More than a year after my last visit to Valhalla, I now ask: was I right to have faith, or did I jump the gun?
Tasting Menu
With Nic + Junior’s listing among the hottest restaurants in Chicago, it would appear the concept is finally ready for primetime…
Can lightning strike twice? Can the team at Warlord totally reinvent its tasting menu without losing what made those first two meals so special?
I was so impressed by my first meal at Enemy that I knew I had to rush back…
Enemy formed the entry point through which I could finally get to know what Warlord was doing…
I have learned over many years and many tasting menus to be suspicious of any meal that seems like “too much of a good thing.”
Kumiko is another one of those places (like Obélix) that feels so familiar it can be hard to write about critically. At the same time, it is a place that remains so uncompromising in its vision it can sometimes perplex and polarize segments of its audience.
John’s Food and Wine took its time building a foundation that could reliably support a tasting menu rather than going all-in, from the start, in pursuit of glory. The slow, steady, and sustainable route has yielded something spectacular.
For those open to its charms, Smyth remains the signature, most singular restaurant of its generation. The third Michelin star only confirms its spot in Chicago’s pantheon.
An investigation of Feld: one of the Chicago dining scene’s most engaging (whether you find yourself enamored or averse) culinary expressions to date.