58 Chicago Restaurants Have Won Michelin Bib Gourmands This Year

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 22, 2015 4:37PM

"Acorn Squash Potstickers, soy caramel, carrot sesame purée, shaved radish" at Green Zebra (Photo by Stephanie/Creative Commons)

It's Michelin season again, folks.

The primary guide (the one with the stars) comes out next Wednesday, but as is traditional, the bib gourmands—Michelin's "best value" awards, come out the week before. They came out today, and there are some great new additions. The Trib has the whole list. The requirement for a Bib Gourmand is that the restaurant serve two courses and a glass of wine for $40 or less.

Now remember, a place doesn't generally win a bib and a star. So this list also portends some nasty disappointments, as some of the entries on here were, we thought, star-worthy. This is especially true for spots like The Duck Inn and MFK, both strong potential one-star contenders, and it looks like GT Fish & Oyster and Avec are staying off the star list for another year. Other new entries include Via Lima, Dove's Luncheonette, Bohemian House and the Angry Crab. Being closed for roaches didn't keep Lao Sze Chuan off the list.

It's also nice to be reminded of places we'd (honestly) forgotten about. Green Zebra is still amazing. Han202 still exists! Nana is still serving up local favorites and Wood is going strong in boys town. There's also the inexplicable entries. How in the heck is Untitled on this list? Kai Zan has gone way downhill, and Riccardo Trattoria, while good, is somewhat random.

And by the way, this means Parachute (which was on the list last year but isn't anymore!), Dusek's (also last year) and Momotaro (new this year but didn't get a bib) can still get a star.

I'm calling it now. At least two of those three are getting stars.

Finally, someone on Twitter put one of our biggest Michelin gripes better than I could.