The 2022 Michelin Star List in Chicago adds four new restaurants

The Michelin Guide released its coveted list of starred restaurants on Tuesday afternoon, which included four newcomers from Chicago, each with one star: bruise in West Town, Claudia in Bucktown, and My name And the Galette Both are in Lincoln Park. A total of 23 restaurants in Chicago have stars – Less than last year.

Typically, the tire company awards its coveted stars in fine dining venues and upscale restaurants with extensive (and often very expensive) tasting menus. In late March, Michelin announced Seven new local additions to the Bib Gourmand roster, which emphasizes informal places of ‘good value’. The full list of Chicago Bib Gourmands, which contains 55 restaurants, has yet to be revealed.

Kenilo Kasama (Kaluga golden caviar, hamachi, coconut).

Daija Guy / The Chicago Eater

The list has also doubled as a testament to the state of American restaurants as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year. Michelin, which has assigned star ratings to Chicago restaurants for 11 years, did not release a list in 2020 as a result of the pandemic and its outsized impact on the hospitality industry. Meanwhile, four of the restaurants selected in 2021 were permanently closed and thus dropped from the list: Eugene (one star), Wefaq (one star), Spiaggia (one star) and Acadia (Two stars).

the umbrella, the chic Korean-American restaurant that closed for a remodel on Avondale, is still among the company’s picks but no star due to temporary closures. It is expected to reopen this year, giving Michelin inspectors – anonymous agents who visit and rate restaurants – a chance to come back and reassess.

Simple and elegant dining room with blue abstract paintings on the wall. — Claudia moved to a permanent home in 2021.

This year’s first-time winners are also some of Chicago’s most interesting and most critically admired institutions. Casama, the bakery and Filipino upscale dining tyrant of chefs and husbands Jenny Kwon and Tim Flores, has catapulted to stardom at national restaurants (including a spot between Eater’s Best new restaurants for 2021) since the first outbreak of the epidemic. Esme, a fine tasting menu restaurant based on collaborations with visual artists fromnext one Chef Jenner Tomasca and his wife Katrina Bravo have enjoyed great feedback in the nine months since it opened. For Chef Trevor Tisch of Claudia, the star-studded tasting menu restaurant could be an especially nice bonus: He spent nearly a decade developing the project, which began as a pop-up in 2013.

Three-year-old chef Zach Engel from the Middle Eastern hotspot Galette was caught by surprise when he learned on Tuesday of the restaurant’s number one star. In his view, the forced changes of the pandemic may have benefited Galette, as his team introduced a tasting menu and incorporated unusual ingredients.

A blue tiled table surrounds an open kitchen. — Galit debuted in 2019.

fine food Alenia It remains the only three-star restaurant in Chicago, which Michelin defines as “exceptional cuisine, worthy of a special trip.” The world famous destination has held three stars since the first edition of the Michelin Guide in Chicago in 2011.

In a departure from the Stars and Bib Gourmands, which are awarded to restaurants, Michelin has also selected individuals for recognition in terms of drinks. Colin Hoover, Director of Wine at Bonhomme Group (BitnikAnd the PortoGoodfunk), bartenders of the year, and Julia Momoz, creative director and waiter at the Japanese food bar Kumiko At the West Loop, it won the award for Exceptional Cocktails. Momose’s inclusion can be seen as an attempt to split the teams after the directory in 2021 removed the Kikko, an omakase counter in the basement below Kumiko, after Chef Maria Russell passes away.

Check out the full list of this year’s Michelin-starred Chicago restaurants below.

* symbolizes the new for 2022