Katz and Boehm: Restaurateurs of the year

Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm<br>
<br>
Working with star-caliber chefs can be a challenge, but this dining dynamic duo has done it three times over, creating restaurants that express each chef's personality while maintaining tight, expertly trained front-room operations. Boehm and Katz made their first splash with <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT000310" title="Boka" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/chicago-restaurants/boka-PLENT000310.topic">Boka</a> (the word derived from their respective last names), the Lincoln Park restaurant that made a star of ex-Trotter's chef Giuseppe Tentori.<br>
<br>
But in the last 18 months, they have partnered with <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PEBSL000132" title="Stephanie Izard" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/chicago-restaurants/stephanie-izard-PEBSL000132.topic">Stephanie Izard</a> to create <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT000341" title="Girl and the Goat" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/chicago-restaurants/girl-the-goat-PLENT000341.topic">Girl & the Goat</a> (opened in July 2010 and still hotter than a supernova), created a second Tentori vehicle in <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT00365" title="GT Fish &amp;amp; Oyster" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/gt-fish-%26-oyster-PLENT00365.topic">GT Fish & Oyster</a> (one of 2011's best new restaurants) and lured the esteemed Paul Virant from his Western Springs home to refashion Perennial into <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT00386" title="Perennial Virant" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/perennial-virant-PLENT00386.topic">Perennial Virant</a>.<br>
<br>
"There was a moment before that all happened," Boehm says about the last year and a half, "when we thought, 'God, this could go really well or really badly.' Fortunately, we were able to pull it off."  Still to come: Balena, a Lincoln Park Italian restaurant developed in concert with <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT00396" title="The Bristol" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/the-bristol-PLENT00396.topic">The Bristol</a>'s Chris Pandel and pastry chef Amanda Rockman, which should open next month.<br>
<br>
<i>-- Phil Vettel</i>
ct-dining-2011-chicago-tribune-dining-awards-004

( Photo by Bill Hogan )

Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm

Working with star-caliber chefs can be a challenge, but this dining dynamic duo has done it three times over, creating restaurants that express each chef's personality while maintaining tight, expertly trained front-room operations. Boehm and Katz made their first splash with Boka (the word derived from their respective last names), the Lincoln Park restaurant that made a star of ex-Trotter's chef Giuseppe Tentori.

But in the last 18 months, they have partnered with Stephanie Izard to create Girl & the Goat (opened in July 2010 and still hotter than a supernova), created a second Tentori vehicle in GT Fish & Oyster (one of 2011's best new restaurants) and lured the esteemed Paul Virant from his Western Springs home to refashion Perennial into Perennial Virant.

"There was a moment before that all happened," Boehm says about the last year and a half, "when we thought, 'God, this could go really well or really badly.' Fortunately, we were able to pull it off." Still to come: Balena, a Lincoln Park Italian restaurant developed in concert with The Bristol's Chris Pandel and pastry chef Amanda Rockman, which should open next month.

-- Phil Vettel

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