10 Up-and-Coming Chefs in Chicago You Need To Know

As Chicago’s dining scene continues to burgeon like perfectly cooked soufflé rising in the oven, many of the city’s talented chefs are finally getting the attention they deserve. From kiss-the-ring godfathers like Grant Achatz and Paul Kahan to Bravo network luminaries like Stephanie Izard and Graham Elliot, the Windy City is fast becoming one of the world’s foremost dining destinations.

Need further proof? How about a list of “up-and-coming” chefs? You know you’re dining scene’s elite when you can actually catalog an ancillary slideshow for chefs that deserve more attention. And with that said, this story could easily be 50 slides long. The depth of talented chefs and shortlist of must-visit restaurants grows on a seemingly daily basis in Chicago. So, tie on a bib and grab a fork as we introduce you to 10 Up-and-Coming Chefs in Chicago You Need To Know.

Executive Chef, The Dawson
Twitter: @Rene_Deleon

Chef Rene De Leon’s pedigree includes a stint at Moto and more than six years at Next and Alinea. So, when he was tasked with leading the kitchen for Billy Lawless’ new haunt, The Dawson, one might have expected him to turn it into another exhibition in immaculately plated chemistry experiments. But instead of smoldering test tubes and avant-garde pageantry, chef De Leon is serving oyster po’ boys in an industrial plant-inspired mega space. That’s called creating your own lane.

Executive Chef/Partner, Tru
Twitter: @ChefAnthonyTru

As Chicago Tribune’s “Chef of the Year” in 2010, chef Anthony Martin’s “up and coming” distinction is admittedly debatable. But the city’s seen a decade-long onslaught of paragoned chefs turned household names (i.e. Grant Achatz, Paul Kahan, Stephanie Izard, Graham Elliot, etc.), while chef Martin hovers under the radar like a gastronomic Don Cheadle. Ultimately though, Tru’s been a consistent adversary to Chicago’s dinner as theater crown since chef Martin walked into the kitchen almost four years ago. He can’t hide forever.

Pastry Chef, mk The Restaurant
Twitter: @mkchicago

When you have unrivaled dessert acumen, it’s best to share your knowledge with as many outlets as possible. Don’t be selfish by just baking pies for, like, elderly neighbors and charity bake sales, because we all want a slice. After stints with Boka and Epic, chef Lisa Bonjour developed the plated desserts at Trencherman, and now she’s leading the sweet side of mk the Restaurant’s kitchen. See? That’s how you do it.

Executive Chef, Slurping Turtle
Twitter: @AaronCuschieri

Sure, the appearance of Slurping Turtle’s Aaron Cuschieri and Mexique’s Carlos Gaytan on Season 11 of Top Chef doesn’t mean much on its own accord. But if we’ve learned anything from Stephanie Izard (Girl & the Goat, Little Goat), Dale Levitski (Sprout, Frog n’ Snail), and—rather appropriately for this slide—Takashi Yagihashi, it’s that deep cable can be a powerful tool for culinary brand building, especially in Chicago. At 29 years old, Cuschieri runs the kitchen of a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant and moonlights on your TiVo. What’s your life like?

Executive Chef, TWO
Twitter: @tomcancook

As Michigan Avenue is to shopping or the Wrigley Field bleachers are to throwing drunken haymakers, the Near West Side is to Chicago dining. Over the last 10 years, the neighborhood’s become an elegantly garnished blitzkrieg of Michelin stars and Instagram-ed meal photos. It’s not easy to standout with that kind of competition, but Tom Van Lente’s TWO—which opened a little more than a year ago—fills the “hearty meal” niche with its in-house butchery and charcuterie. A lot of restaurants claim a farm-to-table philosophy, but few are as committed to the practice as chef Van Lente.

Executive Chef, Ada St.
Twitter: @AdaStreetChi

Ada St. is the brainchild of Fish Bar and DMK Burger Bar purveyors Michael Kornick and David Morton, but the restaurant’s star is chef Zoe Schor. From the polenta fries to the patio (as well as its proximity to The Hideout), everything about this restaurant works. Schor’s food is casual, but high-level and—by the standards of this list especially—delivered at a reasonable price point.

Executive Chef, Acadia
Twitter: @AcadiaChef_Ryan

Chef Ryan McCaskey doesn’t have the benefit of a booming commercial district to drive traffic to his restaurant, so he does it the old fashioned way with the best lobster roll in the city. Ah, the benefits of beginning your career as a pastry chef in Maine. Like many on this list, chef McCaskey lauds Grant Achatz and Charlie Trotter as two of his main influences, but he’s creating his own identity in the embryonic South Loop. Acadia received its first Michelin star in November 2012 (less than a year after opening), which is as promising for McCaskey as it is for the area.

Executive Pastry Chef, Public Chicago Hotel
Twitter: @kadyyon

Public Chicago, with its in-house Pump Room, is a place for young adults to bask in unapologetic opulence. So, naturally, it employs one of the city’s top—albeit unheralded—pastry chefs. The aspiring law student turned baking guru began her career working for restaurateur Bill Kim and, eventually, for Charlie Trotter’s and the Boka Restaurant Group. Of course, we can talk pedigree until we’re blue in the face, but it really comes down to whether or not this woman can serve a bomb ass cheesecake. And, she can!

Executive Chef/Partner, L2O
Twitter: @MattKirkleyL2O

L2O’s seafood command is admirable in its own right, but when you consider that Chicago is a three-hour flight to the nearest ocean, chef Matthew Kirkley’s artistry becomes all the more apparent. Chef Kirkley’s tasked with filling the vast, slip resistant shoes of chef Laurent Gras, who opened the restaurant in 2008 and left for New York in 2010. At 28 years old, Kirkley presided over one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the country. Two years later? He became a partner.

Chef de Cuisine, Grace
Twitter: @_nicholasromero

It’s hard to talk about chef Nicholas Romero without first citing his kitchen’s patriarch, chef Curtis Duffy. With stints at Trio, Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea, chef Duffy’s a bona fide godfather in Chicago’s burgeoning fine dining scene. And his new solo act Grace, which opened in late 2012, has been received with a Windy City fervor that only Derrick Rose truly understands. Similarly, chef Romero vaunts a resume that includes stops at Tru, L20, and Avenues before taking the reigns alongside chef Duffy at Grace.

In sum, chef Romero is part of a lineage that’s the culinary equivalent to being born a Kennedy, and—as Duffy’s No. 2—he’s leading one of the most sought after kitchens in Chicago. As the line between chef and celebrity becomes increasingly foggy, Grace’s boy band of a kitchen (Sous Chef Mitch Lienhard, Pastry Chef Bobby Schaffer, Romero and Duffy) is sure to produce a standalone star (or four).