Anelya

The story

Anelya Chicago: Eastern European Homestyle from Chef Johnny Clark & Beverly Kim

A Restaurant Named for Grandmother

Chef Johnny Clark and his wife, Chef Beverly Kim, named Anelya after Johnny’s grandmother. What began as a popup to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine became something more permanent: a restaurant that preserves culture through food. “Anelya represents a crossroads of nostalgia, heritage and the modern cooking styles that my wife and partner, Chef Beverly Kim, and I share,” Clark writes on the restaurant’s website.

The restaurant’s recognition by the Michelin Guide as a Selected Restaurant speaks to the care behind the concept. It is not a museum piece but a living kitchen where old-world techniques meet contemporary tastes.

A Dining Room That Feels Like Home

The space in Avondale is designed for unhurried evenings. An appetizer cart rolls to your table, filled with more than ten small bites: smoked carrot pâté, sunflower seed hummus, pickled tomatoes, and trout roe tart. The menu reads like a family cookbook, with sections for zakusky (appetizers), dumplings and noodles, broths, vegetables, fish, and meat.

Main dishes include varenyky (huckleberry-filled dumplings with bacon-pecan praline), short rib bobrach in a paprika broth, and pork belly shashlik with koginut squash. The Eastern European cuisine is grounded in homestyle flavors—thick soups, layered pasta, and fluffy Ukrainian garlic bread called pampushky.

Finish with Honey Cake and Conversation

Desserts like medovic (honey cake layers with whipped sour cream and seasonal berries) and piana vishnya cake (drunken sour cherries with chocolate) invite lingering. The wine list leans toward Eastern Europe and the Balkans, with orange wines from Slovenia and sparkling wines from Ukraine. Metric coffee and a pastry round out the meal.

Anelya is open Wednesday through Sunday, serving dinner only. Whether you come for the half-off wine bottles on Wednesdays or a full tasting menu, the dining room treats you like family.