These are strange times in Chicago's food world. The lingering indigestion caused by an especially bitter economic pill has led to price cuts, high-profile closings and a noticeable slowdown in the pace of new ventures. But the celebrity turn of the man in the funny white hat just seems unstoppable, to the point where one of our town's foremost food ambassadors now claims the same title for a, gulp, burger chain. But all is not amiss in foodland, thankfully. Although less new faces shine through in these uncertain times, another promising theme emerges: the second (or third, or fourth...) act. Chicago's food superstars are not just taking their winnings to (or from) Vegas; in many cases, they're hanging up a new shingle mere blocks away.

--Written and edited by the Newcity staff

1.

Rick Bayless

Executive chef & owner, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo

So the man who bitched about Americans' lack of familiarity with authentic Mexican cuisine now shills chicken product at Burger King? Sounds like a chapter from the Martha Stewart/K-Mart handbook. (Rank last year: 3)

2.

Charlie Trotter

Chef & owner, Charlie Trotter's

Is empire measured in influence, real estate or linear feet on the cookbook section? Chicago's hot trotter recently won the National Restaurant Association Restaurant Neighbor Award, for his scholarship foundation for young chefs seeking to be culinary maestros. He has also opened up a venture in Los Cabos, Mexico, and jumped on the raw revolution with a newly published uncooked cookbook. (Rank last year: 2)

3.

Rich Melman

Founder & chairman, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

Quality control and volume: somewhere between playful innovation and margin-insuring standardization lies a successful thirty-year history of quality "eatertainment." (Rank last year: 1)

4.

Paul Kahan

Chef & co-owner, Blackbird and Avec

Blackbird's 1996 debut set new standards for Chicago fine dining, and tributes in intervening years, including a James Beard award, indicate dependable quality. Since October, there's a warm, comfy new joint across the alley, neo-enoteca Avec, (see feature) rife with fine wine and savory global comfort food. (Rank last year: 5)

5.

James Cantalupo

Chairman & CEO, McDonald's Corporation

Facing powerful competition from Subway and other fast-fooderies touting health claims, discarding a three-year-old slogan, hiring a German ad agency, and facing ominous worldwide shifts in sales, "healthy" meals with less food processing are the big gamble on the Oakbrook-based powerhouse's international menu. So far, their new CEO is lovin' it. (Rank last year: --)

6.

Jerry Kleiner

Co-owner, KDK

Marché, Red Light, Gioco, but what comes after the Opera? A Japanese steak-and-sushi restaurant adds to Kleiner's South Loop empire. (Rank last year: 8)

7.

Larry Levy

Chairman & CEO, Levy Restaurants

Once a small Chicago deli, now a national food-serving empire. Not only does Levy maintain dining spots in five cities (Chicago, Charlotte, Denver, Orlando and Deer Valley), but the company also provides skyboxers with delectable edibles in more than sixty arenas and stadiums nationwide--including Wrigley Field. (Rank last year: 9)

8.

Gale Gand

Executive pastry chef, Tru

Gand's a Tru pro pastry chef, but she gets our blood pumping on the Food Network's "Sweet Dreams," where she demonstrates how to confect girth-adding morsels like Rhubarb Streusel Pot Pie, Blueberry Peach Floats and the borderline erotic Bourbon Balls. Better yet, we've never heard her yell "BAM!," nor has sea urchin roe ever been an ingredient. (Rank last year: 7)

9.

Arun Sampanthavivat

Chef & owner, Arun's

High-end Thai food that's more fun than saying Bangkok. Want vegetarian? Ask. Want your mouth to burn like the fires of hell? Ask. With every multi-course meal made to order, Thai gourmets can hardly go wrong--but remember, you won't escape for less than $100 per person. (Rank last year: 15)

10.

Alpana Singh

Master sommelier, Everest, host, "Check, Please!"

