If you want to know if a chef can really cook, there may be no better test than how they can cook a…read morepiece of chicken. At Ox Bar, chef John Asbaty doesn't only pass this test, but almost makes it impossible to not to order the chicken. His half chicken cooked on a wood fire grill somehow arrives to your table with perfectly juicy white meat attached to a perfectly cooked leg and thigh (a nearly impossible task for even the best cooks). On top of that, the skin is reminiscent of the crackling on the best lechon asado you've ever had, and the dish is surrounded by an irresistible sherry jus/reduction. So yes, if you go to Ox Bar you should order the chicken because it's that good, but fortunately the menu is designed for sharing, so your your table can also be wowed by what Chef John can do with the other ingredients on his menu: a medium-rare yet fork tender beef short rib, pork shoulder, whole rainbow trout, and an amazing selection of elevated starters/sides featuring locally-sourced and seasonally-chosen produce to complement those proteins or satisfy any non-meat eater in your party.

Sometimes (just), sometimes, you go to a new restaurant and out of no where, you are dumbstruck by:…read moreThe welcoming The service The ambiance The menu selections The flavor palette And just how exceptional a restaurant can be. That was my experience tonight here at The Ox Bar & Hearth on Clybourn Ave just west of Lincoln Park. Me, my wife and my son visiting us from NYC had the same experience I had with the Ox Bar which was one word - "Impeccable"! We all shared this evening: * Lettuces shaved asparagus, raw milk cheddar, anchovy vinaigrette & breadcrumbs - scrumptious * Blue hopi cornbread cultured butter & tart cherry preserves - shockingly good *Steak tartare pickled ramps, horseradish, raw milk cheddar & grilled sourdough - excellent * OBH burger beef fat wedge fries - up there with Au Cheval * Half chicken onion marmalade & chicken jus - sensational * Pavlova raspberry sorbet & sage cream - what a way to end a meal I've been a "Chicagoan" for 4 1/2 years now. I'm still awed how incredible the culinary scene is here. I have to go back to my opening words - I'm Dumbstruck!

First time at a Michelin star and I have to say - I didn't know food could be so indescribable…read more The tasting menu gave a variety of flavors and textures that was unforgettable. It was a whole elevated dining experience. My favorite was the foie gras mouse - lightly and creamy. Definitely gotta spoil yourself once a while. Service was excellent and attentive. I would recommend this place.

We were exploring new restaurants in Chicago and planned a dinner at Sepia. The ambience is rustic,…read morewarm and cozy, and everyone was very attentive. Our server was really nice and walked us through the 4 course meal and the additional options. We went with the 4 course meal and opted in for the cheese experience, essentially making it a 5 course meal. Every bite was delicious. The presentation was beautiful, the cocktails were pretty good as well, and the cheese course was absolutely worth adding. The only thing I would skip is the petits fours at the very end. After everything we had eaten tasted so good, it somehow spoiled that great lingering taste from the meal. A very small miss in an otherwise excellent experience. Sepia is definitely worth the experience. Great food, great service, cozy ambience, and a meal that felt worth the price.

