Dining At O'Hare Is About to Get A Million Times Better

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jul 14, 2016 5:13PM

Photo via Facebook.

Frequent fliers, listen up: the long-awaited airport location of the Publican, Publican Tavern, is finally opening at O'Hare on July 26.

We first reported that this was coming back in January, when the new Publican location was supposed to open in the spring of 2016. Surprise, surprise, there's been a delay when opening a restaurant and simultaneously dealing with airport bureaucracy. But Crain's reports that the restaurant, located in Terminal 3, is finally ready to open. We say "finally" because we first heard rumors of a Publican spin-off coming to O'Hare back in 2012.

However, Publican Tavern is not quite the Publican you know and love, since it's not actually operated by One Off Hospitality, the group that runs the original restaurant. Instead, it's operated by HMS Host, the concessionaire for O'Hare. The menu will also, according to Crain's, feature "fare geared toward a broader audience" than the original location, which makes us a tiny bit nervous.

That being said, we doubt that the principals of One Off will allow anything to sully their valuable and delicious restaurant, and the partners in the group told Crain's that "they'll remain true to the brand and turn out the high-quality food diners expect from the Publican." Plus, even a dumbed-down version of the Publican would be a huge improvement over most of the junk at O'Hare, excepting, of course, the magical awesomeness that is Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless.

The new restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.