"I wanted it to be a Tuesday restaurant as much as a Saturday restaurant," chef Todd Stein told The Record North Shore about Juniper, the Highwood restaurant he opened at 200 Green Bay Road on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Nine weeks later, on Thursday, Oct. 29, avec opened its doors to the public at 250 Waukegan Ave., according to ChiVibe.
This November is the first stretch of weeks when both are serving. Their hours fit together closely enough that Highwood now has a new chef-driven dinner option every night, Monday included, and a choice between two of them on the other six.
Two Addresses, Two Different Nights Out
Juniper took a while to arrive. The Record reported that Stein first had the idea in 2021 and spent two years developing the restaurant before it opened. Stein grew up in Highland Park, and the paper notes he has cooked in Chicago kitchens since the early 1990s. His résumé includes Formento's and The Bristol, and he opened MK in River North in 1998. Juniper is the first restaurant he runs on his own.
The menu puts familiar American dishes like spinach artichoke dip, burgers and miso-glazed salmon alongside a raw bar of sushi rolls, sashimi and nigiri. Executive sushi chef Akira Yang runs the sushi program, and some of the fish comes from Tokyo. The dining room uses warm tones with reds, blues and soft greens, and a juniper tree grows in the middle of it.
avec comes from a different direction. It belongs to One Off Hospitality, the Chicago group that also runs Blackbird, The Violet Hour, Publican Quality Bread, Dove's Luncheonette and Big Star. Highwood is avec's first location outside Chicago and its third overall. Executive chef Dylan Patel told The Record North Shore that the new room would carry over signature dishes like the chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates, and that he wanted the place to feel like "the best dinner party you've been to." Highwood residents got an early taste at the Design Week kickoff on Sept. 15, when Patel's kitchen served tabbouleh salad and a shrimp cocktail with harissa cocktail sauce and fresh horseradish.
The room covers nearly 5,000 square feet. It has a U-shaped, marble-backed bar, booths along the 95-seat main dining room, and a separate barroom that seats 48.
How the Hours Line Up
The fit between the two restaurants shows up in their posted schedules. Both open at 4:30 p.m. and both serve dinner. Their posted closing times differ on most nights, and on one night only one of them is open. Here are the current listings from avec's Highwood page and Juniper's location page.
| Night | Juniper, 200 Green Bay Road | avec, 250 Waukegan Ave. |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Closed | 4:30 to 10 p.m. |
| Tuesday to Thursday | 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. | 4:30 to 10 p.m. |
| Friday and Saturday | 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. | 4:30 to 11 p.m. |
| Sunday | 4:30 to 9 p.m. | 4:30 to 9 p.m. |
Three patterns stand out:
- Monday goes to avec. Juniper doesn't list Monday hours, and avec serves until 10 p.m. that night.
- avec serves later on every night except Sunday. It stays open 30 minutes past Juniper Tuesday through Saturday, until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Sunday is the one night they match. Both close at 9 p.m., so Sunday dinner in Highwood starts early whichever room you pick.
These are the posted hours as of early November, so check each restaurant's own page before you set out. Both take reservations on OpenTable, at Juniper and at avec. The Record reported that avec started taking online reservations on Oct. 1, four weeks before it opened.
What That Means for a Highwood Week
Stein's "Tuesday restaurant" line describes midweek dinner as a regular habit. Juniper's comfortable menu of burgers, salmon and sushi suits that kind of evening. The Record says Stein also pictures Juniper as a stop after an evening that started somewhere else.
avec covers the nights on either side of Juniper's schedule. Its later hours and its barroom make it the new place still serving after 10:30 on a Saturday, and on Monday, when Juniper is closed, it is the only one of the two serving.
The two restaurants sit on different streets, Juniper on Green Bay Road and avec on Waukegan Avenue. NBC Chicago announced avec's opening date in September. Juniper had already been open for about two weeks by then, as Patch reported in late August.
The Highwood Calendar Around Them
The two new rooms open into a month that already has a few fixed Highwood dates. Plan dinner around these.
Sunday, Nov. 15: Bingo at Buffo's, noon to 2 p.m. The City of Highwood calendar lists the event at Buffo's. It ends well before either new restaurant opens at 4:30, which leaves a long gap before dinner.
Tuesday, Nov. 17: Breakfast Before Business, 7:30 to 9 a.m. The morning gathering meets in Council Chambers, according to the same city calendar. That evening is a Tuesday, the night Stein built Juniper for.
Saturday, Dec. 5: Elf Invasion Pub Crawl, 2 p.m. to bar close. Celebrate Highwood lists the crawl, and the city's December calendar carries the same date. The crawl starts in the afternoon and runs until bar close, so it will share the evening with both restaurants' Saturday dinner service. If you want a quiet table that night, book it now.
The Next Dinner Address Is Further Out
The next restaurant space in Highwood is still early in the approval process. The city has approved a redevelopment agreement for 412–430 Sheridan Road, a site with direct access to the Highwood Metra station, and Zeller, Hamilton Partners and Harlem Irving Companies were selected as the development team. The City of Highwood's announcement describes proposed housing and restaurant space. It calls the agreement one step in a larger process. avec's own expansion has a firmer date. Its detached private dining space, which will hold up to 40 seated or 75 standing guests, is expected to open in spring 2027.
Openings like Juniper and avec shape how a town lives day to day, and they eventually show up in conversations about what homes nearby are worth. If you're curious how Highwood's changing main streets factor into the value of your own home, Sondra Douglass would be glad to walk you through it. Request a Home Valuation whenever you're ready.
