But one thing\u2019s for certain, earning a Michelin star is not a guarantee that a restaurant will stay open. Michelin – yes, the tire company – started\u00a0creating restaurant guides for motorists in 1900. Later the star system caught on, with anonymous reviewers sampling eateries across the\u00a0 Americas and in\u00a0Europe, Asia and Australia.<\/p>\n Chicago currently\u00a0has only 21 restaurants open that have been awarded stars, and is home to two of the nation\u2019s coveted 12 three star restaurants – Alinea<\/a> in Lincoln Park and Grace<\/a> in Fulton Market.\u00a0Michelin heralds\u00a0three star restaurants\u00a0as places with \u201cexceptional cuisine where diners eat extremely well, often superbly. Distinctive dishes are precisely executed, using superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.\u201d In the U.S., only San Francisco and New York have more three star restaurants. Here’s a map<\/a> of all the Michelin star restaurants in Chicago.<\/p>\n Four shutters and some reshaping<\/strong><\/p>\n Graham Elliot, the River North restaurant named for its famous chef, was the first of the four\u00a0restaurants to close, serving through New Year\u2019s Eve in 2013.\u00a0 According to Chicago<\/a> magazine, the two star restaurant opened as a t-shirt and rock music enclave but transitioned to fine dining and earned the two stars.\u00a0 Soon after closing,\u00a0 Elliot\u00a0announced he was launching a new restaurant,\u00a0 the Graham Elliot Bistro<\/a> on Randolph Street.<\/p>\n The new bistro features entrees under $30 and Elliot’s “casual-concept dream was reborn,” wrote long-time Chicago Tribune<\/a> restaurant critic Phil Vettel in 2013.<\/p>\n Entrees at Graham Elliot the first ran from $33 to $41, with tasting menus available starting at $95. \u201cPerhaps fittingly, for a restaurant owned by such an overt and polarizing personality, Graham Elliot likely is not for everyone,” Vettel wrote in the Tribune<\/a> in 2012. “Tasting menus began with a dollop of smoked oyster cream and black pepper, sharply contrasted with a mignonette gel so puckeringly tart it’s like biting into a sour lime.”<\/p>\n One star Takashi and two star L2O both served their last meals this New Year\u2019s Eve, but\u00a0L2O owners Lettuce Entertain You<\/a> has already reopened this month in the same space in Lincoln Park with a unique concept for\u00a0Intro<\/a>\u00a0, a fine dining restaurant that introduces a new chef every few months.<\/p>\n Chef Yagihashi Takashi<\/a>, the owner of Takashi, \u00a0told the\u00a0Chicago Tribune that\u00a0he closed because he wants to work on different projects. For seven years, he created\u00a0what he describes on his website “contemporary French-American” cuisine “with Japanese influences.”<\/p>\n Takashi, a restaurant entrepreneur as well as a chef, also operates two locations of Slurping Turtle<\/a> (in downtown Chicago and Ann Arbor) and Tabo Sushi<\/a> at 1233 N. Wells.<\/p>\n The fourth restaurant, one star Senza in Lakeview, closed Jan. 17 with chef Noah Sandoval also telling Eater Chicago<\/a> that he’s looking for “the right opportunity.” Wheat’s End Artisan Foods<\/a>\u00a0serves up Sandoval’s gluten-free confections\u00a0\u00a0on Broadway in Lakeview.<\/p>\n Curses and comparisons<\/strong><\/p>\n Given Chicago\u2019s lower numbers of Michelin star eateries overall, Chicagoans may value the one star rating more than New Yorkers do, Vettel said.\u00a0 One star Michelin restaurants are nearly a dime a dozen in New York. Vettel said that a two star rating in Chicago probably has about the same\u00a0impact as a three star in New York, though the three stars are\u00a0bringing people from abroad to places like Alinea.<\/p>\n \u201cThe very odd thing is that the truly cursed number seems to be two,”\u00a0said Vettel.<\/p>\n The closing of Graham Elliot and L20 took away half the two star restaurants in Chicago.\u00a0Two Michelin two-star restaurants still operate here – Sixteen<\/a> and 42 Grams<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, some may believe in \u201cthe curse,\u201d but others scoff. Mary Chapman, the senior director of product innovation at Technomic Inc.<\/a>, a company that focuses on food and food industry data analysis, doesn\u2019t think much of curses.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople see trends where they want to see trends,” she said.<\/p>\n A clear probability<\/strong><\/p>\n The other obvious explanation is money. When a Michelin star restaurant closes, the finances probably aren\u2019t what you would expect for restaurants, Vettel said. The higher end restaurants typically are in higher rent districts, so they\u2019re working on an \u201cimpressively thinner margin\u201d than lower end restaurants.