John’s Food and Wine has somehow become the revolutionary home to a seemingly new service style, known for how much they pay their employees, deservedly so, but it’s time we talk much more about their beautiful food. Chefs and co-owners Adam McFarland and Tom Rogers opened their debut restaurant in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago last fall. It’s named after their fathers.
But with all due respect to the dads, their shared name offers no clue to the extraordinary work their sons are doing. And to be fair, John’s barely has any social media presence , in an era when societies rise and fall online. Chef-owners Adam McFarland, left, and Thomas Rogers at their restaurant John’s Food and Wine in Lincoln Park.
(Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) The business partners first met in the kitchen at the Asian French restaurant Le Lan in River North under chef Bill Kim, who left to open his pioneering Urbanbelly in 2008 . But their defining experience came at Gramercy Tavern, the seasonal American restaurant in New York City, whose original chef was Tom Colicchio, better known to a generation as the head judge on “Top Chef.” There they made as little as $10 an hour.
McFarland describes John’s as a neighborhood restaurant serving New American cuisine. “And we have taken a different approach to a service style,” he added. “Our labor model is a bit different, but it’s a place where you can see seasonal American cooking by people who are super invested in.