Jazz pianist, bandleader, and hospitality operator Doc Watkins will open Doc's Jazz Club in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood in March 2027, marking the brand's first Midwest footprint and its third location overall. The venue will occupy the former Yard House space at NEWCITY (1500 N Clybourn), a mixed-use development combining dining, entertainment, and retail on Chicago's Near North Side.
The Concept
Watkins built his supper club model around a philosophy he describes as "Fine Jazz. Serious Hospitality" — an experience where guests are encouraged to dress up, settle in, and treat an evening of live music as the main event rather than background noise. That positioning sets Doc's apart from the casual bar-with-a-band format that dominates most markets and aligns it more closely with the white-tablecloth hospitality tier. For operators watching the experiential dining segment, the model represents a calculated bet that consumers will pay a premium for a curated, multi-sensory evening when the execution is consistent.
Chef Matt Fanella will lead the culinary program, with the stated goal of making food a genuine pillar of the experience rather than an afterthought to the entertainment. Nick DeFina will serve as General Manager, responsible for the overall guest experience. Watkins has been explicit that the Chicago club will develop its own identity while staying rooted in the brand's core hospitality standards.
The Operator Behind the Brand
Watkins founded Jazz, TX in San Antonio in 2016, opening in the historic Pearl development. Over a decade, the intimate club-and-restaurant hosted marquee jazz artists including Kenny Garrett, Bill Charlap, Brian Blade, and Kevin Eubanks, and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. He later expanded with Doc's Jazz Club in Houston. Watkins also performs more than 100 shows annually with his 11-piece orchestra and has released 10 albums — a dual identity as working musician and business operator that is relatively rare in the hospitality and live-entertainment space.
Beyond the clubs, Watkins co-founded TurnTable, a ticketing and marketing platform purpose-built for jazz clubs and cabaret-style venues — a move that signals his broader interest in the infrastructure challenges facing intimate live-music venues. His book, Jazz, TX: A Love Letter to Live Music, Community, and the Little Club That Could, released August 25, 2026, chronicles that journey and doubles as an entrepreneurial case study for independent operators.
What Chicago Signals
The Lincoln Park opening is significant for the foodservice and hospitality industry beyond the local market. The supper club format — live entertainment paired with a full culinary program and premium beverage service — has seen renewed operator interest as restaurants seek revenue streams that can withstand delivery-platform pressure and justify higher average checks. Transforming a large-footprint casual-dining space like the former Yard House into a destination live-music venue also reflects a broader trend of landlords and developers actively recruiting experiential tenants to anchor mixed-use properties.
For Watkins, Chicago's deep jazz heritage is both an asset and a standard to meet. "We're not coming to Chicago to tell Chicago what jazz is," he said. "We're coming because we love what Chicago already is, and we want to build a place that feels worthy of being part of that tradition."
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
