CHICAGO (CBS) — The prestigious Michelin Guide has given props to six local restaurants, each earning a spot in the 2024 edition for Chicago.
“In addition to Chicago-style pizza, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Cubs, the Windy City is also home to some of the most flavorful restaurants in the country,” the guide says.
Being added to the guide isn’t the same as getting a Michelin star, but it still means a stamp of approval.
The newly added restaurants are:
Carino4662 N. Broadway, described as being in “a cozy corner of Uptown where the subway is [Red Line] ruble above the head. Chef Norman Fenton, according to a Michelin press release, “lists the ingredients like an auctioneer, and his pace is relentless.”
Among the items highlighted at Cariño was a “stunning” huitlacoche ravioloo with fried corn silk and a lamb tartare tostada, seasoned al pastor style.
John’s food and wine, 2114 N. Halsted St., which took over the old Nookies Too breakfast and lunch restaurant space in Lincoln Park last year. The restaurant notes that there are no servers — customers must order at the counter before being escorted to a table — but that doesn’t matter, as “everything offered tends to be a hit.”
The Michelin release highlighted the country ham with fried sunchokes, lobster salad with leek aioli and dry-aged steaks with potato pavé.
Maxwell’s Trade, 1516 W. Carroll Ave. – a spot in the West Loop where Michelin said it “can feel like half the city is dining.” The restaurant with its ‘hard warehouse floors’ uses Japanese, Chinese and Thai elements in its cuisine, according to Michelin.
Turbot with chard and kombu beurre blanc was cited by Michelin as “a recent highlight”. A “soup dumpling tortellini with maitake mushroom” was also mentioned.
Sifr, 660 N. Orleans St., a Middle Eastern restaurant that Michelin says elevates hummus to “beautiful heights.” Also cited at Sifr was “a dish of chicken shish taouk that is marinated in yogurt, covered in herbs and charred all over, or halloumi cheese served with beets and finished with honey and pomegranate molasses.”
The team behind Sifr is also the team behind Indischene, not far away at 217 W. Huron St., which has earned a star as a Michelin restaurant. Indienne’s executive chef, Sujan Sarkar, was nominated for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef for the Great Lakes Region.
Taqueria Chingon, 2234 N. Western Ave., a Bucktown restaurant that Michelin says is inspired by the street food of Mexico City. The taqueria from chefs Marcos Ascensio and Oliver Poilevey offers signature al pastor tacos, along with duck carnitas tacos with date puree and sunchoke-habanero salsa, or black pudding with alsa maacha, according to Michelin.
Warlord, 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave., an American contemporary restaurant in Avondale where people line up before opening hours to get a seat. The chefs – Emily Kraszyk, John Lupton and Trevor Fleming – cook on a fire grill in the kitchen and offer dishes such as fois gras ganache with grilled hearth bread and lacquered, dry-aged duck, according to Michelin. Even desserts are prepared in the flames, Michelin said.
