Chicago Industry Experts Sum Up The 2017 Dining Scene In One Word

Time’s almost up for 2017, and to finish out the year, Eater asked a group of local Chicago critics and writers about their year in restaurants and bars. The nine questions varied from their favorite dining neighborhoods to what we can expect for headlines in 2018. Here are their answers — copied and pasted, totally unadulterated — for how they would describe the 2017 dining scene in one word.

Chandra Ram, Plate: Woke-ish.

Matt Kirouac, Zagat: Ritzy (e.g. Bellemore, BLVD, Somerset, Prairie School, Margeaux, etc.)

Mike Sula, Chicago Reader: Bubble

Michael Gebert, Fooditor: Asian. Asian flavors are everywhere, even The Bristol. (Editor’s note: Gebert used a similar answer last year when responding to the 2016 survey)

Carrie Schedler, Chicago magazine: Transitional.

Morgan Olsen, Time Out Chicago: Bittersweet. We gained some amazing new restaurants this year, but I'm bummed that we lost so many greats.

Michael Nagrant, RedEye: Closings