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Home / Businesses / Gilda

Gilda

West Town · Basque/Spanish Community-sourced, unverified
📍 1421 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642

Gilda bills itself as Chicago's first Basque tavern, and the format backs that up — a walk-up pintxo bar alongside a full tasting menu and a la carte dining room, from chefs Jeremy Leven, Rafael Esparza, and Anthony Baier working in the San Sebastian pintxos tradition.

$$$
The walk-up pintxo bar itself, plus the Lady Gilda savory martini and an oak-ash black sesame cheesecake that reviewers keep naming as the standout dish — a genuinely uncommon format for Chicago.

The space took over the old Chi-Latin spot on West Chicago Avenue, and the menu runs through egg brandade with salt cod, Iberico pork secreto, and an oak-ash black sesame cheesecake that keeps showing up as a reviewer favorite alongside the olive oil ice cream. The bar leans into the Basque-tavern bit too — a savory martini called the Lady Gilda, and a Txakoli list that at least one diner found too thin ($17 a glass with limited options). Reviews since opening are genuinely mixed: some diners say the room doesn't fully capture a real Basque pintxo bar's energy, others call the food and staff standouts.

Open evenings only, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. No happy hour, vermouth special, or pintxo-bar discount turned up in research — the walk-up bar itself is the casual option here, not a priced-down one.

Specials at Gilda

(1)

Gilda

West TownCommunity

Hours

Mon
Thu
Sun5pm-10pm; Fri-Sat 5pm-midnight; closed Tue-Wed (per FineDiningLovers; unverified against the restaurant's own site)
📅 Takes reservations 🥡 Takeout unconfirmed

Amenities & accessibility

📅Reservations accepted
❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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