A Bold New Live-Fire Steakhouse Is Coming to Randolph Street — and Open Books Is Saying Goodbye to the West Loop
By Socialhood News · Near West Side ·
Near West Side neighbors, two pieces of news landed this week that together capture the neighborhood's perpetual churn: a celebrated chef is about to transform one of Randolph Street's most storied dining rooms, while a beloved West Loop literary institution is closing its doors and clearing its shelves at half price.
Start with the arrival. Chef John Manion — the Chicago culinary veteran behind La Sirena Clandestina and El Che Steakhouse & Bar — is bringing a brand-new concept called Palomino to the West Loop. According to Block Club Chicago's report on November 2, Palomino will open inside the former Proxi space on Randolph Street, the award-winning restaurant that closed earlier this year after a celebrated run under chef Andrew Zimmerman. Manion's new vision is a live-fire steakhouse that draws on the flavors and techniques of the American West and South — a deliberate pivot from the South American–inflected cooking that defined his previous Fulton Market work. The Randolph Street address puts Palomino squarely on the most competitive restaurant corridor in Chicago, steps from the dining cluster that has defined the Near West Side's national culinary reputation for the better part of a decade.
Manion is a figure whose creative moves carry weight in this neighborhood. His original La Sirena Clandestina on Fulton Market helped establish the corridor's identity before it became the high-profile destination it is today, and El Che — his wood-fire Argentine steakhouse — earned devoted regulars for years. Palomino represents his return to the West Loop dining scene with a sharper, distinctly American focus: live-fire cooking, the grill as the central instrument, and a menu rooted in the traditions of American regional cooking rather than international fine dining. No opening date has been announced yet, but the Proxi space — a stunning, design-forward room that Zimmerman built into one of Chicago's most admired dining environments — gives Manion an exceptional physical canvas to work with from day one.
For residents who have watched Randolph Street absorb the openings and closings of the past few years, Palomino's arrival is a signal that the corridor's appetite for serious, chef-driven concepts has not dimmed. The former Proxi address is one of the most prominent vacancies on the strip, and landing a chef of Manion's profile in that space is exactly the kind of succession story the neighborhood's restaurant row handles well.
Meanwhile, a very different kind of West Loop institution is in its final chapter. Open Books — the beloved nonprofit bookstore and literacy organization that has operated in the West Loop — is closing its location there and selling its inventory at 50 percent off, according to Block Club Chicago's November 1 report. Open Books has been a fixture of the neighborhood's cultural life, running a retail bookstore model that directly funds literacy programs for Chicago kids. Its West Loop store carried a wide selection of used and new books at accessible prices, and the organization's mission — connecting affordable books to communities while channeling proceeds into youth literacy work — made it one of the more purpose-driven retail anchors the neighborhood had.
The half-off sale is live now, which means this week is the window to visit the West Loop location and walk out with an armful of discounted books while supporting the organization one last time. If you have been meaning to stop in, the clock is running. Open Books continues to operate other Chicago locations, so the literacy mission itself is not ending — but the West Loop chapter is closing, and the sale won't last indefinitely.
Taken together, this week's two stories trace the Near West Side's familiar rhythm: a chef of genuine stature fills a high-profile vacancy on Randolph Street, and a community-rooted nonprofit makes a bittersweet exit from a neighborhood that has changed enormously around it. Both are worth your attention. Head to Open Books this week while the half-off sale lasts, and keep an eye on the former Proxi space on Randolph — Palomino's opening will be one of the more anticipated restaurant debuts the corridor has seen in a while. Drop a comment below: are you excited for Manion's return to the neighborhood, and what do you remember most about Open Books in the West Loop?
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/latest-stories/
2. https://blockclubchicago.org/