At 21, Singh became the youngest to pass the advance course of the Court of Master Sommeliers, and last year became the youngest American Master Sommelier. And now more recently, the ambitious wine prodigy has replaced Amanda Puck as the host of WTTW's popular "Check,Please!" television show. (Rank last year: --)

11.

Grant Achatz

Executive chef, Trio

Achatz' "Tour de Force" menu, which ranges from seven to twenty-five courses, helped this golden boy capture last year's James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef Award. (Rank last year: 35)

12.

Michael Kornick

Chef & partner, MK, MK North

Kornick's two mk helpings (downtown and Northfield) flex a blend of modern American and French cuisine that drips sophistication. (Rank last year: 10)

13.

Rick Tramonto

Executive chef, Tru

Published "Amuse-Bouche," an entertaining and accessible guide to the contemporary starter course. (Rank last year: 4)

14.

Gabino Sotelino

Vice president & executive chef of Ambria, Mon Ami Gabi and Café Ba-Ba-Reeba!

Timeless Americanized tapas? Café Ba-Ba-Reeba! parties on. Ambria? Chicago's fave resto in the 1998 Zagat's. Mon Ami Gabi? A thriving Parisian bistro in Lincoln Park. A consistent and valuable jewel in Lettuce Entertain You's empire. (Rank last year: 11)

15.

Jean Joho

Vice president & executive chef, Everest, Brasserie Jo

From the heights--Everest opened in 1986--to street level--he's a co-founder of the Corner Bakery concept--Joho is a spirited flavor-maker who dazzles well-heeled foodies, food journos and even visitors to Las Vegas, where he's opened the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris Hotel. (Rank last year: 12)

16.

Shawn McClain

Chef & owner, Spring

Spring sprung from the sea, but from McClain's imagination soon comes the Green Zebra, a new Ukrainian Village spot with a focus on vegetables. (Rank last year: 17)

17.

Terry Alexander

Co-owner, Danny's, Mia Francesca and La Sorella di Francesca, Tizi Melloul, MOD. Savvy Bucktown-Wicker Park frontiersman Alexander continues an almost-unbroken string of successful neighborhood notions, with the intimate lounge setting of Sonotheque chilling a disused strip of Chicago Avenue. (Rank last year: 20)

18.

Scott Harris

Majority owner, Francesca's restaurants, Platiyo

Harris is the proud papa of eleven successful sister restaurants, dabbling in both Italian and Mexican cuisine. (Rank last year: 22)

19.

Bryant Keil

CEO, Potbelly Sandwich Works

"Screw you, Subway! Up yours, Quizno's!" As the Submarine War surfaces, who cares about the Burger Wars? The longtime Chicago sandwich shop has held its own by spreading its wings throughout Chicago and beyond. (Rank last year: 25)

20.

Sarah Stegner

Chef, The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton

It isn't exactly a long journey to The Dining Room from your hotel room at the Ritz, and Stegner's newly added entrees of Maine Lobster and Grilled Rack of Lamb are sure to attract droves of visitors. That's tantamount to seismic change for this bedrock Chicago institution. (Rank last year: 14)

21.

Roger Greenfield & Ted Kasemir

Owners, Restaurant Development Group

You can't walk too far without bumping into a Bar Louie, which is just one of the "concepts" deployed by this burgeoning group. They just opened a trio of joints on the North Shore, bringing their grand total to 41. (Rank last year: 26)

22.

Michael Foley

Chef & co-owner, Printer's Row Restaurant

A tell-all history of Printer's Row, compiled by Foley himself, hits Chicago bookstores (and chef's tables) in the imminent future. (Rank last year: 13)

23.

Phil Vettel

Restaurant critic, Chicago Tribune

Other cities undergo seismic shifts in food reviewing, but Chicago's remains a cadre of old guard, with Vettel one of the career defenders of comfort food and restaurants that could be just a little, please, could you, just a little, will you PLEASE BE QUIET! (Rank last year: 16)

24.

