As a Chicagoan of over 25 years, I'd say that's what we do best, "upscale casual", and actually a good way to describe the city in general. Frankly, I'd say it's what distinguishes Chicago from NYC, whether it's restaurants, bars, etc. You can get some of the best meals of your life here, but with a more laid-back, casual midwestern vibe. So as you noted, a trip to Chicago where you eat exclusively at MIchelin stars is missing out on some great experiences (not to mention restaurants like Next that deserve a star but aren't visited).

My wife and I went to Roister in February and were very impressed. So much so that we went back the next day for their Sunday brunch.

How was the brunch? Any recommendations? I was just looking at that menu this week and it didn't really wow me, but I have a feeling the menu is just understated.

The chicken and waffles were sublime. For dinner we sat at the end of one of the benches overlooking the kitchen. I had the A5 Wagyu which was also excellent.

Our Michelin extravaganza is now set for Japan. We leave Sunday. Will report back when we get back.

Tokyo (3 nights):

3* Sushi Yoshitake dinner
2* Narisawa dinner
2* Sushi Sawada lunch

Kyoto (7 nights):

3* Kitcho Arashiyama dinner
2* Gion Sasaki lunch
1* Tempura Mizuki dinner
3* Nakamura dinner

Nara (day trip from Kyoto):

3* Wayamamura lunch

Kobe (from Osaka):

2* Aragawa

Osaka (3 nights):

3* Hajime

The only restaurant we are toying with canceling is 3* Nakamura...since we have 2* Aragawa and 3* Hajime the next 2 nights! Any advice?

(We also have unagi, sukiyaki, teppanyaki, soba, udon, and ramen lunches and dinners planned, as well as street food in Osaka. A good balance, we think.)

I’m so excited!

If in Tokyo and you get a chance try Honmora An. It is a stunning soba restaurant in the area around Roppongi I think. It was my wife and my favorite restaurant in NYC for many years, in SoHo on Mercer. Then he moved back to Japan to take over the family's restaurant there.

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/restaurants/honmura-an

Last time I was in the Tokyo restaurant the owner came over to my table and said he noticed my name on the reservation list for the night. He said counting me, there were 7 NYC regulars there that night. You earn that type loyalty, it's a long commute for dinner. :)

I got a call from Osteria Francescana at the last minute telling me that they had a cancellation and if I wanted the table but I was in Firenze at the time and couldn't get to Modena and back easily :*(

Get the foie toast. You won't regret it.

Honestly, you didn't miss that much.

We quite enjoyed both times we were there. And Modena (and area) is quite charming.

If I could go to only one Michelin restaurant in Chicago, it would be Topolobampo.

So I haven't written my quick thoughts about the places I went to since coming back yet cause I'm still coming to the sad realization that I'm back home but here..

1* La Bottega del Buon Caffe (Firenze) - Didn't end up doing the tasting menu since we were so full throughout the day. We instead ordered everything that was seafood off the menu cause my girlfriend is all about seafood and the menu had a lot of pigeon which she couldnt eat. Everything the chef made blew our mind. One of the best meals we had in Italy. Only thing we wished was that we had more. You can tell that he is really trying to work towards a second star. Perfectionist to a T. At one point, they messed up on our order and sent us the wrong dish. We sat in front of the chef's counter and he was looking at us waiting for us to try. When he saw that we didn't, you could tell he was eyeing the waiters to see what was wrong. He was livid in the end that the waiters gave us the wrong order. We ended up having a free dish out of it (well me since it was a pigeon ravioli). Would definitely recommend this place. Every time I mentioned this place at my hotel, everyone was talking about how this is the "place" to go eat in Florence right now.

2* Vun (Milano) - Did the tasting menu here and honestly we were not impressed at all. The chef's signature "caprese" started off the meal and was amazing. We were super excited to see what was to come after that but everything else just disappointed. It wasn't that the food wasn't good but it just didn't have anything that was special or exceptional. Now the worst part of this place was that there was a 30ish minute gap between every dish. I read in some reviews that other people experienced this but I didn't actually expect to see it myself. We would end up playing with our phones and eating bread while waiting for the next course. They really need to work on their timing per table.

3* La Pergola (Roma) - This was my birthday meal, did the 10 course tasting menu with wine pairing. It's a lot to go through but all I will say is that every single dish blew our mind. They let my girlfriend substitute items from the tasting menu and they adjusted the wine pairings accordingly (Vun did not allow any substitutions). With the wine pairings as well, they are definitely not stingy and kept refilling our glasses. Booking with Amex Concierge they gave us a free glass of champagne before dinner too. I honestly got pretty drunk by the time we hit the 7th course and barely made it through dessert. Ran into Chef Heinz Beck after dinner too and he personally thanked us for coming in. All in all, it was a wonderful experience and really made my bday awesome.