A candlelit dinner table set with empty plates and glasses beside a window overlooking the Chicago River and Willis Tower at dusk

Private Chef · Chicago & the North Shore

Restaurant cooking, at your own table.

I cook at Mama Delia in Wicker Park — a Michelin Bib Gourmand kitchen. Privately, I bring that same standard into Chicago homes, offices and celebrations.

Or see open dates

Booking Thanksgiving, holiday parties & New Year's Eve →

Next open evenings

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Introduction

A chef at your table, not a restaurant at your door.

I'm Nicolás Mónaco, a professional chef based in Chicago. My days are spent on the line at Mama Delia in Wicker Park; my evenings off are spent cooking for private tables across the city and the North Shore.

Privately, the work is quieter and far more personal. I cook for a specific group of people, in their own space, around what they actually want to eat. The precision of a professional kitchen stays; the formality doesn't.

Lincoln Park to Winnetka, a dinner for four or a party for forty — the setting changes, the care doesn't.

Bib Gourmand

Mama Delia, Wicker Park

4 cities

Buenos Aires · Miami · Madrid · Chicago

Since 2022

Cooking private tables

2–40

Guests per service

What I offer

Dinners built around the way you like to eat.

Private dinners at home

An evening built around your table — menu, pace and pairings matched to the occasion, cooked in your own kitchen.

Executive & corporate dinners

Client entertaining and team dinners in your home, office or a venue you've booked, run discreetly and to time.

Celebrations & catering

Birthdays, engagements and milestones — plated or grazing, with a small trusted service team.

Multi-day residency

Daily cooking for a long weekend or a full week: breakfasts, lunches, dinners and all the provisioning.

Explore all services

How it works

Four steps from first message to dinner.

from $75 / guest · $1,200 minimum

1
Tell me about the evening
2
I reply personally within 24 hours with a menu idea
3
We finalise the menu
4
A deposit secures your date

Start with step one

The cooking

Ingredient first, then the idea.

Menus start at the market, not on paper. Mediterranean roots, Argentine fire, and whatever is genuinely good that week in Chicago. Refined plating, generous flavour, and nothing on the plate that isn't earning its place.

Crudo · No. 0712 · X · 26

01 · The loin

p. 07