Whether through social history or personal experience, certain foods conjure strong associations of time and place: after all Ball Park Franks got their name for a reason. So for Chicago restaurant with a menu focused soundly on meat, the location–a neighborhood known in the late 1800s as the Custom Levee District, the city’s crime capital that paved the way for the 1920s heyday of notorious gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran–was a perfect fit.

Fittingly called Custom House (in the Blake Hotel), the restaurant is the latest venture from Chef Shawn McClain and partners Sue and Peter Drohomyrecky. The trio turned to the same designer, François Genéve, who created their previous two niche menu eateries in Chicago–Spring and Green Zebra–to create a look that complements McClain’s newest menu.

“I wanted to acknowledge the colorful history of this neighborhood,” says Genéve, who used the brown, red brick, and sandstone facades of the surrounding buildings as inspiration for his palette. And to further integrate the neighborhood, 13-foot bay windows defining the north, east and west walls offer imposing views of the landmarked area, now known as Printer’s Row. Meanwhile, oversized chairs and banquettes upholstered in latte colored ultrasuede, as well as the restaurant’s seating orientation which Genéve turned 90 degree, are reminiscent of Pullman Car–a nod to the old Dearborn Station across the street.

In addition to the neighborhood’s history, Genéve wanted to acknowledge the space’s former restaurant tenant, Prairie. “I don’t like to demo everything. I like to keep a little of the old into the new,” he says, citing a built in shelving unit he reused to anchor a wine display and create a semi-private room that seats 12. The new does make a big statement in the form of a 23-by-11-foot limestone ledge wall added to separate the kitchen and the dining room (the previous restaurant had an open kitchen).