Critic's Choice Dining Awards Chicago Tribune – Chicago Tribune

Diana Davila, chef and owner of Mi Tocaya .

In less than two years, more stories of praise have been written about Mi Tocaya Antojeria than the tiny Logan Square restaurant has seats. It’s been quite a ride for chef/owner Diana Davila; Bon Appetit named Mi Tocaya one of America’s best new restaurants, Food & Wine named Davila one of the country’s best new chefs, and the James Beard Foundation named Davila a semifinalist for the Best Chef: Great Lakes award — all in a span of nine months. Davila has emerged as an important voice speaking to Mexican cuisine and heritage, and an advocate for better industry opportunities for people of color. Salud!

Aya Fukai.

You can’t visit Aya Pastry, yet, but you can find Aya Fukai’s wonderful pastry work in a lot of places. Her breads are prominent at Plum Market Old Town, and her breakfast pastries and whimsical sweets (such as the dinosaur egg-size macarons known as Dinomacs) are brightening mornings at Sparrow Coffee Cafe in downtown Naperville. She serves some 40 hotel and restaurant accounts (her trucks were making deliveries at dawn during last week’s subzero days) and still finds time to head up the impressive dessert lists at Maple & Ash and Etta restaurants. Later this year, she plans to add online retail service; we can’t wait.

Jimmy Papadopoulos of Bellemore.

Jimmy Papadopoulos first appeared on our radar as the opening chef at Bohemian House; as impressive as his work was there, Papadopoulos really hit his stride with the late-2017 opening of Bellemore. It’s true that Papadopoulos could cook for another dozen years and people would still be talking about his oyster pie, the luxury “bougie bite” (his term) that became a must-try signature in 2018. But other creations, such as shaved foie-gras curls over persimmon marmalade, venison tart with pickled pear and lacquered sweetbreads over fermented sauerkraut demonstrated that Papadopoulos is no one-trick pony.

Left to right: Joe Campagna, Scott Worsham, Sari Zernich Worsham, and Johnny Anderes of Bar Biscay.

Sari Zernich Worsham and Scott Worsham had (and still have) a pretty good thing going with mfk, their coastal-Spain restaurant, but with their 2018 project, Bar Biscay, they wanted, in Scott’s words, “a bigger box to play in,” and expanded the menu’s focus northward into the Basque region. Abetted by partner Joe Campagna and chef Johnny Anderes, the Worshams created a nonstop party of festive and delightful small plates, including irresistible manchego gougeres and a squid-sausage and piperade plate that was one of my favorite dishes of 2018. May the fiesta never end.

Stephen Gillanders of S.K.Y.

S.K.Y. was supposed to debut in sunny LA; instead, chef Stephen Gillanders, who arrived in Chicago in 2015 as a chef-in-residence at Rich Melman’s Intro, fell in love with Chicago and put down roots with this wife, Seon Kyung Yuk (whose monogram is the restaurant’s name), rehabbing a Pilsen storefront into one of the year’s most exciting restaurants. Gillanders’ label-defying food embraces edamame-cilantro “guacamole,” fried chicken with a nuanced, double-fermented hot sauce and a bibimbap that uses foie gras instead of egg. You can find Gillanders’ adventurous cooking on 18th Street, which beats the hell out of traveling to LA.

Doug Psaltis of Booth One.

When Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises signed on to manage Booth One and awake the echoes of the venerable Pump Room (where Booth One stands), there really was no question which chef would head the project: Doug Psaltis, the go-to chef for myriad Lettuce projects. Psaltis is the “P” in RPM Steak and RPM Italian (with another RPM in the works), and oversees Bar Ramone, Bub City, Ramen-San, Sushi-San and more. They just don’t come any more versatile than this gentleman.

Debbie Gold, chef of Tied House.

After a 20-year absence, during which she accumulated accolades and a James Beard nomination in Kansas City, chef Debbie Gold returned to Chicago to open Tied House, a sleek and modern restaurant built on the rubble of the old Harmony Grill. Here, she demonstrated a knack for contemporary presentations that tasted as comforting as a Sunday supper, and desserts that recall childhood memories. Hip and homey is a tricky combination to pull off, but Gold makes it look easy.

Erling Wu Bower, chef and partner of Pacific Standard Time.

Erling Wu-Bower was one of the stars of the One Off Hospitality chef stable, thanks to his eye-popping work at Nico Osteria. So when he and Joshua Tilden (former One Off strategic operations director) announced plans to leave the group and start their own restaurant, the One Off principals proposed a partnership with the fledgling operation, giving Wu-Bower the ability to focus fully on his California-cuisine vision while retaining some ties to his former employers. Thus was born Pacific Standard Time, where Wu-Bower employs twin, wood-burning hearth ovens to produce one fire-kissed treat after another, from irresistible fresh pita bread to a large-format whole duck. Nico Osteria was one of Chicago’s best new restaurants when it opened in late 2013; PST is one of the best new restaurants of 2018. I’m starting to see a pattern.

Jennifer Kim of Passerotto.

Jennifer Kim, who first caught the food scene’s attention at the late, lamented Snaggletooth, really opened eyes with Passerotto, a Korean restaurant with an Italian name in the heart of Andersonville. She quickly won fans with her very personal cooking, which takes its inspiration from her mother’s Korean food, augmented with Italian inspirations arising from her American upbringing. Her nuanced, balance-driven use of spice keeps her work very approachable — even when the work in question is cavatelli noodles in nori butter with fried wakame and pickled vegetables. Try defining that.

Thai and Danielle Dang, chef and general manager of HaiSous.

Husband-wife team Thai and Danielle Dang’s story is one of resilience and perseverance. Left under a mountain of tax debt from their first restaurant, Embeya, after a former partner (accused of absconding with at least $300,000) fled the country, the Dangs slowly recovered and opened HaiSous (Vietnamese for “two pennies,” a rueful reference to how little money the couple had left) and the adjacent coffee shop, Ca Phe Da, in Pilsen. Thanks to Thai Dang’s superb cooking, Danielle Dang’s knowing beverage program and a superb service staff that includes several former Embeya employees, HaiSous became an inspiring success story.