Sandro Gamba

Chef de Cuisine, NoMI

With an October launch of a brand-new lunch menu, Gamba remains Park Hyatt's high-rise king. (Rank last year: 18)

25.

Miae Lim

Owner, Mirai Sushi, Ohba, co-owner Japonais

Mirai's sushi deluxe anchored the Division Street dining strip in 1999, and Ohba, across the way, is celebrating a year of further fusion. Fine dining Japonais is new on the Chicago River: another Lin daydream of lounge and luxe. (Rank last year: --)

26.

Bob Chinn

Owner, Bob Chinn's Crab House

Chinn's mega-grossing franchise, already with a residency in the old traffic court building on LaSalle and another in Wheeling, seems big enough to fit all the fish in the sea. Although the downtown venture struggles to fill its corridors, Restaurants and Institutions magazine ranked the king crab house in Wheeling the fourth-largest grossing independent restaurant in the country. (Rank last year: 19)

27.

Fred Hoffman

Owner, Ala Carte

With Finn McCool's the latest in a year of thematic bar and grill launches, the restaurant and bar behemoth continues the fine Chicago tradition of wringing the shamrocks out of all things Irish. (Rank last year: 28)

28.

Dion Antic

Owner, Food and Drink, Inc.

Posters in his eateries and drinkeries pimp a potential run for mayor of Chicago in 2007; one of Chicago nightlife's most ardent spokespersons running the City That Rock-a-Tikis? (Rank last year: 21)

29.

Pat Bruno

Restaurant critic, Chicago Sun-Times

Meat-and-potatoes reviewing of comfort food with just a soupcon of cutesiness: for those who forget it, the past will be repeated as more Italian family style cooking. (Rank last year: 30)

30.

Martial Noguier

Chef, one sixtyblue

Martial learned the gastronomic law under Alain Ducasse and Michelin three-star chef Jacque Maximin; in the USA, he worked both coasts before taking on executive chef chores at the Pump Room, earning the landmark its first three-star rating. The Parisian just opened Solea in Mexico City. (Rank last year: 31)

31.

Roland Liccioni

Chef & owner, Les Nomades

Liccioni and pastry-chef wife Mary Beth continue their culinary onslaught on Streeterville complete with an extensive wine list and a no-exception smoking ban. (Rank last year: 32)

32.

Michael Morton & Scott DeGraff

Co-owners, Nine

The childhood chums made Crain's 40 Under 40 list for their Chicago and Vegas restaurant and nightclub empire, projected to double by 2006. (Rank last year: 33)

33.

Jeffrey Himmel

President, Bravo Restaurants Inc.

The writing's on the wall--Himmel has helped perpetuate Chicago-style with pizza places Gino's East and Edwardo's. (Rank last year: 36)

34.

John Apostolou

President, Giordano's Enterprises

With locations spreading all over the city like their pie's signature sauce, the deep-dish dynasty is a crust above the rest. Yeah, we know. We'll stop with the pizza jokes. (Rank last year: 37)

35.

Jim Bodman and Jim Eisenberg

Co-chairmen, Vienna Beef

We're not entirely sure what Vienna Beef means by "100 percent domestic beef and sweet brisket trimmings" (as they describe their wieners), and in true hotdog tradition, we don't wanna know. Still, Vienna Beef has, since its founding in 1893, become the frankfurter of choice for many Americans, and damn near the only hotdog we'll eat in Chicago. (Rank last year: 38)

36.

Paul Wildermuth

Chef, Opera

Esquire dining critic John Mariani says when "you open Paul Wildermuth's menu, you want to eat everything on it," and featured the South Loop Asian eatery--and winner of Newcity's Best New Restaurant award--as one of his best new American restaurants in 2003. Told ya so. (Rank last year: --)

37.

Marc Schulman

President, Eli's Cheesecake

Keeping Chicago the City of Wide Hips, right behind Houston, but with a smile on its face and in its tummy. (Rank last year: 40)

38.

