MICHELIN Guide’s Point Of View

Husband-and-wife chef team Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim have put their little corner of Avondale on Chicago’s culinary map with this hip and homey bistro. Young foodies fill the space every night, whether seated at tables lining the wooden banquette or perched along colorful stools dotting the double-sided counter that faces the open kitchen. Though there’s a distinctive Korean thread running through the menu, Parachute is a creative, open-ended endeavor at heart. Impeccably sourced ingredients from local purveyors lay the framework, but the team’s brilliant application of cutting-edge techniques takes the fare to inventive heights. Baked potato bing bread, a signature flatbread carb-bomb, is stuffed with melted scallions and bacon bits, topped with sesame and served with sour cream-butter. The regularly re-written menu has also been known to feature tender braised pork shoulder with a fermented black bean- and dried shrimp-sauce, which is then paired with ripe figs and grilled pearl onion petals. Desserts make a stellar finish. Order the patbingsu—it arrives in a glass bowl layered with condensed milk ice cream, mochi rice cakes, concord grape shaved ice, Adzuki beans and toasted rice.