We began with tea by the elevator, moved into the cocktail lounge for cold bites and drinks, then…read moreinto the kitchen before finally being seated in the dining room. It felt like you were being welcomed into the chef's home. The ambiance was incredible. Modern black-and-white interiors, exposed brick, candles everywhere, and quiet, intimate atmosphere made it one of my favorite fine dining spaces. 9.8/10. Service was fantastic. 9.7/10. Water was constantly refilled, cocktails were offered as soon as we finished our drinks, silverware and plates were replaced immediately after every course, and the staff even walked us to the restroom. The lounge bites were all solid. The Uni was the best I've had, sweet with an amazing crunchy base. 7.5/10. The Bluefin Tuna was my favorite thanks to the crunch of the fresh nori. 8/10. The Dungeness Crab was good but didn't stand out as much. 7.5/10. The paired cocktail was bright, refreshing, and beautifully foamy. 8.7/10. The Foie Gras Toast was another great course. The buttery brioche paired perfectly with the sweet foie gras cream. It wasn't revolutionary, but it was executed really well. 8.7/10. The champagne pairing was one of my favorites, especially with the giant popping boba-like sphere at the end. 9.5/10. Once we moved into the dining room, the seafood courses were refreshing but didn't wow me. 7/10. The Carabineros Prawn served over steamed egg had an interesting flavor combination that didn't completely land for me. 6.5/10. The main courses were where Oriole really shined. The Turbot was phenomenal with perfectly cooked fish and an amazing crunch from the toasted genmai. 9.7/10. The tiny milk bread was adorable and paired well with the creamy koji butter, although the bread itself was pretty standard. 6/10. The Squab was incredible. It reminded me of a really flavorful sausage, and the rye & black cardamom canelé was one of the best I've ever had with its crispy shell and chewy, rice cake-like center. 9.7/10 and 9.6/10. The A5 Miyazaki Wagyu was the best steak I've ever had. The inside practically melted in my mouth while the outside had the perfect sear. Combined with the rich sauce, every bite was delicious. 9.9/10. The Habanera palate cleanser was refreshing but the flavor didn't work well for me. 4/10. The Fennel Pollen Pavlova was well crafted, especially considering how tiny it was, but I wasn't a huge fan of the herbal notes in the dessert. The caramel sauce definitely brought everything together. 6.5/10. The final Cacao course had my favorite presentation. The pâte de fruit gummy was fun. 7/10. The candied cacao nib custard had an incredible mousse-like texture with a delicate shell and was one of the best chocolate desserts I've ever had. 9.8/10. The bonbon was delicious, but more of a classic chocolate bonbon. 8/10. Cocktails were excellent. Love Me Or Leave Me was fruity, smooth, and easy to drink without much alcohol burn. 9/10. Love Potion No. 9 had a little more alcohol flavor but was still fruity and refreshing. 8.5/10. Overall, Oriole delivered an incredible experience with some of the best service and ambiance I've experienced in Chicago. The cocktails were fantastic and the main courses were outstanding. I was just expecting a little more from a restaurant that's often considered the best in the city, but it's still my no. 2 in the city right now!

This was my boyfriend and my first Michelin star dining experience and it was wonderful! Enjoyed…read morethe fact that we moved around the restaurant space a bit before moving to the dining room. The pace was well set and we left full and satisfied without feeling stuffed. The space was cozy and sophisticated with well-used lighting that kept it moody without being too dark. Our favorite bites were the shrimp and broth, foie gras mousse with brioche, and I loved the sablefish. Service was friendly and accommodating - my only note here is that servers spoke a little too quietly at times making it difficult to capture the full food descriptions. We throughly enjoyed our meal and will keep Oriole on our list for fine dining!

If I could rate any restaurant in the city 10 stars, Ada Street would be the ONLY restaurant that…read morewould qualify. If you have the privilege of dining at Ada Street, you will get it. The drinks are amazing, the staff is personable and friendly, and the food is out of this world. I had my 26th birthday here and would like to celebrate every birthday, anniversary, and celebration here if I could. I'll let the photos speak for themselves but just know that it's even better than it look. My recs: eggplant dip w homemade naan, vodka pasta, Parisian gnocchi, and steak frites... but everything is incredible

Awesome atmosphere, great Hugo Spritz, and fun servers. The menu is single-paged and digestible,…read morebut has much variety. Recommendation #: don't try to make your order make sense - just try everything that sounds good. I got the roasted carrots, Parisian gnocchi, pork ribs, whole roasted branzino, and wrapped things up with the brioche doughnut + blueberry jam. Dare I say, the doughnut was the star of the show for me? Something so simple, done so well. Surprised me as a 10/10 dessert. Because it was late and I wasn't that hungry, I didn't find any of the dishes show-stopping except for maybe the gnocchi. This is a truffle lovers dream. Would love to come back here and try more, especially on a night when I'm ready to eat.

We have been fans of Rose Mary since the beginning, thoroughly enjoying it as an alternative to a…read moreMonteverde when you want something more elevated and unique. After three or four stellar visits, we had a fairly rocky fifth that kept us away for the better part of two years. I'm glad to say that appears to have been just a brief bump in the road, and that Rose Mary remains an excellent spot for Italian/Croatian fusion. Everything is fresh and many dishes are seasonal, like the wonderful eggplant fritters with pesto dipping sauce. The batter on the eggplant wasn't too thick, nor was the fry too oily. Similarly excellent was the peach stracciatella, a combo I've never had before but will now crave, the brightness really shining through. But, the true star of the show was another seasonal dish, the chitarra with crab, corn, and truffle. This was a perfect dish, with every ingredient balancing each other out wonderfully. Just when the crab and sauce might be getting too much, you're hit with a pop of fresh corn. When you want a little different flavor, the umami of the truffle kind of steps in from the background. Really, really good. A very nice wine list, attentive service, lovely patio, and fair prices round out an excellent experience.

