Blackbird

Paul Kahan (an F&W Best New Chef 1999) has built a reputation as one of the top cooks in Chicago and the country, with an expanding empire that includes the wine bar Avec and an about-to-open beer-focused place. At Blackbird, his New American flagship, he and new chef de cuisine Mike Sheerin create inspired combinations like fennel-and-sesame-seed soup with smoked eel. The food-friendly wine list boasts a large selection of Alsace whites.

We Loved

Smoked lentil–stuffed guinea hen.