Chicago Magazine’s May issue (on newsstands now) loudly proclaims on its cover that it contains a list of the BEST NEW RESTAURANTS. Inside, the mag’s big hitters Dennis Ray Wheaton and Jeff Ruby run down twenty-two relatively new spots that have caught their fancy: like TOC, they hand the sparkling “best new restaurant” tiara to The Publican, and use the remaining 21 slots to namecheck basically every buzzworthy new open in the … well, the recent past. Some places on the list have been open for a few months; some for over a year. It’s a good list, with some great hits and just a few there-for-the-sake-of-their-newness misses.
Which brings us to a brief editorial digression: We don’t like the idea of a “best new” roundup. Best new individual places, fine: this has been a good year for Chicago restaurants, with newcomers like The Publican, Big Jones, Mado, and Mercat a la Planxa upping the ante for genre-driven cuisine. But the thing with an epic list of the “best new” is that you wind up rolling in the dazzlingly shiny along with the legitimately good — gloss and novelty drives crowds perhaps even more effectively than a killer menu. With that in mind, here’s a fun game: see if you can pick which of the restaurants on the ChiMag list will be closed (or at least, near deserted at 8pm on a Friday) before the end of 2009. We’re calling out eight of the 22 on the list — and no, we won’t tell. We’ll just watch quietly and maybe wind up feeling bittersweet smugness.
The complete list of Chicago Magazine’s Best New Restaurants, after the jump:
Chicago Magazine’s Best New Restaurants, 2008-9
• Big Jones
• C-House
• Eve
• Glen Prairie, Glen Ellyn
• graham elliot
• L2O
• Mado
• Mana Food Bar
• Mercat a la Planxa
• Mexique
• Mixteco Grill
• Park 52
• Perennial
• Piccolo Sogno
• Province
• The Publican
• Sugartoad, Naperville
• Sunda
• Tocco
• Topaz, Burr Ridge
• Urban Belly
• Veerasway
Most Delicious Wood-Fired Pizzas: Antica Pizzeria
Most Inventive Spin on Bruscetta: Osteria Ottimo, Orland Park
Best New Chef: Laurent Gras, L2O
Best New Dessert: Lemon Basil Cake, Eve
Spiciest Fish Tacos: Old Oak Tap
Best New Dish: Devil’s Basket of Soft Shell Crabs, Sunda
Tastiest Banh Mi: Bon Bon Vietnamese Sandwiches
[Photo of the dining room at Piccolo Sogno: Novelli Photos]
