This sprawling new Mediterranean restaurant is opening inside of the former Barneys space in Chicago

For years, one of the best views in Chicago included a side of luxury retail. Now the former Fred's at Barneys space in the Gold Coast is getting a second life, this time as an 8,500-square-foot rooftop restaurant serving sushi, spritzes and skyline views.

Arla, a new Mediterranean-Japanese restaurant from the team behind Adalina and Adalina Prime, officially opens next week, on June 18, at 15 East Oak Street. Set within the entire sixth floor of the former Barneys building, the new destination matches up two cuisines that don't typically share a menu but, according to chef-partner Soo Ahn, have more in common than you might think.

The concept mixes the precision of Japanese cooking with the communal spirit of Mediterranean plates. But rather than treating the two traditions as separate lanes, Arla weaves them together throughout the menu. Japanese yellowtail crudo is topped with fennel and toasted sesame, a caviar sando comes on fluffy shokupan milk bread, salmon maki rolls include tzatziki and a Japanese-inspired hummus is topped with toasted nori, white miso, and housemade furikake.

For the larger plates, the restaurant's live-fire grill is the star. Among the highlights are charred octopus with gigante bean puree, citrus-marinated skirt steak with nori salsa and grilled cod with crispy enoki mushrooms and caramelized miso. (One of Ahn's favorites, he told Block Club Chicago, is the whole roasted cauliflower cooked over open flame and served with black lime crust, harissa pickles and brown butter cauliflower puree.)

There's also an extensive raw bar, five specialty sushi rolls, housemade dumplings and Japanese clay pot rice made with rice sourced directly from Japan. Ahn, who earned a Michelin star while leading the kitchen at Band of Bohemia and later appeared on Season 21 of Top Chef, says the quality of the rice became one of the restaurant's defining obsessions.

Of course, the food isn't the only draw. Arla's location at the corner of Oak and Rush puts diners above one of Chicago's busiest intersections, with views stretching toward Lake Michigan. Two outdoor terraces (one overlooking Mariano Park and another perched above Oak and Rush) add 60 seats and plenty of prime people-watching opportunities.

Arla opens Thursday, June 18, and will serve dinner daily.