Chicago Doesn't Make Cut; Gets Honorable Mentions

Bristol gets "honorable mention" as a "Best New Restaurant of the Year" from Esquire. (Photo: Neil Burger)


When Esquire's controversial writer John Mariani was in town last fall giving props to Mercat a la Planxa for being named to the mag's prestigious Best Restaurants of the Year list, who knew that would be the last time we'd see a winner in a while.

Since then, he's dined at a number of notable eateries, causing even more controversy in Chicago, and made a few enemies.

Could that be the reason not one Chicago restaurant made the big list for 2009?! Instead, The Bristol, Publican, Province and Sepia (which opened in July 2007, so confused why it's on the list . . .maybe it missed the deadline for 2008?!) had to settle for "noteworthy honorees of the year." Interesting stuff.

Eating Las Vegas has the entire list of winners—and Top Places Not to Miss—here.

Look for the November 2009 issue of Esquire on newsstands next week.

Enough Chef Shufflings to Make Your Head Spin

Lockwood's kitchen at full speed. (Photo: The Pickled Tongue)


OK, now. Let's see if we can keep up.

Monday word broke about C-House's new executive chef.

Also, we discovered from Eating Las Vegas that Sixteen acquired Sarah Kosikowski, a Las Vegas-based pastry chef who's also a James Beard Rising Star nominee.

Sugartoad's Jimmy Sneed moves on to make way for Geoff Rhyne, who's placing greater emphasis on seasonality and regional products.

And big news comes from Time Out that Boka and Blackbird finally hired new pastry chefs. Say hello to Kate Neumann and Patrick Fahy respectively.

By the way, that sous chef position still needs filling over at the Palmer House's Lockwood.

Fashionable Plates in the Kitchen, on the Runway

C-House partner/chef Marcus Samuelsson (left) cooking with designer Zac Posen. (Photo: WWD)


Marcus Samuelsson's star continues to shine, this time next to one of our favorite designers, Zac Posen.

The C-House partner/executive chef discusses with WWD on how similar fashion and food are:

"You really appreciate somebody that uses good fabric or uses good ingredients. I don’t know how it is for Zac, but for a chef you constantly ask, ‘Doesn’t it taste good? Doesn’t it taste great?"

At least with the clothes we don't have to worry about the carbs!