Travel + Leisure Names Chicago's Best New American Restaurants

By Rachelle Bowden in Food on Nov 11, 2004 6:53PM

In its December issue, Travel + Leisure Magazine chose the best new American restaurant in 10 cities.. and guess what? They've profiled 7 Chicago restaurants. Yay us! On the list are:

Green Zebra, the mostly vegetarian restaurant by chef Shawn McClain in West Town (Chicagoist on Green Zebra)
Moto, the experimental restaurant by chef Homaro Cantu in the Warehouse District
Pluton, the restaurant that has a "plate" menu by chef Jacky Pluton on Orleans

Each of these three restaurants opened this year. The other 4 Chicago resaturants ranked are in Lincoln Square, which Travel + Leisure called the "next great neighborhood".

Charlie's on Leavitt, the comtemporary American bistro by chef Charlie Socher
Acqualina, the Californian/Mediterranean fusion restaurant by Steven Ford and Quay Tao
Tank Sushi, specializing in hot and cold Asian small plates and sushi
Cafe Selmarie, the bakery/cafe/restaurant by chef Christopher Stoye

Chicagoist is a little puzzled how a Japanese restaurant made it onto a list of best new American restaurants.. hi, sushi? Sounds American to us! Also, Cafe Selmarie is far from "new" having been around for about 21 years.

A special mention also went out to Grant Achatz, who's restaurant Alinea will open in January. Travel + Leisure talked about him being a "chef to watch" .. and with his good looks, we don't mind that one bit!

The December issue of Travel + Leisure should hit the newsstands on November 23.