Chicago's Michelin Stars Announced

BEST DATE NEWS

Dec. 12, 2024: Best Date News Volume #104

Welcome to Best Date News, your favorite Chicago weekly newsletter! Thank you for being a reader! In this week’s newsletter you will read about Chicago’s Michelin star winners, Chicago Restaurant Week announced, the Illinois state flag redesign finalists, TBOX and more!

Dec. 12: National Holidays

• National Gingerbread House Day

• National Poinsettia Day

• National Pho Day

• National Ding-A-Ling Day

• National Ambrosia Day

Sponsored by our friends at Chicago Artisan Market

Chicago Artisan Market

• Market This Weekend: The Chicago Artisan Market is back for a one-day Holiday Market event this weekend! Watch our video for a sneak peek!

• It’s the perfect opportunity to do some holiday shopping as you will be able to find thoughtful gifts from 115+ of the best local artisans from Chicago, and the Midwest, all under one roof.

• Eat and drink while you shop local vendors in categories like food, fashion, home decor, jewelry, art and more. You can even bring your dog!

• The market will take place at Morgan MFG (401 N. Morgan St.) in West Loop’s Fulton Market this Sunday, Dec. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Tickets are either 1 for $8 or 4 for $20 if you buy them online in advance! They are more expensive at the door, so grab yours now!

Chicago News

• Michelin Stars: The highly coveted stars of the Michelin Guide were announced this week, and 19 Chicago restaurants earned at least one for 2024 (down from 21 last year). Two Chicago restaurants received three stars: Alinea and Smyth and two restaurants received two stars: Ever and Oriole. 15 Chicago restaurants earned one star and 38 restaurants made the Bib Gourmand list. See the full 2024 list of winners.

• Chicago Restaurant Week: The 18th annual Chicago Restaurant Week dates, lineup, pricing and reservations were just announced yesterday. It will take place Friday, Jan. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. You can now view the multi-course menus that will be available at 470+ participating restaurants at price points of $30 for brunch/lunch and $45 and/or $60 for dinner.

• Illinois Flag Redesign: You may recall that an Illinois Flag Commission has been created with the intention to develop a new state flag. Submissions have been reviewed and 10 designs have been chosen as finalists for the potential new Illinois flag. See the 10 finalists.

• Shedd Aquarium: The Shedd Aquarium unveiled their new Wonder of Water exhibit to the public this week, replacing the Caribbean Reef that had been there since the 1970s. This new exhibit is located in the grand rotunda and features two massive tanks that each hold 28,110 gallons of water and thousands of new fish. See the rotunda’s evolution.

• Restaurant News: Boka Restaurant Group will be taking over the restaurant spaces at the Chicago Athletic Association in 2025, Joe Flamm’s new Italian restaurant opens in Fulton Market today and Uptown’s oldest restaurant, Fiesta Mexicana, is closing after 45 years.

Just For Fun

• TBOX: This weekend is Chicago’s 28th annual TBOX. For those unfamiliar, it stands for 12 Bars of Xmas. It is the world’s largest, longest running holiday bar crawl according to the creators. The crawl begins with opening ceremonies at Cubby Bear at 10am and crawls through 30+ of Wrigleyville’s best bars.

• Navy Pier Drones & Fireworks: If you are looking for something on the more chill side, Navy Pier has both a Holiday Drone Show on Friday and Winter Fireworks on Saturday this weekend as part of Light Up The Lake.

• Giant: Looking for a great date-night restaurant in Chicago? You need to check out Giant in Logan Square! We loved it! You can sit at their chef’s counter and watch them cook in front of you, they have half-off wine bottles Monday-Thursday from 5-6pm and they were just named to the 2024 Michelin Gourmand list!

• Merry Creedmas: A popular social media account There I Ruined It whose bio reads “I lovingly destroy your favorite songs,” has been putting out Christmas song mashups this month that have gone viral. Our favorite? Merry Creedmas.

Poll Question of the Week

Last Newsletter's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last newsletter we asked you if you posted your Spotify Wrapped results to your Instagram Story and 83% of you said that you did not. Your favorite artists were Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.

Sunrise & Sunset in Chicago

Here is today’s outlook in Chicago:

• Sunrise: 7:09 a.m. (6 minutes later this week)

• Sunset: 4:19 p.m. (the same as last week)

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