USA Travel Magazine

Illinois Featured Highlight

sola restaurant, “Surfer girl” and former chef to some of Hollywood’s celebrities such as James Garner and one of my favorites, Jack Nicholson. Carol Wallack opened sola, a really dynamic and innovative Contemporary American eatery.

The rejuvenated area is more active, more lively with excellent dining, exciting nightlife, great shopping and is where sola restaurant will call home. Owner / Executive Chef Carol Wallack is a Los Angeles native and avid surfer who found her calling on the beach after meeting a Chef of the original Spago. Wallack left Los Angeles and came to Chicago bringing her love of sand and surf to her new restaurant sola. She gracefully created a dramatic décor of amber-hughed lighting with touches of rust, gold, chocolate brown tones along with other accents of reds, oranges and warming blues and greens throughout.

The accents and color tones along with earthy island accents of bamboo floors, wood, stone and some of nature’s friendly materials evoke the tranquil beauty of sand and ocean. There is also an acoustical coating in the ceiling along with a state of the art sound system that insures that diners can converse easily, making sola comfortable, relaxing with a wonderful friendly atmosphere. The design also incorporates a special door for curbside pickup, so that young parents driving up for carryout never have to take the kids out of their car seats.

sola features the best in casual fine dining and incorporates a strong element of Wallack’s Asian-Pacific flair that were developed through her frequent surfing trips to Hawaii. She says, “My heart is in Hawaii and I tend to cook what I like to eat.” Chef Wallack created a menu that will be seasonal straightforward American with California flair and plenty of the Asian and Hawaiian flavors. Look for excellent choices on the menu.

While Chef Carol Wallack may not be able to bring the beach to Lincoln Avenue, with sola, she strives to give her customers a sunny sensation with a friendly atmosphere.