<\/p>\n Because they could have investors and probably more staff, they likely need more capital to make profit. This shrinks profits. But\u00a0a high end restaurant with much acclaim must pay chefs well.\u00a0 When chefs are the owners and not getting the returns they want,\u00a0that can lead them to close and try something else, Vettel said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is the bottom line, you have to put keisters in the seats and all the accolades won\u2019t save you\u201d if business begins to slip, Vettel said.<\/p>\n Chapman disagrees. She said the restaurants are all closing for different reasons. Think of it like a TV show. Sometimes, a show ends just when it should after nine seasons, and sometimes they\u2019re canceled and you\u2019re left wondering, \u201cwhy?\u201d<\/p>\n So, can we point the finger at customer\u2019s expectations and subsequent pressure? Here\u2019s a scenario \u2013<\/p>\n Restaurant makes exceptional food. Michelin reviewer tries exceptional food. Michelin gives exceptional restaurant exceptional award. Food lovers seek out exceptional restaurant. Expectations skyrocket. Restaurant feels pressure it may not want.<\/p>\n An unusual explanation<\/strong><\/p>\n Chef Julio Biosca of Casa Julio in Spain is a case in point. In a 2014 Fortune<\/a> article, Biosca said the Michelin star he was awarded threw a spotlight on him. He asked Michelin to remove the star, a choice that very few make. He said that the award is for a kind of product that he didn\u2019t feel comfortable making and he needed to move away from that and work on something simple.<\/p>\n While Biosca\u2019s decision to remove the star is one that many would call odd, it’s what worked for him. Chapman said for foodies or industry followers, a star might be what gets people to walk in the door.<\/p>\n But a 2012 study showed that restaurant goers wanted better service and d\u00e9cor instead of better food at Michelin starred restaurants. This made restaurants spend more on service and d\u00e9cor, which led to price increases for food, according to the study from the Bordeaux management School & Univerity of Reims.<\/p>\n Experience plus food, the whole package?<\/strong><\/p>\n The new trend in online ticketing for restaurants falls into the experience category. People pay in advance for a set menu and a reservation at posh restaurants such as Alinea.<\/p>\n Vettel said that ticketing eliminates waste and, because of\u00a0growing popularity, it will continue to be a trend – but only for high end restaurants. After all, he said, most people wouldn’t just drop in at Alinea or Elizabeth Restaurant<\/a>, which offer ticketing.<\/p>\n Next<\/a>, 953 W. Fulton Market, opened with\u00a0a ticketing system in 2011 and Alinea quickly followed. Ticketing is the\u00a0brainchild of Chicago restauranteur Nick Kokonas, co-owner of both restaurants and The Aviary<\/a>, a cocktail lounge with ticketed reservations that serve food but not full meals. It’s right next door to Next.<\/p>\n The ticketing system is creating\u00a0a platform for restaurants to hold one single-seating\u00a0meal for an entire night of a predetermined number of courses with optional drink pairings. For example, Elizabeth Restaurant will have single-seating meals for the month of April and other dates in May and June, with a Game of Thrones theme.\u00a0 The popularity of the April tickets, at $55 each, made way for\u00a0the May and June seatings.<\/p>\n Kokonas said that the ticketing system is working well for Alinea, making it easier for international customers to book reservations online. Fifteen percent of the customers at Alinea are from outside the U.S. and another 40 percent are from outside the Chicago area, which is higher than before they implemented the ticketing system, Kokonas said.<\/p>\n While the ticketing system is working well for the restauranteur, he said that Michelin star restaurants closing does “reflect poorly on the system itself.” Kokonas also suggested that the guide should “be a national guide and more rigorous than it currently is.”<\/p>\n “Michelin is a printed guide and, as such, is always behind the times these days,” said Kokonas.<\/p>\n But travelers revere them, at a cost of $14.84 for\u00a0the 2015 Chicago\u00a0guide<\/a> on Amazon, for instance. A 2014 Kindle edition costs $9.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Courtesy](\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0124Small-300x181.jpg\")
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