Bonyeon Chicago steakhouse

We've seen it before with sushi restaurants, but now Bonyeon is bringing to Chicago a steak omakase menu. Omakase means something to the effect of "I'll leave it up to you," and the "you" in this case means the chef, who in an omakase scenario is responsible for choosing what will be set before us. There is a menu, but it can change regularly based on the chef's assessment of the food's quality. If it looks very good to chef Sangtae Park (formerly of Omakase Yume), it's on the menu.

Says Eater Chicago, "Beef has a rich and nuanced history in Korean cuisine, and Bonyeon will highlight that lineage through the vehicle of omakase — a highly ritualized genre of Japanese dining that is by now familiar to Chicagoans. The style’s popularity serves as an on-ramp for diners to encounter cuts of beef that don’t appear on the menu at Gibsons or Steak 48."

As of this writing, the omakase menu at Bonyeon lists a number of tasty-sounding seaborne proteins, including Yukhue, Pyeonyuk-chae, Tenderloin, Short Rib, Hanger Steak,

Marinated Galbi, and seven other proteins, mostly meat. We know tenderloin, short rib and hangar steak, but we appreciate menus that have items we've never heard of before, like Yukhue and Pyeonyuk-chai. If you're wondering, Yuhkue is a garlicky, slightly sweet beef tartare ,and Pyeonyuk-chai is traditional Korean cold-pressed beef dish, rich with umami flavor.

Maggie Hennessy writes in TimeOut that "This pricey, generously portioned progression chops, slices, marinates, sears and simmers an array of premium beef cuts—often homaging traditional Korean preparations. A few well-placed intermissions jolt the protein-addled senses via fresh and pickled veg, fish congee and handmade Japanese soba noodles."