Any thoughts?
Nice to see Grace made the cut to the 3 stars.
Not sure why L2O ranked higher than Moto and Tru. Good to see a BYO establishment like 42 Grams got the 2 stars. 
Here is the list:
Three stars
Alinea
Grace
Two stars
42 grams
L2O
Sixteen
One star
Acadia
Blackbird
Boka
El Ideas
Elizabeth
Everest
Goosefoot
The Lobby
Longman & Eagle
Moto
Naha
North Pond
Schwa
Senza
Sepia
Spiaggia
Takashi
Topolobampo
Tru
Strong list.
I really like Curtis Duffy. He’s a very nice guy with a good story, and turns out some great dishes. I think his Miyazaki beef dish was the best beef dish I had in 2013. The crab “aquarium” dish is one of the greatest presentations of a tasty dish ever.
Any talk about Next not getting rated?
I always want to go to Grace…now it will be even harder to get a reservation now.
I do think Next is going down hill in the past year. The price / quality ratio is bad. But still I think they are better than few names that are still on the one star list.
Grace was one of my favorite meals this year. Impeccable service.
L2O was one of the worst meals of the year.
Michelin did explain why they did not star NEXT. It was not a good explanation. I’ll see if I can find the link.
Quote -
Question - For the fourth year in a row, no star for Next, one of Chicago’s most popular and best-reviewed restaurants. What did you guys not see that some of the other local critics are seeing?
Answer -
Whether they’re doing a Chinese take out theme, or a Korean food truck theme, or a French bistro theme, I’m pulling these out of the air but you know the restaurant. It’s a fascinating concept, it’s brilliant, it’s astounding, you never know what you’re going to get and that’s the problem. How can we give a star to a restaurant when tomorrow they may do a chicken and dumplings restaurant? They’re all over the place. It’s an amazing place but we just don’t know what they’re going to come up with next. Call us old fashioned, but for the Michelin criteria for a star, it’s just not there. But we’ve had two-star experiences there easily and we’ve had no star experiences there. It remains one of the most fascinating and exciting restaurants in the country today but we have our system that we have to respect.
Yeah, that’s it.
So I have to be in the Chicago area over Thanksgiving for a family event. We are playing hooky from the family on Friday. Any recommendations from you Chicago experts on where top have a nice dinner. The only place I’ve eaten recently in Chicago other than at a conference is two Sun Wah offlines and Jordan’s back yard.
What are you looking for Jay? Fancy? Ethnic? BYO? Etc.
The list is pretty much as expected. 2** out of the box for 42grams was a bit of a surprise.
I was at the L2O meal with John Liotta and I completely agree. Probably the worst high end meal I have ever had. L2O also changed their mind right before service on waiving or decreasing corkage. Others involved in the meal had worked out a deal for reduced corkage when making reservations that was pulled by the manager when we arrived that evening. 10 bottles at $50 each adds up fast, plus we ordered off the list and they charged us $100 to open a magnum. A really classless move IMO.
The Next restaurant star debate will continue. In my mind hard to give a restaurant a star when you have virtually no choice in regards to wine. They have started to do a wine by the glass option off the pairing menu wines but to me that does not get you a star. The food is hit or miss. I have had some 1 star menus and some that were not.
It is interesting to see the Next/Alinea team’s silence on social media. Every chef that I follow has been congratulating Duffy on his 3*** and thanking Michelin for the awards they were given. Not a peep from Achatz or Beran that I can see. Kokonas posted 1 thing on twitter bitching about the Michelin reviewers. Clearly I have no clue if this is intentional or not, it just seems odd to me as they are always pretty active on social media.
George
It seems as though the reviewers have a preference for modern cuisine. IMO Nico, Spiaggia and Tru continue to get hosed. One caveat is that I have not been to Spiaggia since the redo.
Nick - are you saying Tru and Spiaggia deserve 2 stars? I was at Spiaggia a couple of months ago the meal was good… definitely deserves a star but IMO not 2.
George
I don’t have the broad experience with Chicago scene others do, but I can vouch for Grace being 3 star level, and Naha being 1 star level. Had great meals at both place in May. Huge difference in price between the two, and a ton of other options - but those were the two places I picked for my birthday weekend celebration.
and both are on OpenTable
Jay，
if you are looking for BYO / fine dining, Goosefoot and 42 Grams are on top of my list. For fancy bar food, Longman and eagle is really good, if you do not mind the wait.
Spiaggia is fine. The service is usually very good and the wine list is expensive, but well thought-out. My last meal there, also with George was okay. Some service issues and a few misses with food. I think Tanta is one restaurant is watch in the future.
Losing another one. Takashi is closing at the end of the year
George yes that’s what I’m saying. I do admit I have not been to Spiaggia in a year but I’ve felt they were two stars all along.
Sad about Takashi. A gret chef and person. I had many great meals there.
A bit surprised - Is he moving on to another project or were they struggling for customers?
I haven’t been to Sixteen since shortly after it opened. I don’t hear anyone talking about it. Anyone been? Is it really two star worthy?
Les Nomades deserves more recognition. Best meal I’ve ever eaten in Chicago (and possibly anywhere), and yes I’ve eaten at Grace.