The Chicago Tribune Restaurant Review System Is Broken
In whispers and direct messages, former Chicago Tribune Dining Critic Phil Vettel was often derisively referred to as “Three Star Phil”, a signifier of his cheerleading nature and regular overvaluation of Chicago restaurants.
One wonders if that kind of thing is a requirement for the Tribune dining critic job, because his successor Louisa Kung Liu Chu has basically looked at that performance and said, “Hold my beer!”
Since December 25th of 2024, Chu, the chief dining critic of the Chicago Tribune, has reviewed eight restaurants. Six of those places received three stars, one received 3.5, and one received two.
Food criticism isn’t a zero-sum game. It’s possible that every single restaurant in Chicago could be four stars. But it is also a relative measure.
According to Chu, one of the restaurants she awarded three stars was cooking, according to her own words, “seasonal vegetables, mostly cucumber and tiny tomatoes” in April. In the most generous terms, Chicagoland tomato season starts in May.
Another one of those three-star restaurants, by its own admission, doesn’t spend much time on visual beauty and presentation.
The Infatuation refers to another of Chu’s three-star darlings as a “handy backup” restaurant, basically good, but not great.
The place which received two stars from Chu is the only restaurant of the eight she reviewed this year (and one of two in Chicago and 145 in the world) that also holds three Michelin stars.