From big-name chefs to big burgers and beer lists to even bigger tables, 2008 gave us no shortage of things to eat and ways to eat ’em. These are the trends we’ll be toasting when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s.
Making a break for it
Top chefs stepped out of the shadows to open their own spots at breakneck pace this year. Former Avenues chef Graham Elliot Bowles gave us his eponymous River North spot, causing us to re-evaluate the relevance of Cheez-Its to our diets, and longtime Nacional 27 chef Randy Zweiban debuted Province, proving there’s more to him than Nuevo Latino. Next up: Dean Zanella, who plans to open his own place sometime in 2009 — after he cooks his last meal at 312 Chicago on New Year’s Eve.
Communing with our food
A spate of communal tables brought diners closer together in 2008 — and revealed a public divided on the merits of togetherness, be it physical or metaphorical. Wherever you fall on the debate, you’d best scoot over and make room, because it looks like most of the spots that embraced the trend are here to stay. Based on seating arrangements alone, our vote for the best goes to Bucktown bistro Duchamp, with its sleek, modern tables and spaced-out chairs that leave us with plenty of breathing room.
Burgers
What is it about beef and buns? Our appetite for burgers was boundless in ’08, as we chomped our way through the likes of Epic Burger (left), The Counter, Marc Burger and more. Hold on to your condiments, because the ride’s not over yet — Five Guys, which already has an Oak Park outlet, is poised to open a Lincoln Park location within the month, and a Fatburger in Beverly is close on its heels.
Big-name chefs (imports)
Celeb chefs gravitated to Chicago this year like foodies to pork belly. Laurent Gras blew into town in a grand way to open L20, Marcus Samuelsson tested the waters with seafood temple C-House and Jose Garces did us proud with tapas spot Mercat a la Planxa. Our favorite new spot from a name chef, though, is the Bucktown restaurant that kicked it all off: Takashi, the contemporary Japanese spot from James Beard Award-winner Takashi Yagihashi. (Yes, we know it opened in the final hours of 2007. But we can’t ignore one of Chicago’s best new spots just because it missed the cut by a day and a half.)
Big-name chefs (exports)
Never a city to just sit back and take what comes to us, we exported culinary talent about as rapidly as we imported it in 2008. Charlie Trotter debuted the excellent Restaurant Charlie in Las Vegas and Shawn McClain (Spring, Green Zebra, Custom House) also signed on for a Sin City spot. We exported to the airwaves too, sharing “Top Chef: Chicago” winner Stephanie Izard with the Bravo-watching world. (Note to would-be out-of-town suitors: We’re taking her back in 2009. Her new restaurant, Drunken Goat, is likely to open in Wicker Park next year.)
Great beer lists
Move over, vino, and make room for something frothier. This was the year the beer list finally caught up to — and sometimes surpassed — the wine list. From close-to-home craft brews to the best of Europe’s offerings, brews finally got their due at spots like The Publican and The Bristol.
Oodles of noodles
We’ll never look at ramen quite the same way. Former Le Lan chef Bill Kim’s Urban Belly single-handedly put Avondale on the dining map this summer by dressing up the quintessential everyman’s eats with top-notch ingredients such as pork belly and house-made fish cakes, and Bucktown’s Mantou Noodle Bar followed suit in the fall with its own inspired noodle bowls.
The numbers game
Whether it was lack of imagination (Can’t think of a name for your restaurant? Slap a number on it!) or a ploy to get us to remember them (It worked!), numerically named eateries were all the rage in ’08. The year gave us Lettuce Entertain You playpen Hub 51, all-you-can-eat extravaganza ZED451, Hyde Park ‘hoodie destination Park 52, late-night hang Blue 13 and uber-upscale Sixteen.
