Ukrainian cuisine restaurant Anelya in Chicago earns spot in Michelin Guide
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
The Ukrainian restaurant Anelya Chicago, located in Chicago, has been added to the prestigious Michelin Guide for the very first time.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press service reports this.
Chef Johnny Clark opened the restaurant last year. His grandmother was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, but later moved to the United States.
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
In 2023, Clark made his inaugural trip to Kharkiv and was driven to establish a US restaurant that would celebrate traditional and contemporary Ukrainian gastronomic customs.
The restaurant was named after chef Johnny Clark's grandmother, Anelya, who was born in Kharkiv.
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
"Anelya combines nostalgia, heritage, and modern culinary styles that I share with my wife and partner, Chef Beverly Kim. This restaurant started as a pop-up for humanitarian aid but has evolved into a tool to preserve our culture," Johnny Clark says.
The restaurant serves dishes that combine the traditions of Ukrainian cuisine with modern culinary styles.
Visitors can try:
- borscht with duck and smoked pears, which Yevhen Klopotenko [Ukraine's renowned chef – ed.] highly recommends,
- dumplings with ricotta or bacon and pecan praline,
- Poltava dumplings with chicken and exotic mushrooms,
- Napoleon cake with a delicious black tea cream.
The establishment also offers signature cocktails, kvass, and even Ukrainian beer.
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
Anelya restaurant also serves cabbage rolls, borscht, banosh, donuts, pate, and Korean carrot salad.
The menu includes mussels in the Crimean style, eggplant and cheese dumplings, and dumplings with cherry, ricotta, and chocolate. There are also stuffed peppers, Poltava dumplings, and noodles with truffles and homemade cheese.
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
Unfortunately, Ukraine's wine selection, usually filled with various Eastern European wines, is limited to sparkling wines from the Bakhmut Champagne Factory. However, some classic Ukrainian liquors and a few brands of Ukrainian beer are available.
It's easy to recognize Anelya restaurant's Ukrainian heritage not just from the menu but also from its interior.
Photo: Anelya Chicago / Facebook
For reference:
The Michelin Guide is the foremost and most impactful restaurant rating system in the modern era. It assesses dining establishments and hotels worldwide. The inaugural guide was released in 1900 by Andre Michelin, co-founder of the Michelin tire company.
Initially, the guidebook collected various useful locations for travelers: hotels, repair shops, parking lots, places to eat, etc. But later, more attention was paid to restaurants, and the famous "Michelin Star" began to mark establishments with excellent cuisine.
In 2018, the Michelin Guide highly praised Yaroslav Artiukh, the chef of the Kyiv Kanapa restaurant. The rating authors noted how he modernizes traditional Ukrainian cuisine and breathes new life into it.
It should be noted that Lviv Croissants and Yevhen Klopotenko created the Borscht croissant.
Borscht is the main first course of Ukrainian cuisine. In 2022, on the initiative of Yevhen Klopotenko, it was included in the list of UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage objects that need protection.
As reported, Ukrainian borscht received Japan's prestigious "Best National Dish" award.
Rubryka also covered ten surprising facts about borscht and three delicious recipes. The article "Ukraine's Cultural Victory" provides more.
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