TAAN, a new restaurant and wine bar in Humboldt Park, opened earlier this month with a menu that deliberately leaves out the pad Thai most Chicagoans expect from a neighborhood Thai spot. Instead, the restaurant at 2759 W. Augusta Blvd. serves deep-fried sea bass with fish sauce caramel, handmade sai oua pork sausages, and makwaen fish sauce caramel wings, alongside a wine list built around Midwestern and European bottles.
Owner and chef Chanita Chayaluk says the goal is to expand how diners think about Thai food altogether, according to Block Club Chicago. Born in Chicago to Thai parents, Chayaluk grew up around the city's Thai dining scene in a very literal sense: her mother worked as a cook at neighborhood staples including Sticky Rice and Andy's Thai Kitchen, according to WTTW. That upbringing didn't put her on a direct path to the kitchen, though. She spent years working as a high school counselor before pivoting to culinary arts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a career shift that took her to Bangkok, where she completed a Thai cuisine program at Le Cordon Bleu in 2022, as detailed in a Joiners podcast episode.
A Menu Built Around What's Local, Not What's Familiar
TAAN's rotating menu changes with available produce and ingredients, and the restaurant is planning a new fall lineup this month featuring dishes not yet on the current list. The current menu keeps noodle and curry offerings deliberately sparse, with the single noodle dish being clay pot glass noodles served with local shiitake mushrooms and Chinese celery, per WTTW's reporting. Other dishes include chu chee curry made with tiger prawns and a watermelon and blackberry salad finished in a papaya salad-style sauce, the same outlet notes. The dishes are meant to be shared, mixing fish, meat, and vegetable plates dressed in Thai sauces rather than plated as individual entrées.
Craig Langworthy, TAAN's bar director and a trained sommelier, built the wine program around Midwestern and European bottles, an approach he called a unique challenge given how unfamiliar many diners are with wines from the region, per Block Club Chicago. He points to Michigan as an emerging wine region worth paying attention to, and the list includes selections from Middlebrow of Logan Square alongside reds, whites, and sparkling wines. Among the pours are a juicy California red with watermelon notes and a Thai-made California white with elderflower flavors. Langworthy told the outlet he hopes the menu will help elevate Chicago's broader wine culture, and he spent a month traveling through France and Spain in 2025 to deepen his knowledge of the craft.
Kitchen Talent Crosses the Street From a Shuttered Neighbor
More than half of TAAN's seven-person kitchen staff previously worked at Segnatore, the Italian restaurant that closed in May 2026 after a five-year run directly across the street, according to WhatNow. Mark Cerullo, who previously worked at Segnatore, now serves as TAAN's chef de cuisine, and cooks David Hoeng and Marco Silva round out the kitchen team. Segnatore's closure effectively freed up a pool of experienced neighborhood kitchen talent that landed just steps away at TAAN's new location.
TAAN's storefront is at 2759 W. Augusta Blvd. As of late August 2026, the restaurant's liquor license was still being finalized.
Décor Built From Neighbors and Nostalgia
Inside, TAAN leans into a look meant to echo the trendier dining rooms of Humboldt Park and Logan Square, with pressed-tin ceilings, exposed brick walls, and cloudburst plaster-style paint, WTTW reports. The décor mixes empty wine bottles donated by neighbors, Italian ceramics repurposed as lamp shades, and donated plants scattered through the dining room. A framed photo of Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand's ninth king, posed with the queen and Elvis Presley, hangs as one of the room's more unusual touches.
TAAN has drawn attention beyond its own dining room, landing on various best-of restaurant lists, local industry podcasts, and social media influencer posts, which Chayaluk and her small team credit for consistently packed nights since opening. She says the restaurant is meant to nourish customers and employees alike, and that philosophy extends to staffing: TAAN is closed Sundays and Mondays and keeps hours from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, a schedule the team says is meant to ensure employees stay well rested despite the demand.
Another Chapter for a Changing Intersection
The corner of California Avenue and Augusta Boulevard has cycled through dining concepts before. The former Café Marie-Jeanne space became Segnatore, which shut down this year after five years in business, as Hoodline previously reported. TAAN now joins an established cluster of food and drink destinations along the same stretch, operating near Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar and Spinning J Bakery and Soda Fountain.
The name TAAN translates to “to eat” in Thai, a fitting label for a restaurant built around shared plates and a wine list meant to be lingered over rather than rushed through. Whether the deliberate absence of pad Thai and other takeout staples keeps drawing crowds beyond the neighborhood's early adopters remains to be seen, but for now, the packed dining room across from Segnatore's old storefront suggests Humboldt Park diners are willing to order something unfamiliar.
