Chicago, Illinois, we dined at two Michelin starred restaurants over the weekend.

First.

Topolobampo

This is Rick Bayless's flagship restaurant. His other restaurants include Frontera Grill in River North and Tortas Frontera at O'Hare airport. At Topolobambo, he serves seasonal tasting menus consisting of modern interpretations of traditional Mexican cuisine. Chef Bayless has won Top Chef Masters and seven James Beard Awards.

Currently, they serve The Art Menu; it's inspired by art work from his and his wife's extensive collection.

Excellent food, efficient and friendly service. With a couple of tweaks, he should earn a second .


The anteroom where cocktails and bites are served before heading to the dining room





The inspiration for the Fish Face cocktail which is pictured below

The right side of the dining room

The left side of the dining room

Fish Face - Tso'ok Mexican rum, Cuentacuentos El Barro mezcal, passionfruit, jamaica

Primavera Paloma - Mijenta blanco tequila, Los Californias Citrico gin, Mommenpop Ruby Grapefruit citrus aperitif, fresh grapefruit & lime juice, hibiscus infused agave

Bites - empanada, rice chicharr�n with squid ink, tortilla soup

Bites - ceviche topped oysters











Inspiration for the Caos de Almejas

Caos de Almejas• Baby Baja chocolate clams with a riot of flavors (finger lime, sea beans, yellow tomatoes, Mexican mint marigold, chiltep�n), avocado, radish, rooftop cherry tomatoes.





Inspiration for the Luz Dorada

Luz Dorada• Heirloom corn tamal (local fresh huitlacoche), mantequilla beans, yellow summer squash, charred baby corn, black truffle, squash blossom sauce (saffron, g�ero chile).

Palate cleanser - it was not listed on the menu, all that I can remember is that it had beets and onions. It was served with the tortillas that are pictured below.



Inspiration for the Cuadros en Rojo

Cuadros en Rojo• Slow-cooked Petuna ocean trout (ancho-cured), red peanut mole, kohlrabi three ways (comal-charred, butter-roasted, red wine-braised), chayote.



Inspiration for the Tres Piezas

Tres Piezas • Texas acorn-fed pata negra pork (presa, belly), Bayless Garden eggplant, black bean sauce (infused with salsa negra), black kale, pickled watermelon rind.

My daughter's pork free, vegetarian version, of the Tres Piezas

Inspiration for the Puesta del Sol

Puesta del Sol• Almond macaron (turmeric), homemade clotted cream, apricots preserved with honey wine & anise hyssop, ground cherries.

Inspiration for the Baile con Cocodrilo

Baile con Cocodrilo• Chocolate mousse cake, Xoco chocolate ganache, hoja santa ice cream, jamoncillo ruffles, Bayless garden herbs & flowers.

Petit fours - coconut and chocolate

Concha and hot chocolate mix to take home

Looks great! Added to my M* list.

And Tortas Frontera is still the only reason I almost look forward to connecting through ORD.

Kasama

Chicago

Kasama is the world’s first, and so far, only Michelin-starred Filipino restaurant. Husband and wife chefs Tim Flores and Genie Kwon won the 2023 James Beard Award for best chef: Great Lakes. In addition, the restaurant was a finalist for the James Beard Award for best restaurant in the US in 2022.

Genie Kwon is a gifted baker, whose resume includes stints at Michelin starred NYC's Eleven Madison Park and Oriole in Chicago. Tim Flores had also worked at Oriole and later helped to open Michelin starred Mako.

During the day, Kasama is a bakery/cafe, which serves an a la carte brunch, for which no reservations are taken; the line to get in can be as long as three hours. We were fortunate to have eaten there before they received all the awards and accolades and the wait to get in was considerably shorter.

At dinner, Kasama morphs into a fine dining restaurant that serves a 13-course tasting menu. Dinner reservations are released at midnight forty-five days in advance and are gone in minutes. I didn't have that long a notice for this trip, so my daughter and I both set alerts on Resy. I received one for Friday night, when we got back from dinner at Topolobampo, for a table later that night. Playing with the calendar, there was an opening for two for eight o'clock on Sunday. Fortunately, my daughter was not scheduled to work at the hospital that night or Monday morning, so I grabbed it and cancelled another dinner reservation which we had for Sunday evening.

