Michelin Awards Chicago Restaurants More Stars In 2016

By Anthony Todd in Food on Nov 2, 2016 6:06PM

Last week, Michelin teased us with the Bib Gourmands, the annual list of "affordable" awesome restaurants endorsed by the famous guidebook. That was just a tease for the real deal: the Michelin stars, which came out today.

The Bib rankings sometimes give us clues to the stars. If, say, a prominent restaurant doesn't get a bib or drops off the bib list, that might mean it's heading into star territory, as happened last year with Dusek's. There weren't really any such clues this year. The only solid guess we were willing to make in advance was that Oriole would manage to make it onto the starred list. Oh, and we thought Chicago would continued to get kind of screwed, since Michelin apparently didn't think that a single restaurant that opened in 2016 deserved a Bib.

Well, we were pleasantly surprised, since some restaurants we liked were added to the star list this year. Band of Bohemia, one of our favorite openings of last year, grabbed a star, as did GreenRiver, which we reviewed positively after it opened. Roister, from the team behind Alinea, also got a star, and Smyth, which is so new we didn't think it could make it, got one as well. Oriole got two stars, which were both well deserved. Tru finally got itself bumped up to two stars.

There were no star losers this year; the only star we lost was moto, which closed.

We watched it all come in on social media Wednesday morning, though apparently things were slightly delayed because no one would answer the Michelin Man's phone calls.

hello chefs, we are the mysterious blocked number that keeps calling your phone. expect to hear #GoCubsGo in the background. @Cubs

— Michelin Guide (@MichelinGuideCH) November 2, 2016

"Michelin Stars Delayed Because Chefs Are All Hung Over From Cubs Game And Won't Pick Up Phones."

— Anthony Todd (@FoodieAnthony) November 2, 2016

The full list is below (via the Sun Times).

Three Stars
Alinea
Grace

Two Stars
Acadia
42 Grams
Oriole
Sixteen
Tru

One Star
Band of Bohemia
Blackbird
Boka
Dusek’s Board & Beer
EL Ideas
Elizabeth Restaurant
Everest
Goosefoot
GreenRiver
Longman & Eagle
NAHA
North Pond
Parachute
Roister
Schwa
Sepia
Smyth
Spiaggia
Topolobampo