Best New Restaurants
Twenty-one restaurants, countless thrills. Several of this year’s top new spots bend rules and influences; others give classic genres much-needed shots of adrenaline. Either way, all 21 of them loom large in a booming restaurant landscape where it’s getting harder and harder to do that.
Photography by Bob Coscarelli
Just look at the unlikely homes of this year’s top freshmen: an old printing shop (Sepia). A 1920s mobster’s hideout (Room 21). A former hat factory (The Gage). An erstwhile strip club (Anteprima). Heck, we’ve even got a new restaurant where there used to be only sky (Sixteen). Where ordinary people like us might have seen dilapidated old buildings and clouds, creative chefs and restaurateurs saw potential. As a result of their imagination and talent, we are now 21 terrific dining destinations richer. From Brasserie Ruhlmann, a steak-house stunner in the historic Montgomery Ward building, to Pete Balodimas’s scorching Fahrenheit way out in St. Charles, our 2008 list proves what we’ve known all along: The kitchen is the most important room in the house. PLUS: Restaurants on the radar and best of the rest
| A MANO >> 335 N. Dearborn St. 312-629-3500 | THE GAGE >> 24 S. Michigan Ave. 312-372-4243 | POWERHOUSE >> 215 N. Clinton St. 312-928-0800 | TABLE FIFTY-TWO >> 52 W. Elm St. 312-573-4000 |
| ANTEPRIMA >> 5316 N. Clark St. 773-506-9990 | LA CASA DE ISAAC >> 431 Temple Ave., Highland Park 847-433-5550 | REEL CLUB >> 272 Oakbrook Center Oak Brook 630-368-9400 | TAKASHI >> Best New Restaurant 1952 N. Damen Ave. 773-772-6170 |
| BRASSERIE RUHLMANN STEAKHOUSE >> 500 W. Superior St. 312-494-1900 | MAIJEAN >> 30 S. Prospect Ave., Clarendon Hills 630-794-8900 | ROOM 21 >> 2110 S. Wabash Ave. 312-328-1198 | TALLULAH >> 4539 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-942-7585 |
| CAFÉ 103 >> 1909 W. 103rd St. 773-238-5115 | OLD TOWN BRASSERIE >> Best New Dessert 1209 N. Wells St. 312-943-3000 | SEPIA >> Best New Chef 123 N. Jefferson St. 312-441-1920 | UNCOMMON GROUND >> 1401 W. Devon Ave. 773-465-9801 |
| FAHRENHEIT >> 1890 W. Main St., St. Charles 630-444-1350 | OTOM >> 951 W. Fulton Market St. 312-491-5804 | SHIKAGO >> 190 S. LaSalle St. (entrance on Adams) 312-781-7300 | ZAK’S PLACE >> 112 S. Washington St., Hinsdale 630-323-9257 |
| SIXTEEN >> Best New Dish Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago 401 N. Wabash Ave. 312-588-8000 |
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