John Hall

Founder, Goose Island Brewery

Goddam, we love beer! We love both Goose Island pubs (Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park), we love the seasonals (Hex Nut Brown, baby!), and more than that, we love those big goose tap-heads that beckon for a pull. It's been fifteen years since Hall started fermenting for us, and like a pastor's flock, we thirst for his next beer to take flight. (Rank last year: 41)

39.

Steve Sobel

CEO, Spare Time Incorporated

Masters of bar-based entertainment and parties, Sobel's Spare Time, Inc., owns eight area bars (including Southport Lanes, Lucky Strike, Corner Pocket and the Firehouse Grill), each with an interesting quirk that keeps people coming. (Rank last year: 46)

40.

Doug Zell and Emily Mange

Owners, Intelligentsia Coffee

Starbucks beware: these local grinder and roasters design coffee programs and train baristas how to serve better beans. Chicago's restaurant elite have taken notice--and placed orders. (Rank last year: --)

41.

Bruce Sherman

Head chef and partner, North Pond

Voted one of this year's Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs, Sherman blatantly stole all of his technique from all over the world--and made his own blissfully original cuisine in the process. (Rank last year: --)

42.

Tom Tunney

Owner, Ann Sather's

It's worth noting that to become the 44th Ward alderman, Tunney was forced to relinquish his restaurants' liquor license to comply with a city ordinance barring alderman from holding one of those sought-after writs. That we can live with, but were he forced to give up something important--like the opiate-like cinnamon rolls--we'd have led the drive to keep him out of office. (Rank last year: --)

43.

Penny Pollack

Dining editor, Chicago magazine

Keeping the secret while telling the news: the dining pages of Chicago offer crisp summaries of the clandestine noshing of their critics, noting shifting standards with increasing dispatch. (Rank last year: 24)

44.

Jackie Pleuton

Head chef, Carlos', owner, Jackie's Bistro

This head chef of Carlos' and owner of Jackie's Bistro has put the drool in word of mouth, launching her latest endeavor, Pleuton's, later this month. (Rank last year: --)

45.

Brian Duncan, Dan Sachs, David Schneider

Partners, Bin 36

Wine flights on Sundays and the BIN School in wine could make your know-it-all friends just a little savvier about matters oeniphilic. (Rank last year: 29)

46.

Christian DeVos

Dean, Kendall College of Culinary Arts

The Evanston culinary arts school that has spawned many a crop of Shawn McClain's has a city campus opening up next fall in River West. You know what that means. Cheap eats from amazing chefs served up in the student dining room. See you there. (Rank last year: 39)

47.

Suhail

Owner, Suhail Design

Who cares how the food is when everything looks so pretty--you might not know his name, but you have to know the signature style of this London import who has turned his magic on the Jetsonian Mod., the cool minimalist Sonotheque and the Willy Wonka-esque Sugar. (Rank last year: 27)

48.

Sumanth Das

Chef, Monsoon

After serving a reign at Peninsula Chicago's Shanghai Terrace, the Bombay-born and Indonesia-schooled chef took on Lakeview's recently opened Eastern-fusion, rated one of the best new restaurants in America this year by Esquire. (Rank last year: --)

49.

Abby Mandel

Co-founder and director, Green City Market

Green's goddess and staff work the Lincoln Park location, where local producers and farmers mingle with chefs and restaurateurs, working with local, sustainable fresh produce. Their Christmas Market invades the lion house at the Lincoln Park Zoo on December 20. (Rank last year: 44)

50.

Katrina Markoff

Owner/chocolatier, Vosges Haut-Chocolat

If the popular female cliché is that chocolate can usurp sex for pleasure potential, then Markoff's spicy Aztec creations (or little pieces from God, as we like to call them) are the equivalent of sinful, hot, hair-pulling sex, not just your basic missionary. And we're not the only ones to notice, apparently. (Rank last year: --)

(2003-11-13)

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