PERILLA Korean American Steakhouse
Korean fire meets French finesse downtown
Chicago Loop · Chicago · Korean Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 13, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walking into Perilla, the wine list feels like it was built for the room — confident, polished, and unapologetically leaning into the big names. France and California anchor everything, which tracks given the steakhouse DNA, but the Korean-American concept gives the whole program a more interesting reason to exist than your average chophouse list.
Selection Deep Dive
The 150-250 bottle list covers the classics without many surprises: Burgundy via Louis Jadot, Bordeaux royalty with Château Margaux, and California heavy-hitters like Opus One, Kosta Browne, Silver Oak, Paul Hobbs, and Caymus all make appearances. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti showing up is a flex — whether it moves or just anchors the top of the list, it signals that this program is serious. What's missing is anything adventurous outside the France-California axis; there's no real nod to Korean or Asian producers, which feels like a missed opportunity given the concept. The Wine Spectator Award of Excellence since 2025 is recent but earned — this is a list that's been thoughtfully assembled, not just filled in.
By the Glass
With 12-20 glass pours, there's enough rotation to keep things interesting across multiple visits. The team of three sommeliers — Thomas Oh, Jordan Eby, and Leslie Garcia — means the by-the-glass program likely gets actual attention rather than defaulting to whatever the distributor pushed that week. We'd push the staff for their current pours before defaulting to a bottle; the glass program here is worth engaging.
Louis Jadot Burgundy — $50-$80 range
Jadot is reliable, widely available, and often marked up reasonably compared to the prestige bottles on this list — it's the smart play if you want Old World red without the Margaux sticker shock.
Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon
Hobbs gets overshadowed by Opus One and Caymus on lists like this, but it often punches harder in the glass — more structure, more complexity — and tends to sit at a slightly more reasonable price point than the marquee names.
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Caymus is everywhere and marked up everywhere. It's a solid wine but a restaurant list is the worst place to buy it — you're paying a premium for a bottle you could grab at any wine shop for a fraction of the price.
Kosta Browne Pinot Noir + Galbi (Korean short ribs)
The galbi's caramelized soy-and-pear marinade wants something with ripe fruit and enough acid to cut through the fat — Kosta Browne's lush, full-bodied Pinot hits both marks without steamrolling the Korean flavors.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Perilla is a genuinely fun concept with a wine list that mostly keeps up — three sommeliers, serious producers, and a Burgundy-California spine that plays well with bold Korean flavors. The markup is real and the list plays it safe beyond the French-Cali lane, but if you engage the staff and lean into the pairings, this is one of the more interesting steakhouse wine experiences in Chicago.
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