It had been a long while since I've been here but was in the area so thought to swing in. It's the…read moresame open and bright ambiance but the server was not attentive and incredibly rude. Know they do not accommodate any allergies and according to the server "the Chef will not alter or substitute anything" so they try to point you to other things on the menu but then get snippy if it's not something you want to try. Decided after the zucchini appetizer to just get the check. Manager on duty came over but at this point I had no interest in staying.

The Lincoln Park restaurant that everyone's been talking about ... and for GOOD REASON…read more I can confirm that Armitage Alehouse is 100% worth the hype -- with an irresistibly moody atmosphere and a seductive pot pie. Who knew that a pot pie could be seductive? Expect an ENCHANTING atmosphere that transports you straight to a cozy British pub, where dark wood, dim lighting, and timeless charm set the scene for one of the best meals you'll ever have. You can't come here without ordering one of their SIGNATURE pot pies, which are rich, creamy, deeply savory, and packed with flavor, all tucked beneath a golden, impossibly flaky and buttery crust and served with a decadent bone marrow. Their Wagyu Double Cheeseburger is another MUST-ORDER. A familiar classic made incredibly indulgent and unforgettable. And of course, you have to end your meal with their famous Sticky Date Cake -- warm, rich, and wonderfully gooey. A tender date cake drenched in buttery toffee sauce and finished with a scoop of cold, creamy brown butter gelato. The service was excellent, and the food came out remarkably quickly. Dare I say, Armitage Alehouse is better than Trivoli Tavern -- it has stolen the crown as my personal favorite Hogsalt restaurant. In fact, I'd argue that it has earned a place among the very best restaurants in Chicago -- and for me, may well be the best of them all.

Finally got reservations after being too late. Make sure to log in right at 9am 3 weeks out or…read moreyou'll be too late. Walk ins were complaining about waiting 1 1/2 hour but that's what you get. The place itself is beautiful, the service was great, small and intimate place. The menu itself was ok. Was blown away but was good. It's worth checking out once but I'm not sure if I will go back.

We planned a family dinner at Boka, and this was one of those meals that was worth every penny…read more We sat outside, which was much more casual than the intimate atmosphere inside. The patio did come with a couple of uninvited guests - mosquitoes, and at one point a spider stopped by my plate. Thankfully, these visitors did not dampen our overall experience. We started with cocktails and tried the Avant Gardener - gin with sorrel, bay leaf and lemon - and the wonderfully named You Go Glen Coco, made with rum, ube, coconut, lemongrass, cacao nibs, honeysuckle and ginger. Two very different and creative cocktails that fit nicely with the experience. We tried quite a bit of the menu. The dry-aged duck was my favorite. The beef tartare was incredibly tasty, and the scallops and Boka's signature roasted chicken were right up there as well. Presentation was clearly part of the experience - every dish arrived looking as carefully thought out as it tasted. We finished with dessert, and the Sweet Corn Custard was the winner for me. Service throughout the evening was good and attentive, and we walked away with a highly satisfied experience. Next time, though, I'm choosing a table inside - and leaving the spiders to enjoy the patio.

