The Best Dishes I Ate in Chicago in 2023

We are told to revel in the present and focus on the future, that to dwell on the past is folly.

This is generally sound advice in most cases. It feels almost spot on when I ask myself, do I really want to put together a list of the best dishes I ate last year for The Hunger readers.

After all many of the plates I loved last year are no longer available. Heck, like four of the restaurants I had incredible food at closed for good.

Isn’t it just better to move on?

It is I suppose if you get stuck looking backwards, but we also know the best way to move forward is to look behind you to see where you’ve been, to get inspired by the things you accomplished, learn from the mistakes you made, and to celebrate the success.

I was reminded of this last week when I posted an IG story featuring an obnoxiously expensive bottle of first growth Bordeaux.

I made the post because I was excited to tell anyone who cared that I’m gonna drink some amazing wine that I’ve always dreamt of trying. I also threw in a line about how the reason for the wine is that I was drinking it to mark the occasion that I got a new job.

The amount of well-wishes I got on direct message were overwhelming. What I’d forgotten is that I told so many of you the harrowing story of how I lost my job a few weeks ago in a review of Akahoshi ramen.

It was important for me to tell this story as honestly as possible because I hoped it would help others who might find themselves in this same position. It was also a selfish act that helped me process unexpectedly losing a job.

I didn’t expect that anyone would actually care or remember, but so many of you did. Which is to say, I’m now starting to realize that what I’m creating here is not just a newsletter about food, but a real (digital) community.

Because this is a community, and you read about my loss, you should know (if you didn’t see Instagram) I did get a new job. It’s a job I wanted for a bit but was also scared to pursue because it was a departure from what I’ve done in the past.

Will I succeed? I don’t know. I know I’ll do everything in my power to try and make it happen, so if it doesn’t work it won’t be from lack of effort or focus. And ultimately I’m excited by the prospect of trying. 2024 is gonna be a challenge, but it’s one I’m up for.

The fact that so many of you care about me makes me wish I knew more about all of you and what you want and need. I don’t know exactly how to make that happen, but what I do know is you do all want to know where the good food is and was, so I guess that’s one reason to do a best of list.

The other thing is even if the dishes no longer exist, they are a record of the creativity and hard work of chefs and restaurants and their teams. Those folks deserve the celebration of their work, and so that also feels like a great reason to do work like this.

A record of past culinary achievement might also inspire a young chef to keep going or to create something completely new based on what they see here.

Finally for those places that closed, they too deserve a record of what they achieved. It might surprise you that I mention a dish from Le Select here given that I didn’t have the best meal there. But, a challenging experience does not diminish the fact that BOKA group continues to make great restaurants and their teams are some of the best to ever do it.

I hope everyone has an incredible new year and 2024, and I’ll see you next week on the flip side. Without further ado, here are the best things I ate in 2023.

Best,

Mike Nagrant