Chef's 10 likeliest new stars, before Michelin names them on Monday, December 14, 2026. Pick the three you think get one, and see who agrees.
★ 47 days to go
Where Chicago stands: 21 starred restaurants: Smyth with three; Alinea, Ever, Kasama and Oriole with two. Last year Alinea dropped to two stars, Kasama rose to two and Feld got its first.
Tap ☆ My pick on up to three. You'll see what everyone else picked once you do.
Devin Denzer's 12-course Nordic-Japanese tasting menu in the old Temporis space, which held a star. Seafood-forward and precise, and on Chicago magazine's 2026 best new restaurants list.
Jenner Tomaska of the starred Esmé, cooking sumptuous French. No. 5 on Chicago magazine's 2026 best new restaurants. Inspectors already know his cooking.
Regional Indian cooking unlike anything else in the city. A Bib Gourmand last year, then a 2026 James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist. Michelin promoted Indienne and Kasama from Bib-level buzz; Nadu could follow.
Andrew Choi's $98 counter omakase, on Chicago magazine's 2026 best new list. Michelin stars counters like this (Mako has one), and this is the best value of them.
Joe Frillman's pastas built on his brother's farm. A Bib Gourmand for years; a star would reward the farm-to-pasta idea Michelin's green star already loves.
Rahim Muhammad's African, Caribbean, Creole and Afro-Latino cooking. Three stars from the Tribune and best neighborhood restaurant at the 2026 Banchet Awards.
Michelin names its new stars on Monday, December 14, 2026. We'll email you that night with who got one in Chicago, and how your picks did.
This also opens a free Chef Amazing account: keep the places you love, the lists friends send you and your next trip. Your address is never shared or sold. Picks for Chicago are counted without an account.
How Chef picks
Only restaurants without a star today. Then what we read: what the critics wrote this year (the New York Times, the Washington Post, Chicago magazine, the Globe, the Inquirer), James Beard lists, which places Michelin itself added to the guide this year, the critics' read Chef Amazing keeps on each place, and how members who've been rate it. Strong, Good and Long shot are Chef's words for the odds, not math: nobody outside Michelin knows what the inspectors ate.
Photos "like it" (not of the restaurant), via Wikimedia Commons: Nadu: Joegoaukfishcurry2, CC BY-SA 2.0; Omakase Box: Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0; Crying Tiger: pelican, CC BY-SA 2.0; Maxwells Trading: Peachyeung316, CC BY-SA 4.0; Daisies: Roberto Tomasone, CC BY-SA 4.0; Mahari: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0; Thattu: https://onlybestrecipes.com/egg-curry-recipeegg-curry-recipe, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Facts checked October 27, 2026. Chef Amazing's own predictions; Chef Amazing is not connected to the MICHELIN Guide. Photos marked "a photo like it" are not of that restaurant.
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