Restaurants & Bars
IL Restaurant Among Nation's 20 Best New Eateries: Bon Appétit
After a decade of sharing his obsessive perfection of one dish online, one home cook's efforts have earned national recognition.
CHICAGO, IL — One Illinois eatery is among the nation's 20 best new restaurants, according to a new ranking released Monday by Bon Appétit magazine.
The Illinois entry, Akahoshi Ramen, is the brainchild of Mike Satinover, whose decade of obsessive online posting about his quest for the perfect bowl of Japanese noodles earned him the epithet "Ramen Lord."
Now, his restaurant is what Bon Appétit calls "Chicago's most promising new ramen restaurant" — naturally, reservations are hard to come by.
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"The search for this year's best new restaurants took us on a six-month expedition, with stops in Texas's barbecue capital and Manhattan’s roaring Lower East Side," the magazine wrote.
One major theme in Bon Appétit's ratings this year is "teams working together in exciting ways," according to its writers.
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"Chefs across the country are wholeheartedly embracing collaboration, pulling ideas from cooks and waiters, their mentors, and other restaurants to create unique menus infused with personality and a real sense of place," Bon Appétit wrote.
Here's a look at what Bon Appétit had to say about Akahoshi Ramen:
Akahoshi Ramen
Logan Square, Chicago
"Online, Satinover collected fans for his highly detailed postings as a home cook eager to learn more. At Akahoshi, he’s mastered his craft and found a home for his precision and finesse. (To ensure his broth has the ideal viscosity, for instance, he employs a device called a refractometer.) A bowl of miso ramen comes with slender Sapporo-style noodles in a velvety broth topped with thinly sliced green onions, supple bamboo shoots, and pork belly chashu. A brothless bowl of tantanmen features thick, soft noodles, heavily spiced ground pork, and a tingly mala spice powder."
View the complete list of the 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024 at Bon Appétit.
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