Beatrix

Today my mom and her boss/dear friend took me to lunch at Beatrix. As I am starting a new job in Lake Bluff, I am trying to check places off my list before the days of long commutes begin. And this place has been on my list of hot new places to try, and recently made Chicago Eater's Heatmap.

Beatrix is a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant with a unique twist, as they are open all day with a coffee bar, breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night drinks. The space is adjacent to the lobby of the Aloft Hotel in River North, and the decorating is very eclectic.  This place must be doing well because it was absolutely packed past the lunch hour on a weekday. The vibe right when you walk in is great - they have fun light hearted music playing and the staff was very friendly.

There is a very limited menu, but everything on it looked and was great. Because of the limited menu, I wouldn't recommend coming here for a huge meal...save this place for lunch or after drink cocktails. They could use some help with their service...although the staff was very nice our waitress wasn't on top of her game. She spilled coffee and then forgot to bring napkins to wipe it up, and it took way to long to get our glass of wine. Maybe a sign that we shouldn't have been ordering wine at lunch?