The Verdict
PARACHUTE holds a Michelin star on North Elston Avenue in Avondale for Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark's contemporary American restaurant whose beer cheese puffs — the specific preparation whose cheddar-and-beer filling in a choux pastry communicates genuine creative intelligence applied to the most American available comfort format — have become the most cited available single Chicago dish. The Korean-American and French-American heritages of the husband-and-wife culinary team whose specific cultural synthesis drives the creative decisions; the seasonal American menu whose compositions communicate genuine engagement with the Midwest seasonal ingredient environment; and the Avondale neighbourhood setting whose industrial-residential character communicates a starred restaurant whose primary obligation is to the creative community that treats it as a daily cultural resource.
The contemporary American menu at Parachute reflects the Kim-Clark cultural synthesis applied through genuine Midwest seasonal knowledge: the beer cheese puffs programme whose creative intelligence communicates genuine culinary invention applied to the comfort food format; the seasonal preparations whose compositions communicate genuine engagement with the Midwest ingredient environment; and the Avondale neighbourhood character that communicates the most creatively embedded available Chicago starred restaurant.
Why It Works for a Birthday
Parachute's Avondale neighbourhood warmth and the Kim-Clark beer cheese puffs — the creative American culinary synthesis, the husband-and-wife hospitality, the Michelin star confirming the quality — creates the birthday experience that communicates Chicago neighbourhood fine dining at its most personally expressive.
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