Sample Chicago’s internationally acclaimed cuisine at these award-winning restaurants.

Alinea - After a visit to four-star Alinea, Vogue food critic Jeffrey Steingarten declared that "Chicago has become the centre, the hotbed, the wellspring, the fountainhead, the laboratory of hypermodern cooking". Alinea's young chef Grant Achatz is a leader of this trend. Witness the sweet snap peas with grilled ham, served on a pillow of lavender-scented air that is slowly released as the weight from the bowl gently pushes it out, sending the sweet fragrance wafting around the diner's plate.
1723 N. Halsted

Alinea was also mentioned in an article in Britain’s Grazia Magazine which featured Chicago as one of their top 10 hot gastro getaways.

Avenues - Another cutting-edge chef on the rise is Graham Elliot Bowles, who heads the kitchen at this four-star restaurant in The Peninsula Chicago hotel. Voted "Best New Chef" by Food & Wine magazine in 2004, his dishes are unusual yet approachable.
108 E. Superior

Charlie Trotter's - For nearly 20 years, five-star Charlie Trotter's has garnered critical international acclaim for its wildly creative dishes that change based on the freshest ingredients available that day. Recent dishes include the diver sea scallop with watermelon radish, sunchoke, Kumamoto oyster and ruby red grapefruit. Watch the master chef at work by reserving the kitchen table.
816 W. Armitage

Frontera Grill/Topolobampo - Celebrity Chef Rick Bayless is the brain behind these acclaimed side-by-side Mexican restaurants, with Frontera Grill offering casual dishes and Topolobampo serving upscale Mexican cuisine.
445 N. Clark St. – 312.661.1434

Graham Elliot - Four-star Chef/owner Graham Elliot showcases his own “bistronomic” fare that blends a hip bistro ambiance with sensibly priced modern haute cuisine.
217 W. Huron St. – 312.624.9975

Il Mulino Chicago - Located in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighbourhood, Il Mulino Chicago is an outpost of the upscale Italian eatery in New York, voted Manhattan’s top Italian restaurant by Zagat readers for more than two decades. Italian cuisine prepared with vigorous flavours from the Abruzzi region of Italy. Like its inhabitants, Abruzzese cuisine is characterized by its simplicity: a rustic and hearty blend of the freshest ingredients available, from fish and lamb to cured meats to homemade pecorino and ricotta, all lovingly and meticulously prepared to celebrate and enjoy.
1150 N. Dearborn

Moto - Homaro Cantu is techno chef/mad scientist of this dazzler, voted one of the "Best New Restaurants" of 2004 by Chicago magazine. Cantu creates edible paper menus and global fusion dishes, such as the crab served with syringe squirts of Peruvian potato, cream, carrot and leek soups that come together to create a chowder.
945 W. Fulton Market

NoMI - Located in the Park Hyatt Chicago, NoMI dazzles diners with its Asian-accented French cuisine and sweeping views of Michigan Avenue.
800 N. Michigan Ave. – 312.239.4030

North Pond - At this cosy restaurant on the edge of a lagoon in Lincoln Park, Chef Bruce Sherman creates seasonal dishes using ingredients grown by local farmers.
2610 N. Cannon Dr. – 773.477.5845

Schwa Restaurant - You’ll find food presented as art at this restaurant presided over by Chef Michael Carlson, who was voted Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine in 2006. While alcohol isn’t served, diners are welcome to bring their own.
1466 N. Ashland Ave. – 773.252.1466

Table Fifty-Two - Art Smith, Oprah’s personal chef and cookbook author, offers refined Southern cuisine in this tiny Gold Coast restaurant that features an upper-level tea salon.
52 W. Elm St. – 312.573.4000

Tru - Chef Rick Tramonto relishes the challenge of surprising diners with his French-inspired dishes. Choose the seven-course Grand Collection and experience a symphony of his ever-changing creations. Desserts, courtesy of celebrated pastry chef Gale Gand, get equal star billing here, and include a chocolate mousse crepe with banana bisque and candied mint.
676 N. St. Clair