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Armour and Swift Steakhouse Changes Name After Armour-Echrich Sues

By Stephanie Lulay | August 18, 2015 5:44am
 After a lawsuit over the Armour & Swift name, Boka Restaurant Group and B. Hospitality Co. have renamed their West Loop steakhouse Swift & Sons. The restaurant is slated to open in the Google building this October.
After a lawsuit over the Armour & Swift name, Boka Restaurant Group and B. Hospitality Co. have renamed their West Loop steakhouse Swift & Sons. The restaurant is slated to open in the Google building this October.
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Sterling Bay website

FULTON MARKET — After a lawsuit over the Armour & Swift name, Boka Restaurant Group and B. Hospitality Co. have renamed their much anticipated Fulton Market steakhouse.

The dining giants have renamed the chef-driven steakhouse Swift & Sons. The restaurant slated to open in the 1K Fulton development in October, officials confirmed Monday. The entrance to the restaurant will be located at the corner of Morgan & Fulton.

The name change comes after Armour-Echrich Meats filed a lawsuit in July demanding that the restaurateurs drop the Armour name, Crain's Chicago reported.

The 8,000-square-foot restaurant plans to pay its respects to Chicago's historic meatpacking district "in the neighborhood where it all began," officials said when first announcing the steakhouse concept.

While the name has changed, the restaurant's talent remains the same. Executive Chef Chris Pandel, B. Hospitality's chef partner who also runs Balena in Lincoln Park, will run Swift & Sons' kitchen, with help from pastry chef Meg Galus and sommelier Marcello Cancelli.

Pandel's menu will feature responsibly raised meat prepared with seasonal ingredients. Menu items include:

• A cold seafood tower of prawns, king crab, oysters, clams and bay scallops

• Beef Wellington for two

• French Polynesian-spiced bay scallops with coconut and chiles

• English pea pierogi with farmers cheese lemon


• Crab and potato croquette with basil aioli


• Lobster a la nage with Champagne, fennel and fines herbes

Swift & Sons also plans to serve a number of high-quality cuts of "boutique beef" including a 38-ounce dry-aged côte de boeuf, a 36-ounce Porterhouse, a 24-ounce bone-in ribeye, 14-ounce bone-in filet and A5 Japanese Wagyu.

More than 600 bottles bottles of wine will be available for purchase at Swift & Sons and 30 wines will be available by the glass.

The dessert menu will feature modern American desserts rooted in French technique. Offerings will include a seasonal selection of soufflés, puddings and tarts.

Build out of the space is ongoing, and design firm AvroKO drew inspiration from the titans of the city's meatpacking industry. As a nod to the building's history as a cold storage facility, the raw concrete columns will be left exposed and the dining room will feature arched and vaulted ceilings, wood wainscoting and office-inspired furnishings.

Design firm AvroKO will design the interior of Swift & Sons, a steakhouse slated to open in Fulton Market in October. [Swift & Sons Facebook]

The restaurant's lobby aims to mirror a "luxurious, old boys club" with high ceilings, stained glass lighting and mosaic marble floors. The Tavern space will channel what the trading floor of this company would have looked like when deals were made in bank teller-like booths.

Swift & Sons will also feature a bar area called The Tavern located in the front of the restaurant. In addition to the full menu, The Tavern will feature a classic cocktail program, highlighting timeless favorites.

Upon opening, Swift & Sons plans to feature an in-house concierge desk for guests.

Rob Katz, co-owner of Boka Restaurant Group, said the team is excited to open the steakhouse in an area that first put Chicago on the map as a steak destination.

“The Fulton Market District has steak in its heart and soul and we plan to celebrate the West Loop’s heritage with one of the most classic restaurant concepts," he said.

Boka Restaurant Group also operates Girl & the Goat, Momotaro and Little Goat Diner in the West Loop. B. Hospitality Co. also operates Formento's and Nonna's in the West Loop.

Sterling Bay's 1000 W. Fulton Market development is also known as the Google building, a nod to one of the building's main tenants.

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