Restaurant: L20 Restaurant, located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, is famous for it’s modern, seafood cuisine. Awarded two Michelin Stars in 2012, L2O appropriately stands for “Lake to Ocean.” L2O’s kitchen has two 100-gallon custom saltwater fish tanks. One tank mimics the English Channel and the other, the Pacific Ocean, and they provide L20’s guests the freshest seafood available. L20’s chefs employ the highest-quality ingredients while using classic and contemporary cooking techniques to create artful dishes.
Chef: Matthew Kirkley, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, earned a degree from the Culinary Institute of America and started his professional career working in top restaurants in Philadelphia (Striped Bass), Chicago (Seasons Restaurant and NoMI) and Las Vegas (Restaurant Joël Robuchon). Returning to Chicago in 2008, Chef Kirkley was part of L2O’s opening team but left to work at other restaurants before rejoining L2O in 2011. Chef Kirkley started as Chef de Cuisine but was promoted to Executive Chef later that same year.
Butter: Chef Kirkley maintains an extremely refined butter program at L2O to compliment the restaurant’s renowned bread service. He uses Amish butter from the Minerva Dairy in Ohio. Chef Kirkley creates a long, luxurious ribbon of butter, and perches it atop a specially designed ‘peek-a-boo’ butter dish.
Commentary: “I can't imagine a world without butter,” says Chef Kirkley.
L2O
Closed December 2014
