Banchet Awards 2027 Finalists: The Chicago Plates, Rooms & Pours to Taste Before January 31

The Banchet Awards 2027 finalists are out, and reading the list feels like flipping through the best meals of the past year. A Segovian pig carved and brought to the table in a River North townhouse. A 45-day dry-aged ribeye pulled off the coals on Chicago Avenue. Pork heart terrine in a tiny Logan Square dining room that changes its menu with the weather. A bowl of mafaldine with corn and saikyo miso in the West Loop. Those four rooms are this year's contenders for Restaurant of the Year, announced by The Banchet Foundation on Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

The winners will be named on Sunday, January 31, 2027, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St., for the 25th anniversary of Chicago's own food awards. That leaves roughly sixteen weeks to eat your way through the shortlist, and we think that is the most delicious homework in town.

What are the Banchet Awards 2027, and why should diners care?

They are Chicago's hometown restaurant awards, and the 2027 list is a ready-made dining plan. The Banchets are named for Jean Banchet, the chef whose Le Français in suburban Wheeling helped put the Chicago area on the world's culinary map. Twelve categories cover everything from Restaurant of the Year to Best Counter Service, and the finalists are selected by an anonymous committee.

What makes the list fun is its range. National awards tend to circle the same tasting menus. The Banchets put a taco stand in a Mayfair auto shop parking lot next to a three-Michelin-star pastry program, and a Schaumburg soup dumpling house next to a River North magic club. WTTW noted that the awards spotlight people and places national honors can miss, and sometimes anticipate them. If you want to know where Chicago is actually eating, this is the cheat sheet.

The anniversary also brings a bigger stage. The ceremony moves from Venue SIX10 to the Harris Theater, and the newly formed Banchet Foundation now runs the awards as a nonprofit focused on mentorship, education and job training for the next generation of hospitality workers. "Moving to the Harris Theater gives us a bigger stage to recognize their work and welcome more people to celebrate with us," Michael Muser, executive director of The Banchet Foundation, said in a statement.

Who is up for Restaurant of the Year at the Banchet Awards 2027?

Asador Bastian, Brasero, Cellar Door Provisions and Maxwells Trading. Every one of them cooks with real personality, and every one would be a worthy Saturday night.

Asador Bastian

This is the Spanish steakhouse in an elegantly remodeled River North townhouse, and it moves up to the top category after a Best Hospitality nod last year. The fire is the point here. The kitchen describes its Segovian pig as "crisp skin, impossibly tender meat, carved simply and brought to the table to be shared," and the steak program is the kind of thing beef obsessives plan trips around. Book it for the night you want candlelight, wine and the slow drama of a whole animal arriving at the table.

Brasero

John Manion's live-fire West Town spot already has Banchet history: Manion won Chef of the Year and Alex Cuper won Sommelier of the Year last year. Now the restaurant itself is in the running. The menu leans South American, the grill does the talking, and the 22-ounce bone-in ribeye, dry-aged 45 days and finished with mushroom au poivre, is exactly as good an argument as it sounds. Start with the tuna crudo or the grilled oysters while the steak rests.

Cellar Door Provisions

This is the second straight year the hyper-seasonal Logan Square restaurant is up for the big prize, and chef de cuisine Alex Cochran is again a Rising Chef finalist. Cellar Door is small, warm and wonderfully specific: a pork heart terrine one week, potato and taleggio anolini with English peas another, a whole golden eye snapper the next. It also holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Go hungry and let the kitchen decide.

Maxwells Trading

Chef Chris Jung won Rising Chef of the Year in 2025 at this West Loop restaurant, co-owned by Erling Wu-Bower, where the cooking is omnivorous with an Asian baseline. Think mafaldine with corn and saikyo miso, hummus with summer squash and pistachio, an 18-ounce bone-in strip with potato pave. Sommelier Olivia Duncan-Williams is a finalist too, which tells you to say yes to the wine list. Chicago magazine named Maxwells its No. 1 restaurant this summer, so this one carries real momentum.

Which new restaurants made the Best New Restaurant list?

All Well, Creepies, The Greggory and Petite Edith, a lineup that says a lot about what Chicago craves right now: polished cooking that still feels relaxed.

All Well brings Oriole polish to the West Loop: Noah Sandoval backs it, former Oriole chef de cuisine Larry Feldmeier leads it, and you can choose precise à la carte plates on the bar side or a five-course prix fixe. Creepies is David and Anna Posey’s Midwestern-French bistro next door to Elske, with chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski also up for Rising Chef. Out in South Barrington, The Greggory is a steakhouse from a trio with deep Gibsons roots, proof that the suburbs are in this conversation. And Petite Edith, Katrina Bravo and Jenner Tomaska’s River North bistro, leans French and seafood-forward at a gentler price than Tomaska’s tasting menu.

Two French-leaning bistros from married couples in one category is a trend we are very happy to chase.

Which chefs are the Banchet Awards 2027 finalists to watch?

For Chef of the Year, the field is Adam McFarland and Tom Rogers of John's Food & Wine, Jenner Tomaska, Zachary Engel and Zubair Mohajir.

McFarland and Rogers are coming off Food & Wine naming John's Food & Wine its Restaurant of the Year, for dialed-in New American cooking and a counter-service model meant to pay staff more evenly. Tomaska is recognized across Esmé, Petite Edith and The Alston. Engel's Galit won Restaurant of the Year at the Banchets in 2024, and he has since added Cafe Yaya next door. Mohajir is nominated for the second year running, now with Coach House, Lilac Tiger, Mariela, Mirra, Muhājir and Sarima Cafe in his orbit.

Who is up for Rising Chef of the Year?

