[MICHELIN GUIDE] 2021 Best French Restaurants in Chicago

This quaint two-story townhouse is set in the heart of Streeterville and decked out with throw pillow-lined banquettes, fresh-flower arrangements, and an upstairs tea salon. Diners look forward to a prix-fixe menu that allows them to choose between various courses, including an ahi tart, warming mushroom soup and sweet Grand Marnier soufflé.

Begin with a bowl of creamy pumpkin soup, where fresh bits of crab and pheasant sausage add a gumbo-like quality and smoked paprika kicks it up. Keep the comfort food mood going with a bowl of tortellini served in a brodo of parmesan, pecorino, and Burgundy truffles. The Goosefoot experience ends with handcrafted chocolates, a packet of seeds for your garden and a warm send-off from Nina Nugent and her husband, Chris.

Begin with such signatures as cuisses de grenouilles à la Provençale—frogs’ legs cooked with garlic, spinach and just the right bit of butter. Then linger over a perfect bowl of Gruyère-capped French onion soup. A riff on the rustic coq au vin renders the bird crisp on the outside, juicy inside. Profiteroles or crème brûlée make a divine finale.

Roasted chestnuts here are whirled into a creamy soup and poured over compressed apple, wild mushrooms and puffed rice. Spot-on Dover sole meunière is plated with a purée of watercress and golden-crisp pommes rissolées. And for dessert, preserved cherries are just one option to fill the baked-to-order almond clafoutis.

This gilded palace boasts some serious Great Gatsby vibes—down to the coupes filled with sparkling Grüner Veltliner and the glowing green lights above the restrooms. The menu tilts heavily towards steak, but its pleasures are consistent across the board. Textbook-perfect roast chicken arrives in a piping-hot cast-iron dish, accompanied by crisped potatoes and a tiny pitcher of chicken jus.

Choose a white cloth-covered table inside or dine outside under the garden’s twinkling lights and green tree branches. Start with soupe à l’oignon gratinée capped with a thick layer of melting Gruyère, then discover pitch-perfect duck pithiviers, wild mushroom duxelles and hazelnuts in puff pastry with a Madeira reduction.