Eileen Gregg-Garcia – Owner

Eileen, a Chicago native, left Chicago right after college to help open the Four Seasons Hotel New York, at the time, the flagship hotel. After her stint in NYC, she moved home to open Tuscany on Clark Street. That’s where she met Chepe. She fell in love with his food and him, in that order. She is sometimes called the mayor of Buona Terra for the way she seems to know everyone and kisses every baby.

Since 2017, Eileen splits her time between Buona Terra and Hearth And Crust, BT’s sister restaurant. Eileen and Chepe opened Hearth And Crust in the Irving Park neighborhood in July of 2017.

Jose “Chepe” Garcia – Owner/Head Chef

Chepe grew up on his parents dairy farm in Mexico. They grew most of the food for their family and cattle right there on his parents ranch. In addition to the dairy farm, his family ran a small butcher shop in his town. He has been in the food business literally from birth.

After leaving home and moving to Chicago he soon was working in some of Chicago’s finest restaurants both in the kitchen and up front. He has worked with world class chefs honing his skills over the thirty plus years he has been in the business.

By day you will find him running around town, shopping for his market items. After all of his menu items are prepped for the day, he enjoys a relaxing lunch with his family and then gets ready for the dinner rush. He keeps a close eye on the kitchen from his post as the bartender. Many guests eat at the bar just to hear his stories, hang out with him and have a laugh. He regularly travels to Italy to attend the once a year wine expo, Vin Italy. While there he visits wineries and always returns with fresh menu ideas.

Terms and Conditions for attending WINE DINNERS:

To provide you with a better experience at our special wine-tasting and dinner events, we have improved the registration process. Please take note of the following terms when making your reservation:

Registration and Confirmation:

Access to event registrations will be open from the publication of the event flyer until the maximum capacity of attendees is reached or 12 hours prior to the event.

Upon submitting your request to attend an event, you will receive an email confirming your successful reservation, as well as a unique and non-transferable registration number.

To guarantee your spot, we will contact you by phone to confirm your attendance at the event of your choice.

Waiting List:

If the event you are interested in is already full, don’t worry, you still have a chance to attend. Simply register and you will immediately receive an email confirming that you are on the waiting list. In case of a cancellation, we will contact you so that you can attend.

Attendance:

We kindly ask that you arrive on time, as a sign of respect for our staff’s time and for other attendees. Each event will have a maximum tolerance time of 10 minutes before starting, to allow entry for those on the waiting list.

Coverage:

To provide a better service, Buona Terra covers some events to share them with the public through its website and social media. By registering and attending one of these events, you agree that your image may appear on their website and social media.

Meet

Our Team

Eileen Gregg-Garcia – Owner

Jose “Chepe” Garcia – Owner/Head Chef