Alex Ching of Bonyeon, Alex Cochran of Cellar Door Provisions, Devin Denzer of Atsumeru and Tayler Ploshehanski of Creepies. Ching, a Honolulu native who has cooked at Oriole, runs a beef-focused, Korean-inflected tasting menu in the West Loop. Denzer is the reason so many of us fell for Atsumeru, his seafood-forward Nordic-Japanese tasting menu in West Town. If you only book one tasting menu off this list this fall, make it one of these two.

Which Chicago rooms won nods for design and hospitality?

Best Design goes to some of the most transporting rooms in the city: Adalina Prime, Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club, The Hand & The Eye and Tryzub Ukrainian Kitchen.

Adalina Prime is the West Loop steakhouse with custom wooden arches and tiered chandeliers, nominated for the second year. Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club, the Lettuce Entertain You lounge tucked under Crying Tiger in River North, is all moody green velvet and low light. The Hand & The Eye is a magic club with food and drink inside an actual River North mansion. Tryzub, in Ukrainian Village, wins hearts with patterned walls, family photos and colorful plates, and it feels wonderfully homey.

Best Hospitality finalists are Anelya, Brindille, Obélix and PERILLA Fare. Anelya, Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark's Ukrainian restaurant in Avondale, and PERILLA, the Korean restaurant in River West, are both back in this category for a second year. Brindille is Carrie Nahabedian's classic, no-gimmicks French dining room, and Obélix is the Poilevey family's luxe, globally minded French restaurant in River North.

Where should you drink off the Banchet Awards 2027 list?

Start with the Bar of the Year finalists: Bar Bambi, Belmont Tavern, Culebra and Oliver's. Bar Bambi brings Aviary-trained technique to approachable classics on Chicago Avenue. Belmont Tavern is a lovingly renovated neighborhood spot near the Blue Line where Old Style is the only draft beer. Culebra is a rum-forward Puerto Rican and Caribbean speakeasy under Lonesome Rose in Logan Square. Oliver's in the South Loop is as much restaurant as bar, with classic cocktails that steal the show.

For wine, the Sommelier of the Year finalists are Chris Farrell of Indienne (the 2026 Restaurant of the Year), Claire McDonal of avec (the 2025 Restaurant of the Year), Nathan Ducker of Feld and Olivia Duncan-Williams of Maxwells Trading. Hand any of them a menu and a budget, and you are in good hands.

What about pastry, counter service and neighborhood favorites?

This is where the list gets joyful. Pastry Program of the Year pits three beloved bakeries, Fat Peach in Bridgeport, Guillotine on Chicago Avenue and Sugar Moon in Logan Square, against Smyth, the only restaurant in the category and Chicago's only three-Michelin-star room, where Karen Urie Shields runs pastry.

Best Counter Service brings Chomp Pizza under the 18th Street Pink Line station, Seedo's Levantine Bakery in Sterling Food Hall, No Pasa Nada (charcoal-cooked tacos in an auto repair shop parking lot off Lawrence) and Turkish Doner on Argyle. Best Heritage Restaurant goes to Lao Hu Tong in Schaumburg, Mazor in River West, Nadu in Lincoln Park and Noodles Party in Albany Park. Best Neighborhood Restaurant finalists are Cerdito Muerto in Pilsen, Il Mio in Clarendon Hills, Spice by CMB in Logan Square and Torizen in Schaumburg.

Who receives the special honors this year?

Chef Paul Kahan receives the 2027 Culinary Excellence Award, Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen receives the Iconic Restaurant Award, and chef Sarah Stegner receives the first Environmental Leadership Award.

Kahan helped shape how Chicago eats through Blackbird, avec, The Publican, Big Star and Dove's Luncheonette. "This recognition really isn't about me," he said, crediting his partners, teams and the farmers he works with. Manny's, the family-run South Loop deli open since 1942, is being celebrated for more than eight decades of timeless food and genuine hospitality; fourth-generation owner Dan Raskin called it "a place where everyone feels welcome." Stegner, co-owner of Prairie Grass Cafe and a founding member of Green City Market, is honored for decades of supporting local farmers.

When is the Banchet Awards 2027 ceremony, and can the public go?

Yes. The ceremony is Sunday, January 31, 2027, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and tickets are on sale to the public through thebanchetawards.com. The evening runs from a red carpet and Champagne reception to the awards show and an after party. If you would rather watch from the couch, NBC 5 Chicago is streaming it live for the second year on its streaming channel, NBCChicago.com, the NBC Chicago app and YouTube.

How should you eat your way through the list before January?

Pick one night per category and spread them out. Here is how we would do it:

1. The big night: Asador Bastian or Brasero for fire, meat and a bottle worth remembering.
2. The cozy night: Cellar Door Provisions or Maxwells Trading, ordering widely and sharing everything.
3. The new-wave bistro night: Creepies or Petite Edith, then a nightcap at Bar Bambi.
4. The weekend wander: croissants at Guillotine or Fat Peach, then tacos at No Pasa Nada.
5. The dress-up night: cocktails in the green velvet of Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club.

Frequently Asked Questions

When were the Banchet Awards 2027 finalists announced?

The Banchet Foundation announced the 2027 finalists on Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

Who are the Restaurant of the Year finalists?

Asador Bastian, Brasero, Cellar Door Provisions and Maxwells Trading.

When and where are the winners announced?

At the 25th anniversary ceremony on Sunday, January 31, 2027, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.

Can I watch the Banchet Awards online?

Yes. NBC 5 Chicago streams the ceremony live on NBCChicago.com, the NBC Chicago app, its YouTube channel and its streaming channel on Roku, Peacock and Xumo.

Who is Jean Banchet?

Jean Banchet was the chef behind Le Français in Wheeling, the restaurant that helped establish the Chicago area as a world-class dining destination. The awards carry his name.

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