Joe Fontelera has made it. The accomplished chef who once helmed the kitchen at Michelin-starred sushi station Arami has opened his own restaurant with a ton of personal meaning. Boonie’s is a Filipino American restaurant in the Lincoln Square area where Fontelera’s family first moved to after arriving in America. Find Fil-Am favorites from lumpia to loganissa executed with a modern edge and with a ton of joy. It’s a casual spot and poised to join Kasama as Chicago’s next great Filipino spot. For August, Boonie has added weekend lunch service.

Daisies is a pasta shop and Midwestern comfort restaurant that endeared itself to the Logan Square community in its tinier original iteration. In April, the operations moved a few blocks southeast, still along Milwaukee Avenue, to a gorgeous and roomier space. The kitchen has more amenities to serve a large menu of pasta (a giant seasonal ravioli is impressive; right now it’s stuffed with ramps) and more composed dishes. There are also delicious pastries and coffee (La Colombe’s roastery is just next-door). Daisies 2.0 is one of the hottest reservations in town.

Thattu is a restaurant that bridges relationships. It’s the story of its owners, Margaret Pak (a Korean American) and Vinod Kalathil (who’s from Kerala, India). Pak is charged with translating recipes from Kalathil’s mother, and the result is a humble, yet bold, South Indian restaurant, the likes the city has been waiting a long time to enjoy. The restaurant debuted with lunch and spicy chicken sandwiches and recently unveiled dinner service with a decadent pork chop inside a newly built-out space in Avondale.

While Diego’s ownership describes itself as a dive bar, not many “dive bars” have this sort of food and cocktail program. Helmed by Stephen Sandoval, who’s preparing to open his fine dining restaurant, Sueños, nearby, Diego is a casual spot with a patio that serves great bar bites: ceviches, tacos, burritos, and burgers. Sandoval’s style channels both San Diego and Tijuana. This is the type of food he served during the Sueños residency at Soho House.

Albany Park, one of Chicago’s most diverse dining neighborhoods, gained a prominent new entrant in late July with the debut of Maman Zari, a fine dining restaurant featuring the city’s — and perhaps the country’s — first Persian tasting menu. The nine-course tasting menu has a vegetarian option with a composed take on lamb shashlik, a watermelon and feta salad, and more.

Chef Matteo Lo Bianco (Volare, Coco Pazzo, Francesca’s) balances traditional Persian cuisine with contemporary culinary techniques.

The owners of Green Tea, a sushi den on Clark Street, near Francis W. Parker school, have opened a Thai restaurant in Lakeview. Chicagoans have recently been obsessed with food from Northeast Thailand. Issan food is known for its heat, textures, and funk. It’s a departure from the pad Thai and satays that served as an introduction to Thai for many Americans. There is a Signature Pad Thai at Tuk Tuk, topped with head-on shrimp and a reddish glaze that comes with the rice noodles. Vibrant papaya salads — which are making a comeback in popularity — soups, and salads are done with expert execution. This BYO is a casual spot bringing a new challenge for best Thai restaurant in Lakeview (Andy’s, Penny’s, P.S. Bangkok).

James Beard Award-winning chefs and spouses Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim (Parachute) have made borscht out of bad news with the debut of Anelya, their new Ukrainian restaurant in Avondale. A replacement for Wherewithall, which closed in May due to a sewer collapse and accumulated pandemic-era obstacles, Anelya gives Clark a chance to explore his Ukrainian American culinary heritage with a menu of chubby varenyky (saffron, potato, jowl bacon), biber dolmas, and bowls of borscht made with smoked pears, a style drawn from Poltava, a city in central Ukraine. Eastern European wines dominate the glass and bottle list (along with a few submissions from Greece) and the kitchen staff is made up almost entirely of Ukrainian refugees.

John’s Food & Wine comes from a pair of alums of New York’s Gramercy Tavern, a beloved restaurant known of honest seasonal cooking without too much flash. It’s a family-friendly spot that aims to be “where everybody knows your name.” John’s is currently open for lunch and dinner with small plates like a simple and tasty celery and apple salad, plus chicken liver mousse. The meatballs are crowd pleasers, and so is the fresh pasta. The real surprised is the pulled pork sandwich, which could be one of the best sandwiches in town. It melds Carolina barbecue with a Thai-style slaw and fresh herbs. This isn’t a shareable plate, be greedy and get your own.

After finding success in Cleveland, a group of Filipino Americans brought their operation to West Town, serving unique coffees, Fil-Am sandwiches, and rice bowls. Mano aims to demonstrate the variety of Filipino food, kind of a supercharged Filipino version of Panera. Look for intriguing breakfast sandwiches with SPAM and eggs, and more. There are plans for dinner pop-ups in the future.

Akahoshi Ramen is the toughest table in Chicago right now, as a humble soup spot is booked up for the month. The Logan Square restaurant is from a local who traveled to Japan. He became obsessed with recreating the bowls he tried overseas, mastering techniques and familiarizing himself with a variety of techniques. Over on Reddit, he assumed the identity of Ramen_Lord and began throwing pop-ups across the city, learning and building a fanbase. Akahoshi has been open for a few short weeks and is already being hailed for its unique offerings, shattering the perception of what customers expect out of a midwestern Japanese restaurant.

The chef behind Cafe Marie-Jeanne wasn’t planning to make a comeback. Their beloved restaurant closed during the pandemic, and they moved to Springfield, Missouri. But after taking a bartending job at Table, Donkey & Stick, they found their grove in Chicago. The result is Atta Girl, the reborn CMJ, a collaboration with TDS. However, since opening, Bunny, the former Cafe Marie-Jeanne chef, has departed the operation, leaving it in good hands. There’s brunch, a late-night happy hour (patrons can order the famous CMJ burger), and all the classics that made CMJ a success. There’s also a deep wine list and more cocktails as they’ve taken over the former Dos Urban Cantina. 

Erling Wu-Bower’s return has already earned acclaim in the West Loop where the chef and partner Josh Tilden have treated customers to a creative menu with great ambition and ambience. Music plays a big part of Maxwells Trading — there’s even a pop-up record shop in front. This comfy spot is a tribute to immigrant neighborhoods, with a family-style menu that crosses Asian countries like China, Korea, and Japan. The restaurant will feel different in the spring and summer as a rooftop garden will supply ingredients. Right now, it’s the perfect antidote to the throng for restaurants along Randolph Street, where hospitality sometimes plays second fiddle to hype.

The owners of Omakase Yume, a Michelin-starred sushi restaurant, are it again, presenting a Korean-style steakhouse where diners can enjoy a special seven-course meal featuring several cuts of beef. Not all of the cuts at Bonyeon will be familiar, and that mystery is part of the allure. This intimate 12-seat dining experience is different from a traditional Chicago steakhouse, and perhaps a precursor to the arrival of more Asian-inspired steakhouses in the city.