A new Latin American restaurant is set to open in Wicker Park in early February. Libertad, owned by Marcos Rivera, will take over the space at 1835 W. North Ave., a location with personal significance for Rivera and his family.
Rivera has operated Libertad in Skokie since 2011. The move to Wicker Park marks a return for Rivera, whose family previously ran a branch of the Las Palmas restaurant franchise at the same address for nearly two decades. After Las Palmas closed in 2020, the space was home to Taquizo until its closure in 2024.
Rivera will again collaborate with chef Armando Gonzalez, who helped launch Libertad’s original concept. The new restaurant will offer a menu similar to that of the Skokie location, featuring dishes such as pan-seared scallops with yuzu-habanero butter sauce and grilled skirt steak asada. Ingredients are planned to be sourced from regional farms like Mick Klug Farms in Michigan and Spence Farm in Livingston County.
“Libertad means freedom. When we came up with that name, Armando and I, for me, it was freedom to do my own thing,” Rivera said this week. “But we still have some sort of Latin element to all of our dishes.”
The cocktail program is being developed by mixologist Ziyad Asrar, formerly of La Sirena Clandestina. One featured drink will be an Old Fashioned made with tequila, mezcal and mole bitters.
Rivera grew up working at his family’s restaurants. He described how working with chefs like Gonzalez led him to expand menus beyond Mexican staples into broader Latin American cuisine under what he called “Nuevo Latino.” This shift inspired him to create Libertad as a standalone brand distinct from Las Palmas.
“You’re still kind of confined to that name, even though the menu was completely different from all the other Las Palmas,” Rivera said. “It still had those limitations where people thought you were this, even though you wanted to be something different.”
With Libertad’s opening in Wicker Park, Rivera intends to recreate aspects of the neighborhood’s past energy by collaborating with local artists and hosting DJs while maintaining an atmosphere suitable for dining.
Libertad plans to serve lunch, brunch and dinner; further details on the opening date are expected soon.
