The tire company selected three new restaurants to join its list of Chicago’s most noteworthy spots. | Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago
Catch all the shooting stars
Here’s a rundown of all 24 of Chicago’s Michelin-starred restaurants for 2021, in map form. See how the choices are distributed across the city and which starred restaurants are in your neighborhood. Many of them are on the Near North or Near West Side, but some of these fine-dining restaurants are further to the north, northwest, and near south. Most Chicagoans don’t have to travel far to partake in a Michelin-rated dining experience, as the map attests.
This year’s new additions are fine dining palace Ever on Fulton Market (two stars), luxe brewpub and restaurant Moody Tongue (two stars), and European seafood specialist Porto in West Town (one star).
Most of the previous inclusions that are not on this year’s list closed during the pandemic (Band of Bohemia, Blackbird, Everest). Entente in River North and Acadia in South Loop haven’t yet reopened after shutting down temporarily in spring 2020, but remain among this year’s Michelin star recipients. The tire company has removed Kikko, the omakase sushi counter in the basement of celebrated cocktail lounge Kumiko. Chef Mariya Russell — the first Black woman to run a Michelin-starred restaurant — left Chicago in June 2020. Despite Michelin’s vow that it wouldn’t penalize restaurants for pandemic decisions, Kikko lost its star, with inspectors pointing to the shift from upscale sushi to more carryout-friendly comfort fare.
Scroll through the map below for Michelin’s take on Chicago dining, and check out Eater Chicago’s map of the city’s new 2021 Bib Gourmand recipients.
As of April 29, Chicago restaurants are permitted to serve customers indoors with a 50 percent maximum capacity per room, or 100 people — whichever is fewer. Regardless, the state requires reservations for both indoor and outdoor dining. However, this should not be taken as an endorsement for dining in, as there are still safety concerns. For updated information on coronavirus cases in your area, please visit the city of Chicago’s COVID-19 dashboard. Studies indicate that there is a lower exposure risk when outdoors, but the level of risk involved with patio dining is contingent on restaurants following strict social distancing and other safety guidelines.