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Home / Businesses / Norman's Bistro

Norman's Bistro

Iconic/NotableKenwood · American Creole / Brazilian Community-sourced, unverified
📍 1001 E 43rd St, Chicago, IL 60653

Norman Bolden spent 25 years at WGCI 107.5 FM before he bought this building in Kenwood in 2010 — on the same spot where his father used to run a record shop — and turned it into a restaurant built on what he picked up traveling across Africa and Europe.

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Live Sunday-night jazz and a Brazilian-inflected American Creole menu (gumbo with chicken chipotle sausage and whiskey) at a Kenwood restaurant voted a neighborhood favorite 2017-2023.

“I wanted to bring that experience to the place where I was born and raised, Kenwood,” he's said, and the menu backs that up: American Creole cooking with a real Brazilian flair from chef Robert Blanchard, whose signature gumbo swaps in chicken chipotle sausage, corn, whiskey, and chardonnay rather than running the traditional recipe. Beyond the gumbo, there's a shrimp and lobster pot pie, a Turducken Chili Mac that sounds like a dare and reportedly delivers, and a baby back ribs platter. Sunday nights bring live jazz, and from April through December there's entertainment out on the patio too, with a full bar built around an extensive wine list and signature umbrella drinks. The restaurant has shown up on PBS's Check, Please!

Chicago and has been voted a neighborhood favorite in local polls every year from 2017 through 2023 — real, sustained local credibility rather than a single good review cycle. Bolden also runs Room 43, an upscale event space, right alongside it, so this has become something closer to a small hospitality operation than a single restaurant. It's closed Monday and Tuesday, open Wednesday through Sunday afternoon into the night, and walk-ins are welcome. No discount special here, but seven straight years as a local favorite, with Sunday jazz built into the regular calendar, speaks louder than a coupon would.

Specials at Norman's Bistro

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Norman's Bistro

Iconic/Notable
Sunday Night Live Jazz
KenwoodCommunity

Hours

Wed-Sun3:00 PM-11:00 PM; closed Mon-Tue
📅 Takes reservations 🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 (773) 966-5821

Amenities & accessibility

📅Reservations accepted
❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified
☀️Outdoor seating available

Location

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