Summer Design Trends: All About Al Fresco

By Isabel Moreno-Garcia: Restaurants are leaving more room inside and incorporating outdoor dining. Spaced out restaurant seating feels more spacious and you don’t feel overcrowded. However the best thing to come out from reducing capacities indoors is outdoor dining! Restaurants are occupying large sidewalks and even roads. The city feels more alive when people are outdoors and you can see everyone enjoying their meal outside.

For example in the West Loop, restaurants have taken over Randolph Street. Then in Chinatown, restaurants have taken over the outdoor plaza and they have people eating outside in these neat spaces.