Ever since Michelin deigned to start reviewing Chicago restaurants back in 2010, its name has been the one most associated with print guides to local establishments, for better or worse. Last year Mike Gebert, editor of the Web publication Fooditor (and videographer for the Reader‘s Key Ingredient series), entered the fray with the Fooditor 99, subtitled “Where to eat (and what to eat there) in Chicago—right now! From the acclaimed local food site.” He just released an updated version for 2018 that’s about half new content, he says, between updated listings and the 30 or so restaurants that are new to the book this year.
Gebert: When I first moved here there were several guides that I used to help discover the city—not just food but the city, period. In time, of course, that all moved to the Internet, and in many ways that was an improvement. And yet there’s something to be said for a book as a format. It fits in your glove compartment, and there’s something nice about a defined list that cuts down the world into an achievable chunk. Yelp has every place on earth in it—that’s unmanageable. I have 99 choices I’ll stand by for what they are.
If you had negative experiences or not-so-great dishes at a restaurant you liked overall, how did you approach it?
