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26-Nov-14 – The River North restaurant known for its seasonal ingredients and wine pairings is leaving Marina City at the end of the year. BIN 36 served contemporary American cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Its motto was, “Drink wine. Live well. Have fun.” Co-owner Dan Sachs confirmed on Monday that BIN 36 is closing. Loop North News was waiting until employees of the restaurant were notified first. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate company marketing the property to prospective renters, the 9,100 square foot space – in the southwest corner of the building in which Hotel Chicago is located – will be available on January 3. BIN 36 opened on North Dearborn Street on December 20, 1999. The name comes from the bins in which wine is often stored. 36, said Sachs in 2010, “seemed like a lucky number.”
(Above) BIN 36 after renovation in 2010. Sachs owns the restaurant along with managing partner David Schneider and wine director Brian Duncan. In 2003, Sachs told Nation’s Restaurant News he opened BIN 36 to make wine “fun and accessible.” In 2008, Gourmet magazine declared Duncan Chicago’s “Wine Director of the Year.” In 2009, a New York-based arts and culture magazine, BlackBook, put the restaurant on its list of “top spots for New Year’s Eve.” Later that year, Bon Appetit had BIN 36 on its Top 10 list of “best in-store dining spots.” In 2012, BIN 36 made a list compiled by the online reservation service OpenTable of the “top 100 restaurants with the most notable wine lists in the United States.” However, in late October, business, said Sachs, was “decimated” by Nik Wallenda’s high-wire event. Television production trucks camped on Dearborn Street completely obscured his restaurant, he said, and made valet parking impossible. The space started as part of the National Design Center, a showcase, open to the public, of home furnishings and appliances. A spiral staircase led up to the second floor. It was removed during a subsequent renovation. Architect Geoffrey Goldberg said in 2008, “BIN 36 has the most thoughtful use of any space at Marina City. They would have been great keepers of that staircase.”
(Above) Entrance to National Design Center near southwest corner of what was in 1964 an office building along the north side of Marina City.
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