valley. There is value absolutely everywhere.”

Along with hundreds of wines by the bottle, Hanauer expects to have around 20 wines by the glass available. Guests can sample wine in the restaurant’s tasting room, which will feature a different California winery each month.

“We’re going to re-create their wine-tasting experience here in Chicago,” Hanauer said. “For the first month, we are partnering with Robert Sinskey Vineyards. The flight we’ll serve here will be the exact flight they serve there, even down to the price, as well.” Customers can then buy wines from the producer, like at a California tasting room.

The restaurant hopes to exude the “rustic comfort” of Northern California wineries. The space is spread over two floors, with room for up to 250 guests. That includes a large all-season patio that you’ll access from the second floor. Lettuce Entertain You will also have a private event space called 167 Green Events, located on the 17th floor.

Especially with the upcoming opening of Miru and Tre Dita in the St. Regis Chicago Hotel, Lettuce Entertain You is moving quickly with The Oakville Grill & Cellar, with the goal to open in the next few months.

The Oakville Grill & Cellar plans to open at 163 N. Green St. in the spring.

nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com