21-05-2025
Acclaimed Spanish Restaurant Bocadillo Market Finds a New Home in West Town
Bocadillo Market, the Lincoln Park Spanish restaurant that closed in December, has found a new home in West Town along Grand Avenue, near an already impressive assortment of Italian American sandwich makers like Tempesta Market and Bari. Chef James Martin will bring a touch of Spain to the corridor when he and his wife, Jessica Neal, take over the Gemma Foods storefront.
The new location is more personal for Martin. He talks about growing up in the D.C. area. His father worked in construction. West Town can attract more blue-collar workers compared to Lincoln Park, a neighborhood near DePaul University and filled with customers with college degrees. Martin wants to make sure he can serve customers like teachers and police officers regularly, keeping menu items under $20.
'That's the heart of our communities, and those folks eat out quite a bit for lunch,' Martin says. 'That's some of the things we missed in Lincoln Park.'
Bocadillo 2.0 will open in phases, hopefully debuting in early July if not before. It's an evolution of Lincoln Park's daytime menu, headlined by sandwiches and augmented by coffee and pastries. Though the new location, 1117 W. Grand Avenue, won't offer regular dinner service — takeout and delivery will be a focus — that doesn't mean customers won't see an occasional pop-up. Martin says Sunday suppers, meals that would require reservations, would play a big role.
The Lincoln Park location of Bocadillo Market opened in 2021 near Clark and Fullerton, and Martin — who's worked for José Andrés, North Pond, and A10 — treated Chicago to a different side of Spanish cuisine, one that blended Moorish and even Lowcountry influences. Bites featured serrano jamón or crisp calamari, often mounted between slices of pan de cristál. Think of the bread as a Spanish version of focaccia. During nightly dinner service, Martin would break out dishes like paella.
Martin and Neal pumped plenty of energy and resources into creating a Spanish oasis in Lincoln Park, creating a comfy back patio and curating a supply of imported wines and other packaged goods in front. For example, it's one of the rare spots in Chicago to find Vichy Catalan, the Spanish sparkling water. The restaurant caught the attention of the James Beard Foundation, as Martin was named as a semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2024 and a 2022 Best New Restaurant in Bon Appétit .
When they closed, Martin says he wanted to feed more people and to ensure his menu could be affordable. He also wanted to change lifestyles: 'It's fun, but at the end of the day, for me, I don't want to be at the restaurant at 1 o'clock in the morning or midnight.'
On the accessible front, he points to West Town's vast array of Italian restaurants like Bari, D'Amato's Bakery, PIZZ'AMICI, Elina's, and Oggi Trattoria. Chicago has Spanish restaurants, like Bazaar by José Andrés or Boqueria in Fulton Market. But construction workers, like Martin's dad, aren't going to regularly patronize those establishments. He wants to make those customers feel welcome: 'It's really important to me,' Martin says.
Bocadillo Market , 1117 W. Grand Avenue, planned for an early July opening
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