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About My New Project: OON Chicago

Cable television and Chicago broadcast legend Bill Kurtis and TimeOut Chicago Magazine’s Readers’ Choice “Breakout Chef of the Year” Matt Eversman team up to grill Bill’s Tallgrass Beef.

I am so looking forward to having you come by OON Chicago early in 2012. The food focus will be a broad Southeast Asian style that borrows from many cultures while influenced by Contemporary American cuisine. This style of cuisine offers me and our kitchen team a lot of creative opportunity to work with seafood, and I really like seafood.

One of the most important things about opening OON Chicago has not been so much about the food, but picking the best possible location. I picked the West Loop area because I want us to be where Chicago's serious diners go to find really different and exciting approaches to food. Frankly, I'm honored to be neighbors with some of the best chefs in the city, if not the country.

The OON Chicago dining concept feels like a very logical next step for me. It's my hope that the unique food, specialty cocktails, wine selection, wanting-to-please service staff and comfortable dining environment we offer will add up to a really fun, casual elegant dining experience for everyone.

Hope to see you s-OON,
Matt Eversman

About Matt Eversman – food and dining
have always been a major part of his life

OON Chef/Partner Matt Eversman receives TimeOut Chicago Magazine "Breakout Chef of the Year" Award from Spiaggia Executive Chef/Partner Tony Manuano.

A Chicago area native, Matt comes from a long line of cooks that began with his Great-Grandmother. Naturally, food and dining was an important part of his childhood. His family could always be found stove-side or spending hours in the dining room, enjoying good food and conversation. He attended The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago where he was part of the Le Cordon Bleu Program. During this time, he worked a six-month externship at legendary Charlie Trotter’s. After graduating culinary school, Eversman held a variety of positions, including Executive Chef for an International Documentary Association event at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, serving Oscar recipients and VIP guests. After two years at May Street Market, Matt was contacted by the Saigon Sisters Restaurant, where he became Executive Chef.

For almost a year, Matt has been the focus of intense food media scrutiny. He has received consistently high praise from Chicago food reviewers, writers and broadcasters, including Penny Pollack (Dining Editor, Dish, Chicago Magazine’s Weekly e-Newsletter) Phil Vettel (Restaurant Reviewer for the Chicago Tribune and contributor to The Stew) Steve Dolinsky (Host, ABC7’s Hungry Hound), Michael Nagrant (Restaurant Reviewer for Newcity and Publisher, Hungry Magazine) and David Tamarkin (Dining Editor, TimeOut Chicago). Recently, the May issue of the highly regarded culinary publication Food Arts Magazinefeatured several of Eversman’s dishes.

About being a chef, Matt comments, “Getting to be a part of peoples’ lives and helping them commemorate events around the dinner table is so special to me. Simply making guests happy with my food is the most gratifying part of my day.”