Acadia

Acadia was a restaurant in the South Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It was opened by Ryan McCaskey in 2011. The restaurant served New American cuisine inspired by Maine's culinary history. It received Michelin stars several years in a row until its closure in 2020. Description Acadia was a fine dining restaurant that also had a bar where patrons could buy food, which was a more casual dining experience. The restaurant's bartender, Michael Simon, was noted by food critics for the experimental cocktails he created at Acadia. The exterior of the building was non-descript, while the interior was well-decorated. Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune described its dining room as "a warmly minimalist, softly lit and serenely quiet space with alabaster walls, neutral carpeting and beaded-metal curtains." It closed temporarily in 2015 for redecorating. Menu The restaurant served five- and ten-course tasting menus, as well as "upscale" contemporary American cuisine such as cheeseburgers, lobster rolls, lobster pot pie and a Wagyu steak dinner. The dishes on its menu were often heavy and rich. Writing for Time Out, Julia Kramer noted the relative affordability of its prices compared to similar restaurants. Its menu was heavily influenced by the cuisine of New England, particularly Maine. Jeff Ruby, of the magazine Chicago, observed that many dishes on the ten course menu had "a green-and-white palette meant to evoke McCaskey's briny Maine summers as a kid." Many of the restaurant's ingredients were sourced from Deer Isle, Maine.