Chicago’s galaxy of Michelin-star rated restaurants continues to dazzle as the prestigious honors for the 2017 Michelin Guide Chicago were announced Wednesday.
Chicago’s dynamic duo of three-star restaurants, Grace in the West Loop and Alinea in Lincoln Park, each retained its coveted rating for the coming year (there are only 14 in the country to achieve the lofty triple stars).
Curtis Duffy’s Grace in the West Loop retains its coveted three-star Michelin Guide rating for 2017. | Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times/File
Our city’s culinary world now claims five two-star Michelin winners, as newcomer Oriole and perennial Chicago favorite Tru joined the ranks of Acadia, 42 Grams and Sixteen for the coveted designation (only 25 establishments across the U.S. now claim the rating).
Nineteen establishments can now boast one-star ratings, including four newcomers: Andersonville’s Band of Bohemia, Streeterville’s GreenRiver, and Roister and Smyth, both in the West Loop.
“When it comes to Oriole, [Chef] Noah [Sandoval] is a great chef,” said Michael Ellis, the international director of Michelin Guides. “He’s been able to do something truly unique in that he earned it with a gluten-free restaurant. That was a first for us. Oriole is incredibly ambitious with a unique signature. Noah is one of the youngest two-star chefs in the world today.”
Ellis had equal praise for one-star newcomer Smyth. “They’re [husband and wife team of John and Karen Shields] are big on farm-sourced foods. They have a 20-acre farm outside Chicago. They’ve been able to combine things from the earth and the seas in such unique ways. The fois gras with dungeness crab — our inspectors have not come across that before. [Same with ] the squab with squid reduction. It just reflects their technical training with an artistic ability to pair different products and create something new and wonderful.”
Band of Bohemia is a unique entry into Chicago’s Michelin star world by its very nature. “This is an incredible microbrewery that incorporates the whole brewery concept into the food,” Ellis said. “They’re using things like malts and hops in marinades and curing. And they’re brewing these insane beers, like pink guava peppercorn!”
As for Chicago’s three-star eateries, Ellis cited Grant Achatz and his team for their complete and successful relaunch of Alinea, and Curtis Duffy for maintaining the standard of excellence at Grace. “We have to take our hats off to Grant,” Ellis said. They rebooted the entire restaurant, creating a new concept, menu, and retain the three stars standards.
“People need to understand that a three-star award is not a lifetime achievement award,” Ellis said. “They’re bestowed every year and chefs really have to show us that they have sustained that standard of excellence and creativity. Michelin has a presence in 28 countries [only four cities, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., are currently among the Michelin Guide family] and we have over 20,000 restaurants among the various guides. Of those, there are only 118 that have three stars.”
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Here is the full complement of 2017 Michelin Guide Chicago restaurants and their star ratings:
THREE STARS
Alinea, (1723 N. Halsted); Chef Grant Achatz
Grace, (652 W. Randolph); Chef Curtis Duffy
TWO STARS
Acadia, (1639 S. Wabash); Chef Ryan McCaskey
42 Grams (4662 N. Broadway); Chef Jake Bickelhaupt
Oriole (661 W. Walnut); Chef Noah Sandoval
Sixteen, (401 N. Wabash); Chef Thomas Lents
Tru (676 N. St Clair); Chef Anthony Martin
ONE STAR
Band of Bohemia,(4710 N. Ravenswood); Chef Matt DuBois
Blackbird (619 W. Randolph); Chef Paul Kahan
Boka, (1729 N. Halsted); Chef Lee Wolen
Dusek’s Board & Beer, (1227 W. 18th St.); Chef Jared Wentworth
EL Ideas, (2419 W. 14th St.); Chef Phillip Foss
NAHA Chicago | FACEBOOK
Elizabeth Restaurant, (4835 N. Western); Chef Iliana Regan
Everest, (One Financial News, 440 S, La Salle); Chef Jean Joho
Goosefoot, (2656 W. Lawrence); Chef Chris Nugent
GreenRiver, (259 E. Erie); Chef Aaron Lirette
Longman & Eagle, (2657 N. Kedzie); Chef Matthew Kerney
NAHA, (500 N. Clark); Chef Carrie Nahabedian
North Pond, (610 N. Cannon Dr.); Chef Bruce Sherman
Parachute restaurant, 3500 N Elston Ave. | Supplied Photo
Parachute, (3500 N. Elston), Chefs Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark
Roister, (951 W. Fulton Market); Chef Andrew Brochu
Schwa, (1466 N. Ashland) Chef Michael Carlson
Sepia, (123 N. Jefferson); Chef Andrew Zimmerman
Smyth (177 N. Ada St #101); Chef John B. Shields
Spiaggia, (980 N. Michigan); Chef Tony Mantuano
Topolobampo, (445 N. Clark); Chef Rick Bayless
Rick Bayless’ Michelin-starred Topolobampo, 445 N. Clark. | Santiago Covarrubias/Sun-Times
A note about the Michelin Guide and star ratings:
“The selections of all restaurants in the guide are made by Michelin’s anonymous inspectors who dine in the Chicago area regularly. These local inspectors are trained to scrupulously apply the same time-tested methods used by Michelin inspectors for many decades throughout the world. This ensures a uniform, international standard of excellence. As a further guarantee of complete objectivity, Michelin inspectors pay all their bills in full, and only the quality of the cuisine is evaluated. To fully assess the quality of a restaurant, the inspectors apply five criteria defined by Michelin: product quality, preparation and flavors, the chef’s personality as revealed through his or her cuisine, value for money, and consistency over time and across the entire menu.”