I get the question all the time: I’m visiting Chicago for the first time, where are some restaurants I shouldn’t miss?
Almost always, I’d include The Purple Pig on that list.
First opened on Michigan Avenue in 2009, The Purple Pig was a product of the mid-2000’s nose-to-tail boom: Places like Mado, The Publican were curing their own meats, making cheese a centerpiece of their menu, and utilizing every loose end of a pig and cow.
The Purple Pig, with its focus on small plates Mediterranean-leaning dishes, marketed itself as a spot for “cheese, swine, and wine.”
It was only a matter of time that The Purple Pig expanded. For its second location, it headed west to Oak Brook Center, and this new location at 15 Oak Brook Center in west suburban Oak Brook represents a more grown-up version of its raucous downtown location.
For one, the Oak Brook location is at least three times larger than the original, with an all-day cafe, a bakery, a fresh pasta station—and most notable of all—the ability to cook over live wood fire, unlike the confines of a Michigan Avenue office high-rise.
This means the Oak Brook menu isn’t a replica of downtown. Only the classics migrated west, including the chicken thigh kebabs, crispy pig’s ear salad, and the milk-braised pork shoulders.
But that also means an expanded menu where seasonal produce take up most of the menu’s real estate. And with Tony and Cathy Mantuano leading the kitchen again (they returned to Chicago after five years in Nashville on a restaurant project), the menu also leans more Italian.
For those who missed the Mantuano’s original restaurant, Spiaggia (it closed in 2021), know that its most popular dish, the gnocchi, has made its triumphant Chicagoland return at this new The Purple Pig.
