Some get accolades for being game changers, some for grandeur, and even a few for kitsch, but all for memorable dining. We gathered them from experience, of course, but also from Chicago’s voluminous files, avid conversations, and old guidebooks. What follows is a list of 40 restaurants that epitomize Chicago’s impact on the culinary universe. No different from Chez Paul or Jacques (which made the cut for its lovely garden). You have to include Barney’s! No, too corny. The danger of asking your friends what they consider the best Chicago restaurant ever is that they will tell you. And the hype is real reservations for the 13-course fine dining, Filipino-inspired tasting menu (from $185)-with plates of Shanghai-inspired lumpia (spring rolls), bistek wagyu, and croissants with black truffle-sold out fast for December.Photography: (Manny’s) Chicago Tribune photo by Charles Osgood, (Achatz) Lara Kastner/Courtesy of Alinea, (Berghoff) Chicago Tribune photo by José M. While Kasama has been crushing it as a breakfast and lunch spot with everything from chocolate croissants to longanisa sausage, it’s finally open for dinner. Launching a restaurant in July of 2020 was a gamble at best, but chefs and husband-and-wife team Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, formerly of Michelin-starred Oriole, have seen their casual French bakery-meets-Filipino barbecue take off at warp speed and top “best restaurant” lists across the country. It sounds intimidating, but Flamm is all about being approachable and casual, and everything from the friendly service to the warm atmosphere drives that home. The wine list is exuberant, too, especially the sparkling wines, like Huber Hugo pinot noir rosé from Austria and Lambrusco di Sorbara by Cleto Chiarli. The menu at Rose Mary is a thrill to navigate with surprising dishes: a tuna crudo with shallot and beef fat vinaigrette and veal aioli a gorgeously plated lamb ragu wrapped in wide, ribbon-shaped mafaldine pasta and stracciatella with apple mostarda and lepinja (flatbread) alongside warm salted bread. Opened in April 2021, the debut restaurant of chef Joe Flamm, winner of Top Chef season 15, showcases another unique pairing: Flamm’s Italian heritage and his wife’s Croatian roots. The crown jewels, though, are hidden in Chen’s desserts, most notably a baklava froyo made with frozen Greek yogurt, crunchy pieces of house-made baklava, pistachio sauce, and local Heaven’s Honey. The couple, both trained in classic French cooking, have turned out a modern Greek restaurant above all others in a city full of Greek restaurants, one that pays homage to Psaltis’s Greek heritage and elevates it to a level of pure happiness.ĭishes like a gorgeously creamy tzatziki served with wood-fired pitas, grilled Mediterranean octopus, and a slow-roasted pork gyro are made with primo ingredients, simultaneously simple and exceptional. It makes sense to start with a love story and so we begin with Doug Psaltis, ex- RPM executive chef, and former French Laundry pastry chef Hsing Chen, the husband-and-wife team behind Andros Taverna, which opened in Logan Square in February 2021. Keeping up with Chicago’s best new restaurants is an impossible task, so think of this latest and greatest list as more of a love letter to the places, pairings, and chefs we’re so happy to have in our lives now and for the long haul.
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