Chef Giuseppe Tentori
Opening GT Fish & Oyster in March 2011, Chef Giuseppe Tentori brought his award-winning cooking techniques to the masses, redefining the American seafood restaurant concept. The Food & Wine “Best New Chef” 2008 and James Beard Foundation “Best Chef Great Lakes” nominee, has received critical praise for GT Fish & Oyster including three-stars from the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, four-stars from Time Out Chicago, and CS Magazine’s “Chef of the Year“ in 2011. In addition to GT Fish & Oyster, Tentori is the executive chef of BOKA Catering Group, a catering experience for any event that requires restaurant quality service and cuisine.
 
After finishing his tenure at Antica Osteria la Rampina in Milan, a nineteen-year-old Tentori accepted Chef Gabriel Viti’s invitation to work at his restaurant in Highland Park, Illinois. After Gabriel’s, Tentori headed out west to become the sous chef at the Metropolitan in Salt Lake City, Utah. Two years later, he returned to Chicago and began working at Charlie Trotter’s. Serving the last two years at this award-winning restaurant as chef de cuisine, Tentori spent a total of nine years perfecting his culinary philosophy in this famous kitchen.
 
In 2007, Tentori accepted the position as executive chef at BOKA Restaurant. Under his reign in the kitchen, BOKA received a Michelin-star four years in a row, making the restaurant a staple in the bustling Chicago dining scene.
 

About GT Fish & Oyster
GT Fish & Oyster opened in March of 2011, and has helped redefine the American seafood restaurant. Michelin starred, and Food and Wine's Best New Chef 2008, Giuseppe Tentori, has developed a menu that’s half-traditional, half modern, in an ever-changing small plates format. The restaurant received three stars from the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, and 4 stars from Time Out Chicago.
 
Designed by 555 International, the 115-seat modern seafood eatery presents a seasonal menu comprised of both traditional and non-traditional fish-centric dishes. In addition to a rotating mix of East and West Coast oysters served with innovative accoutrements, Chef Tentori features a wide-selection of shared plates. “There is a distinct hole in the Chicago’s seafood restaurant market. The city offers a wide selection in regards to high-end and low-end venues, but there is nothing to really choose from in the mid-range section,” said Kevin Boehm, owner, Boka Restaurant Group. “Rob and I always have and will develop and open restaurant concepts that are akin to restaurants we want to dine at.” In addition to a wine and locally-focused beer menu, the simple cocktail list, devised by BRG’s resident mixologist Benjamin Schiller, includes a bevy of seafood-friendly refreshers.
 
555 vice president and lead designer on the project, Karen Herold, developed the restaurant’s design concept by drawing inspiration from Chef Tentori’s distinct contrast of traditional and non-traditional items on the menu. Merging new and old elements, Herold took rustic details of an old fisherman’s cottage and combined them with more sophisticated, components of a sleek yacht. The restaurant provides guests with the feeling that they just stepped onto an elegant stateroom, while conveying the casual, relaxed atmosphere of the deck of the boat.