Galit Restaurant

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Restaurant Built on Community

Galit is a Middle Eastern restaurant on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, owned and operated by Andrés Clavero and James Beard Award-winning chef Zachary Engel. The guiding philosophy is straightforward: hospitality professionals, guests, and suppliers come together to celebrate food and drink in a respectful, friendly, and caring manner. That ethos shapes everything from the kitchen to the floor.

The People Behind the Food

Zachary Engel's path to Chicago ran through some of the country's most respected kitchens. He cooked at Zahav in Philadelphia, Catit in Tel Aviv, and Michelin-starred Madrona Manor in Sonoma County before becoming Chef de Cuisine at Shaya in New Orleans — where his team won the 2016 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. The following year, Engel himself took home the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year Award. Growing up in a Jewish household as the son of a rabbi, and through many trips to Israel, he developed the personal grounding that defines his modern Middle Eastern cooking today.

Co-owner Andrés Clavero brings a Palestinian, Cuban, and Spanish background to the table, along with years of experience at One Off Hospitality — both in finance and on the restaurant floor. The two first crossed paths during a James Beard Awards takeover event, a meeting that eventually led to Galit opening in spring 2019.

The beverage program is in equally capable hands. Bar Director Scott Stroemer is the 2024 Michelin Guide Chicago Sommelier Award winner and a Jean Banchet nominee for Best Sommelier. His approach centers on small producers, responsible farming, and underrepresented regions. Pastry Chef Mary Eder-McClure, who joined at opening, leads the bread and pastry programs, drawing inspiration from across the Middle East while weaving in nods to her Jewish heritage and her grandmother's Lebanese cooking.

The Menu and the Wine Journey

Dinner at Galit is structured as a four-course, choose-your-own-adventure format, with a rotating wine accompaniment available alongside. The menu takes a seasonal and localized approach to Middle Eastern cuisine — dishes shift with the produce and the moment rather than staying fixed.

The beverage program goes a step further with what the restaurant calls a "Wine Journey": four Middle Eastern wines, matched course by course, that are not offered by the glass anywhere else in Chicago. Since opening, Galit has sought out the most food-friendly and exceptional offerings from the region's winemakers — a commitment recognized by Wine Spectator with its Award of Excellence. For guests at the communal table, an à la carte option is available Tuesday through Thursday, with walk-ins welcome.

The Room and Its Neighbors

Galit sits alongside its little sister restaurant, Café Yaya, right next door on Lincoln Avenue — two distinct spaces sharing a sensibility. The atmosphere at Galit is warm and purposeful, a place where the cooking is serious without being stiff, and where the team's collective backgrounds — from Elmhurst to Dayton to Miami — find common ground in a shared love of Middle Eastern food and genuine hospitality.