This excerpt was originally published in Pre Shift, our newsletter for the hospitality industry. Subscribe for more interviews, advice, and first-person perspectives .

Dinner Party, presented by Capital One , is a yearlong series celebrating some of 2026’s most exciting new restaurants. Throughout the year, we’ll check in with teams in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. to hear what it’s really like behind the scenes of a buzzy opening. Read along for their challenges, candid reflections, and advice.

On cocktail menus across the country, it’s no longer rare to see a drink with premium spirits inching closer and closer to $30. Even at some neighborhood joints, $20 classics have become the norm. But when The Radicle , from the team behind Daisies , debuted in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood last year, the cocktail menu had a jaw-dropping price tag: Just $10 for most of the drinks, with a few additions that go for $12.…