Dine & Cook | Alternative food journalism

Chicago is now home to 21 Michelin starred establishments.

The famed dining guide for the Windy City goes on sale today and in it are 432 highlighted restaurants representing 45 types of cuisine-- and a handful of this year's picks are causing some controversy.

The biggest head-turner in this year's guide was Chef Grant Achatz's new restaurant L20. Michelin knocked the establishment down two stars, from three to one.  L20 lost its talented chef, Laurent Gras, the day after it earned its third star last year.

Several eyebrows were also raised by the exclusion of Chef Achatz's other Chicago outpost, Achatz's Next.  Chicago has been buzzing with excitement since the restaurant's launch earlier this year and the restaurant has received near perfect scores by the city's top dining critics.  Former New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton even traveled to Chicago to review the restaurant, writing "I ate very well at Next and sometimes simply well, and always more enjoyably than at Alinea.”

Among other news, three Chicago restaurants lost their single stars: Crofton on Wells, NoMi and Sixteen at the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

It wasn't all bad news however for Chef Achatz.  His flagship restaurant remains Chicago's only three starred establishment.

Michelin considers a three star restaurant an establishment with "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.  One always eats extremely well here, often superbly. Distinctive dishes are precisely executed, using superlative ingredients."

A two star establishment is defined as "excellent cooking, worth a detour, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality."

One star indicates "a very good restaurant in its category, a place offering cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard."