Prairie Fire Quick Facts:

Location: 215 N Clinton Street, (312) 382-8300

Hours of operation: Monday through Friday 11:00am until 11:00pm

Saturday and Sunday 5:00pm until 11:00pm

Open 9:30am Saturday and Sunday for brunch

Valet Parking: Yes, brunch, lunch and dinner

Bar: yes

Flat screen: yes

Number of seats in restaurant: 140

Bar seats: 20

Private event space: yes holds 70

Average entree price: $13.50 to $29

Media Contacts:

Sarah Stegner - sarah@prairiefirechicago.com

George Bumbaris

What is the name of the new restaurant?

Prairie Fire - How did you pick the name? Why fire?

We had a great picture of a prairie fire in Prairie Grass Cafe and thought it reflected out passion and fire over the new restaurant. Our two restaurants will be related and share some menu items, but the Chicago restaurant has its own identity.

Where is the location?

Prairie Fire is in the old Powerhouse building, at 215 N Clinton. which is a national landmark building. Our landlord is Structured Development and we worked with Albazi Architects to do minor changes to the interior. It is a gorgeous restaurant with dark wood and great lighting and fits our prairie style.

It is conveniently located near the Metra, CTA, and foot traffic in the West Loop.

What did you like about the space?

The kitchen is amazing with great space and the equipment is just what we need to get started right away. The neighborhood is a great location both for business diners and for commuters and neighbors that live in the condominiums around the restaurant.

How are you going to split your time?

We have two chefs, so it makes sense to have two restaurants. Both George and I will split our time between the two places. One of us will be at each location at any given time.

What about Bill Kurtis and his involvement?

The painting that inspired us is actually a painting of Bill's ranch in Kansas. Bill will continue his involvement in our restaurants. We will be serving his "Tallgrass Beef" that has helped establish our reputation for serving great meat. We will be showing the DVD's that Bill's film crew created of his prairie on the flat screens at Prairie Fire.

What is the style of the service and menu?

We will be doing contemporary comfort food with emphasis on seasonal and local menu items like we do at Prairie Grass Cafe.  The service style is casual with wooden table top. We are open on Saturdays and Sundays for brunch and feature our special Eggs Benedict menu as we do at Prairie Grass Cafe. I am also excited that this new kitchen has a griddle so we have added Lemon Ricotta Pancakes to the brunch menu!

We want Prairie Fire to be a restaurant you can bring clients for lunch or dinner, hang with friends in our bar after work and on the weekends, our brunch will be super casual. The type of place where you can roll out of bed, throw on some clothes and come in.

What will be the differences in the menu at Prairie Fire?

Prairie Fire will feature favorites from Prairie Grass Cafe but we will also develop some signature dishes exclusive to Prairie Fire. The two restaurants will support and play off each other. We have many customers that drive up to Northbrook from the city and also have loyal customers from the Ritz Carlton that have been asking us for years to open a place in the city. We have always intended to open a second restaurant, and this downtown location has given us the perfect opportunity.

What will the prices be like?

It our philosophy to use the highest quality ingredients, seafood, and cuts of meat, to create our menu items and serve them at a fair price.

What about a bar?

We have a special bar menu for people who want to have drinks and appetizers, and our seasonal cocktail menu will feature local fruits, herbs, and fresh house-made juices as mixers. Daniel Sviland is the creative force behind the bar drinks.

What about the wine list?

Rohit Nambiar will be managing the beverage program and wine list. He has great ideas about what he wants to do at Prairie Fire. I'm sure you will see him "working the room" on occasion as well!

We want to thank Sean R. Lutz  of Sperry Van Ness LLC for his involvement with this new property.