Highland Park's Newest Dinner Reservations Are Just Across the Highwood Line

avec Highwood is slated to open today, Oct. 29, at 250 Waukegan Ave. It joins Juniper, which began serving at 200 Green Bay Rd. on Aug. 25. Both are in downtown Highwood. Both come from Chicago restaurant names with long resumes. Taken together, they make Highwood the place where this year's new dining is happening for Highland Park. Highland Park's own additions are coming to the Ravinia District, but the city has them on a 2027 timeline.

So for this winter, a new place to eat means Highwood, and the holiday events still happen at home.

Juniper Came From a Highland Park Kitchen Veteran

Juniper is chef Todd Stein's restaurant, and Highland Park is where he lives. Highland Park Patch reported that Stein brings more than three decades of cooking experience, having led kitchens at Formento's, The Bristol, Ballyhoo Hospitality and mk the restaurant, and described the project as opening "in his own backyard of Highland Park."

Stein explained his goal in the same Patch article: "With Juniper, I wanted to create the kind of restaurant I always wished we had in the neighborhood, a place I'd like to hang out in."

The menu covers two kitchens. The Record North Shore named Akira Yang as executive sushi chef and Stein as chef and creator of the concept. Its September coverage highlighted spinach-artichoke dip, burgers and miso-glazed salmon served next to specialty rolls, sashimi and nigiri. The restaurant's posted menus add edamame hummus, mushroom soup, short rib and rotisserie chicken, along with nigiri and sashimi made from seasonal fish.

Juniper is not trying to be a special-occasion-only room. Stein told Patch the restaurant is meant for celebrations, cocktails with friends, and "stopping in for dinner on a weeknight." Its OpenTable listing showed a 4.8 rating across 128 reviews in mid-October. Diners wrote about the sushi, the short rib and a heated patio, and some mentioned that parking was hard to find on a Friday. The listing also shows valet parking and notes the nearby Metra stop.

avec Brings a Bigger Footprint, and It's Still Growing

Juniper is a chef's personal project. avec is a larger operation. One Off Hospitality, the Chicago group behind the original avec, chose Highwood for its first North Shore restaurant. NBC Chicago reported plans for a 95-seat dining room, a barroom with a bar counter, and a private dining space. The menu is Mediterranean-inspired shared plates made with ingredients from local farmers.

The group is already expanding before opening night. Highland Park Patch reported that One Off bought the space next to avec Highwood. That purchase doubles the footprint, and the new space will become a dedicated private event venue. NBC Chicago put that venue's target at spring 2027. Highwood's city manager told NBC Chicago that the town has a "century-long tradition of hospitality."

Reservations opened Oct. 1, according to NBC Chicago. In mid-October, avec's OpenTable page showed Oct. 29 as the first available date. Under parking, that listing says "None," so plan your evening differently than you would for Juniper with its valet.

The two restaurants run on different weekly schedules, and the difference matters early in the week:

Juniper is closed Mondays, so avec will be the only one of the two serving on a Monday night. Hours at any new restaurant tend to shift in the first weeks, so check the avec Highwood page and Juniper's listing before you go.

A third, smaller name has come up in Highwood's own news. In April, the City of Highwood announced that Pelago Cafe, a family-run spot led by cousins Ruthie Amidei and Mada Ugolini-Hitchmough, was getting ready to open. The announcement gave no opening date, so it belongs on a watch list, not tonight's plans.

The Ravinia District's Answer Arrives in 2027

Highland Park has its own restaurant news, but it runs on a longer schedule. On Oct. 5, Highland Park Patch reported that city officials announced three food concepts for two sites on Roger Williams Avenue. One is Bean Bar + MEZE, a café and restaurant sharing one space at 565 Roger Williams Ave. The other is EATACO, a taqueria at 597 Roger Williams Ave.

Serah and Kadir Cicek will own and run both. Patch noted that Kadir Cicek has more than 20 years of hospitality and operations leadership experience. The city said it worked with the property and business owners through its business incentive programs to support redevelopment of the two sites.

Mayor Nancy Rotering framed the projects in that Patch report as part of making the district a place to "shop, dine, connect and experience all that the Ravinia District, and Highland Park as a whole, has to offer from morning through evening." A café paired with a taqueria fits that morning-through-evening idea. It is a different kind of addition than a 95-seat dinner room.

The schedule is the part that affects your plans. Patch reported a winter 2027 target for EATACO and spring/summer 2027 for Bean Bar + MEZE. Neither one will be open this holiday season. That is why the Highwood openings carry the dining news for the rest of 2026.

A Season Planner, From Tonight Through 2027

Highland Park's holiday calendar still takes place in Highland Park, and the dinner options are just over the line in Highwood. Here are the dates in order:

1. Oct. 29, 2026. avec Highwood is slated to open at 250 Waukegan Ave., with reservations on OpenTable.
2. Nov. 21, 2026, 6–7 p.m. Holiday Lighting at Port Clinton Square, 600 Central Ave., according to the Enjoy Highland Park calendar. The lighting runs on a Saturday from 6 to 7 p.m., so it can lead into a later dinner. On Saturdays, Juniper seats until 10:30 p.m. and avec until 11 p.m.
3. Dec. 5, 2026, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. The Ravinia District Cookie & Cocoa Crawl at Jens Jensen Park, 540 Roger Williams Ave. The crawl starts on the same street as the 565 and 597 Roger Williams Ave. addresses where the Ciceks' concepts are planned.
4. Winter 2027. EATACO's target opening at 597 Roger Williams Ave.
5. Spring 2027. avec's adjacent private event venue is expected, per NBC Chicago.
6. Spring/summer 2027. Bean Bar + MEZE's target opening at 565 Roger Williams Ave.

Juniper is the one constant on this list. It has been open since late August and serves every night except Monday.

At Chicagoland Real Estate Advisors, we track which blocks around Highland Park are drawing new restaurants and which ones will get theirs in 2027. If you're thinking about what that activity could mean for your home's value, get a free home valuation and we'll go over the numbers with you.