It was an exquisite meal.










kinilaw - golden kaluga caviar, kampachi, and coconut




pulutan - lumpia, talaba, and chicharr�n (salmon skin)








nilaga - cabbage, bone marrow, and short grain rice




adobo - maitake, scallop, and mussel emulsion


sinigang - sablefish, tamarind, and leeks


inasal - squab, coconut sap, and foie gras


pancit en su tinta - conserva, bottarga, and sumac


kare-kare - lamb belly, peanut and bagoong XO




bistek - A5 Wagyu, calamansi, and caramelized onion (chef Genie Kwon came out of the kitchen to spoon the sauce over the beef)


truffle croissant - D�lice de Bourgogne cheese and honey


banana-cue - caramelized Saba, genmai and mochi donut


halo halo - strawberry, black citron tea, and olive oil


mignardises - silvana, guava, and black currant


Chef Tim Flores


huckleberry tarta de Santiago to take home

Did you have a particularly early reservation? I was surprised there were no other guests.

Yes, we had a reservation for the first seating, at 5:30 pm.

Reservation times are staggered; they are available every 30 minutes; however, we made ours only about ten days in advance and our choices were limited to 5:30 and 9:00 pm. The latter was too late considering that my daughter was on duty at the hospital beginning at 7:00 am the next morning.

The dining room was almost full at 7:30 pm. By the time that we were done eating and left at 8:15 pm, only one table (for 2) had been unoccupied all evening.

I have photos showing the dining room full; however, I did not care to go through the trouble of blurring faces out of the pictures.

Anyone have experience/advice re Citrin, in LA? Lots of availability for the September date I'm looking at. What gives?

Citrin is way overpriced for what it is.

M�lisse, the restaurant within a restaurant, is Josiah Citrin's flagship restaurant.

Looks great, tho I am wondering whether they have to buy a new painting every time they need inspiration for a new dish

Rick Bayless has an extensive art collection. The Topolobampo Art Menu is offered only once a year for six weeks. Different themed menus are offered at other times.

Some recent Tokyo Michelin star experiences:
Est (1): Excellent. Where else to go for French food other than Tokyo? Located in the Four Seasons at Otemachi.
Daigo (2): Excellent. I suppose Buddhist cuisine is not so glamorous compared to some other parts of the Tokyo food scene, but stunning nonetheless.
Birdland Ginza (1): It was good. There are better places to go for yakitori.
Ristorante Honda (1): Excellent. The best way to describe it would be an Italian kaiseki experience. You can order the dinner courses for lunch, which is what I did.
Also, a note: Usuki Fugu Yamadaya has a number of locations. The Nishi Azabu location is the 2 star one. When you go to make reservations, depending on the site, some will have the option to accept reservations at other locations as well.

Valle, Oceanside California 1 Star



Ceviche

Fish Taco Bite


Onion Tart, Kaluga Hybrid Caviar

Chayote, crab

gem lettuce salad

Chancla with Wagyu

Tamal, mole

halibut, fennel pollen beurre blanc

bread, truffle butter

braised lamb, birria sauce

lemon curd, yogurt flower

petit four

SingleThread
Healdsburg, California

WOW. And who knew that ice plant was edible?

Also went to SingleThread last month. A lot of the inspiration came from the chefs' time in Hokkaido, where I'm visiting next month.

I recently spent 4 days in Singapore and had a total of 12 Michelin stars. Photos in the spoilers.
Waku Ghin (2): This meal was really not that special. I would not go back in the future, any reasonable kaiseki in Japan will be better.
Candlenut (1): I really enjoyed this meal. The Peranakan ah-ma-kase was definitely not something that you normally find, and I really appreciated how normal the restaurant felt. Will be back in the future, hopefully with more people.
Thevar (2): This meal was good. I was seated at the counter and it was nice chatting to the chefs as well. If you ask, they also have their own curated list of Singapore restaurant recommendations, covering the full range from high concept to hawker stands. The non-alcoholic beverage pairing here was also really interesting.
Nouri (1): I will not be coming back here. The food was fine, good even, and the concept was interesting as well. However, the kitchen and dining area blend together and from where I was seated, I could hear the head chef verbally abusing other staff members. Unacceptable.
Cloudstreet (2): Probably the highlight of my trip. The food here was all excellent, the non-alcoholic beverage pairing was great, and the staff were an absolute delight to talk with. You aren't presented with a menu when you arrive, but you do have the option to request a printed menu at the end, and they do email you the menu after as well. Will be back.
Z�n (3): An outpost of Frantz�n. Honestly, a bit meh. The beverage pairings here were quite interesting though.
Seroja (1): Super interesting. Focused on Malay cuisine. I definitely expect them to keep moving up, they just have some small things to iron out. Will be back.
If people have questions about any of the restaurants, I am happy to discuss any of them in greater detail.