Chicago’s Restaurant Nominees for the 2020 James Beard Awards

Carlos Gaytán opened Tzuco on Mexican Independence Day with the goal of being the best Mexican restaurant in the world. And no less than five months after its first service, Tzuco is already racking up the acclaim. The only Mexican-born chef with a Michelin star to his name, Gaytán stuns with his vision of Mexican-French cuisine, in which the plates arrive like edible, colorful masterpieces.

Chicago’s queen of pasta already has a James Beard Award to her name — Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2017 — and she hasn’t shown any sign of stopping. At the cozy and cush Monteverde, Grueneberg extrudes some of the most lovingly sauced strands in the city. With an eye to Midwestern ingredients, it’s a salute to Italy’s simplicity-driven ways. Bonus: Grueneberg is the Chicago representative in Resy’s upcoming Women of Food dinners.

Nothing ends a meal like a bite of something sweet, and Emily Spurlin knows this best. The pastry chef is the latest addition to Lula Café, and her influence is felt day through night in the abundance of savory-sweet goods: buckwheat Paris-Brest with white sesame mousseline, tangerine turmeric cake, and honey vinegar tart are but some of her enticing creations.

Thanks to chef Alisha Elenz, Spain doesn’t feel too far away. The trailblazing chef behind mfk. restaurant and Bar Biscay packs the essence of the Spanish coast into her tapas for a feast of textures and tastes, approaching the very best ingredients in an unfussy way. Tomato anchovy toast, fried manchego gougères, and squid croquette are a joy to eat, and even better when shared.

HaiSous consistently ranks among Chicago’s best dining spots, and it’s not hard to see why: The dishes gleam with fish sauce and chiles, and you have Thai Dang to thank for it. The chef looks to his childhood to recreate the home-cooked Vietnamese dishes of his past, while reimagining them for the Pilsen crowds. But worry not: These dishes were grandma-approved.

Behind the hefty platters carrying all sorts of whole animals roasted to crackly perfection stands a New Orleans-born chef with a penchant for Southern soul. We’re talking about Brian Jupiter, the master who oversees the slow braises and smoking of wild game meats that have made Frontier’s renown, from antelope leg to chicken-stuffed alligator.

Is there a neighborhood haunt more cherished than Lula Café? Chef-owner Jason Hammel doled out farm-to-table fare before it was cool (and opened in Logan Square when it was very uncool), and has continued to do so, sticking to his winning combination of creative peak-season dishes (most of them vegetarian and tantalizing), warm service, and an unparallelled plate of cookies.

A lot of what makes Cellar Door Provisions excellent lies in the ingredient sourcing, with flour and grains examined just as closely as salmon and chicken. But a lot of it goes to chef-owner Ethan Pikas, who churns out Cellar Door Provisions’ much-coveted breads, quiches, and pastries, and whose masterful chops lie in both sweet and savory extremes. (NB: Dinnertime is as much of an event.)

Revamping a tried-and-tested genre is no small feat, yet that is precisely what Erick Williams is doing. At Virtue, Williams encapsulates the soul and story of Southern cuisine, pulling directly from his grandmother’s Mississippi cooking and Chicago upbringing. Expect dishes that are as thought-provoking as they are delicious, and best yet, are served with a side of true Southern hospitality.