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.”
Wine
Kyōten has nothing left to prove, yet it remains a mystery for many Chicagoans who have misgivings about a pricey restaurant missing Michelin’s endorsement. What is this “chef of the year” up to at the moment?
After more than five years and 1,000,000 words published, it is time for a change in format…
Galit has entered 2023 with wind in its sails and the kind of trophy cabinet that reflects its maturity as a concept. Thus, the time seems ripe for you to engage with the restaurant and see if it has fulfilled all its early potential. Bibendum has had his say, but just what does it take to be “iconic”?
With your hundredth visit looming in early 2023, the time seems ripe to step back, reflect, and review the creative output that has flowed ceaselessly from Ada Street’s colossus of seasonal American cuisine.
Over the past few years, you have observed several of Chicago’s notable wine lists undergo a striking change…
By offering diners the freedom to define their own evening, by welcoming and caring for them expertly across all levels of indulgence, the Poseys construct that sense of hygge. Elske should serve as a model of what a boundary-pushing, community-oriented restaurant should be.
The dark days of the pandemic–a reality managed, throughout the meal, unerringly by Alinea’s team–have led the restaurant back towards the fountainhead of its inspiration. No “smoke and mirrors,” just creative cooking–just the drama of the table. Alinea “3.0” is the return to the source from which Achatz–during the decade he helmed Alinea 1.0–made his name.
You cannot say you have eaten at Le Francais or Charlie Trotter’s in their prime, but you feel no fear in saying Smyth is the greatest restaurant Chicago has ever seen. And, by all accounts, the Shieldses are only getting started.
In the final analysis, it is hard not to look back at all four events you attended as a mere cash grab, driven by branding Alinea as the “sort of group” that puts on “wine dinners” in a weak market where they, as usual, will escape any meaningful criticism.