Boka and Alinea are perhaps the most iconic Michelin star restaurants in Chicago, and it would be…read more"embarrasing" that a person who visited Chicago for over 15 times has not try either one. So, I finally made a reservation for Boka. There are several reasons that Boka looks attractive to me: a fine-dining restaurant opening on Monday, creative New American dishes, and importantly, they allow customers to order à la carte. I went there at 7:45pm on Monday and at that time the restaurant was about half-full. I tried the following dishes: 1. Bluefin Tuna Tart. A bite size app. The tart was filled with cherry puree/sauce, finely "minced" tuna and yuzu jelly, from bottom to top. Very rich in texture, and had a good balance of flavors. 2. Tortelli. Italian Dumplings filled with ricotta+tarragon, cooked with maitake and sweet corns, and topped with shaved goat gouda. The dumplings came with 6 pc, all generously filled with cheese. There was also lots of shaved goat gouda. These absolutely made the dish very rich in flavor, but a large amount of cheese also means it could be salty. The corns, luckily, added some refreshing sweetness to it. 3. Black Truffle Chicken. I ordered it mainly because I wondered how well a Michelin star restaurant cooks chicken, which could easily be made too dry. Surprisingly, the chicken was so tender and juicy that it required little effort to slice it! Moreover, interestingly, the chicken breast was stuffed with some sausage (the layer you see between the skin and the meat). Unfortunately, the dish was too salty for me: the chicken was brined, the sausage may had been cured, the jus and zucchini puree were also salty. I tried to finish it but could not, so I asked a bartender to send it back to the kitchen. 4. Roasted Hokkaido Scallops. Another creative dish. The seared scallops were paired with pickled & grilled cucumber slices, diced seaweed & radish, cauliflower puree, perhaps some puffed rice, and garnished with tarragon infused oil. I really liked the smoky and sour cucumber slices and the umami seaweed & radish. The puffed rice added some delightful crispiness to the dish. But the taste of cauliflower puree was more or less over-shadowed by the other ingredients. 5. Dinner rolls. Potato rolls with sunflower seeds. Served with fennel pollen+sea salt butter. Bread service was free. Service was, overall, top-level. I was greeted warmly by the reciptionist and the bartenders (I sat at the bar). The staff all had a good knowledge about the ingredients in the dishes, as well as how they are prepared (actually it seems that they had a book to record these, because I saw two of them reading and discussing such). When I complained about the chicken, they apologized to me and offered to cook something else for me for free. I might come back in the future if I see something interesting on their seasonally changing menu.

With a creative menu and rave reviews, Mott St. had been on my bookmarked list since it opened! I…read morewas finally able to visit recently and it was all I hoped it would be. The interior was pretty sleek and it was packed around 6:30pm on a weeknight. It's definitely the kind of place to go when you want to have a dinner out that feels like an occasion without getting dressed up. Most of the dishes were served family style, so I recommend going with a group if you can! We tried the chef's special menu for 4 people, which had about 8 courses at a great price. To drink, I started with the white lotus, which did not come to play! It was very strong and barely sweet- maybe a bit much for me, but if that's your vibe, you'll like it. Appetizers included the Thai papaya salad and imperial rolls. The first was solid and the rolls were extra hot and crispy. I enjoyed the perilla leaves that they were wrapped in. Next came the garlic rice with whole roasted cloves of garlic, sauteed mushrooms, everything wings, and chili cauliflower. The rice was super fluffy and garlicky, but the miso butter mushrooms are not to be missed! We definitely drank a little bit of the sauce. The wings could have been a little crispier, but I really liked the sweet and spicy Korean style sauce. The crispy chili cauliflower was sweet and actually tasted a bit like orange chicken- we demolished it and this may have been my favorite dish of the whole night! Finally, we had the mentaiko kimchi udon, steak kalbi, and ordered one of their burgers on the side because why not. We agreed that the bonito flakes on the udon covered up the kimchi flavor a bit and wished it was stronger, but I liked the creaminess of the sauce. The steak kalbi had a great flavor and sauce, but I do think it could've been more tender. The burger was as good as it looked and indeed one of the best I've had in Chicago. I loved the balance between sweet and savory, and all of the flavors were balanced very well. We ended the meal with the seasonal dessert, which was sticky rice with strawberries and fermented rice. I thought it made for a refreshing end, but we agreed that it would've been even better served cold rather than hot. Overall, this was a very fun and great experience with delicious food! I would absolutely return and recommend paying a visit.

My husband and I visited Mott St for a celebratory dinner and the vibes did not disappoint! I love…read morethen Michelin Bibs give off a casual atmosphere that is still elevated in flavors, presentation, and quality of ingredients. It's recommended that parties view the menu as family style and share plates. He recommended 4-6 dishes for us two and we were FULL after our 4. To start, we got the Crispy Chili Cauliflower which was fresh, bright, then slightly sweet and spicy. This was the perfect summertime starter and was a great portion. We also tried the Soft Shell Crab Special. This portion was definitely for 2 people. There was a nice crisp on the outside and I thoroughly enjoyed the subtly tart sauce they paired with the crab. For mains, we got the Mott St Burger & Stuffed Cabbage dishes. The Mott St Burger is highly rated in Chicago as a top contender. The bun was soft, toppings added a good flavor, and meat was juicy. The Stuffed Cabbage was not a favorite of mine but my husband absolutely loved it! To finish, we got the Miso Chocolate Torte. Save room for dessert because this was amazing! I would have considered other options more but our server highly recommended this one. It did not disappoint! Overall, this was a good dinner spot in Wicker Park. It has a great casual vibe inside and on the outside patio. Pricing was also very fair for portion sizes and quality of dishes.