Sifr, John's Food & Wine among 6 restaurants added to Chicago Michelin Guide for 2024
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The prestigious Michelin Guide has given props to six local restaurants—granting them each a space in its 2024 edition for Chicago.
"Besides Chicago-style pizza, Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Cubs, the Windy City is also home to some of the most flavorful restaurants in the nation," the guide said.
Getting added to the guide is not the same as being awarded a Michelin star, but still signifies a stamp of approval.
The newly-added restaurants are:
Cariño, 4662 N. Broadway, described as being in "a cozy corner of Uptown where the subway [Red Line] rubles overhead. Chef Norman Fenton, a Michelin news release said, "lists out ingredients like an auctioneer, and his pace is relentless."
Among the items highlighted at Cariño were a "stunning" huitlacoche ravioloo with fried corn silk and a lamb tartare tostada seasoned in the style of al pastor.
John's Food & 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 there are no servers—customers have to order at the counter before being escorted to a table—but no matter, given that "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 pave.
Maxwells Trading, 1516 W. Carroll Ave.—a West Loop spot where Michelin said it "can feel as if half the city is dining." The restaurant with its "hard warehouse floors" uses Japanese, Chinese, and Thai elements in its cuisine, Michelin said.
Turbot with Swiss chard and kombu beurre blanc was cited by Michelin as "a recent standout." Also mentioned was a "soup dumpling tortellini with maitake mushroom."
Sifr, 660 N. Orleans St., a Middle Eastern restaurant in what that Michelin said raises hummus to "wonderful heights." Also cited at Sifr was "a platter of chicken shish taouk that's marinated in yogurt, crusted in spices and charred all over or halloumi cheese served with beets and finished in a honey and pomegranate molasses."
The team behind Sifr is also the one behind Indienne, not far away at 217 W. Huron St., which has earned a star as a Michelin restaurant. Indienne's chef, Sujan Sarkar, was nominated for the 2024 James Beard award for Best Chef for the Great Lakes Region.
Taqueria Chingón, 2234 N. Western Ave., a Bucktown restaurant that Michelin said takes inspiration from Mexico City's street food. Chefs Marcos Ascensio and Oliver Poilevey's taqueria features signature al pastor tacos, along with tacos with duck carnitas with date puree and sunchoke-habanero salsa, or blood sausage with alsa maacha, Michelin said.
Warlord, 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave., an Avondale American contemporary restaurant where people line up before opening time to snag a seat. The chefs—Emily Kraszyk, John Lupton, and Trevor Fleming—cook over a live-fire grill in the kitchen, and offer up such dishes as fois gras ganache with grilled hearth bread, and lacquered dry-aged duck, Michelin said. Even desserts are prepared in the flames, Michelin said.
