Chef Noah Sandoval of Oriole, familiar to the Michelin crowd for earning two consecutive stars at his former restaurant, the gluten-free Senza, “uses all types of cooking techniques from around the world to come up with a really unique signature,” Ellis said. Debuting at two stars is not unheard of, but it's relatively rare, a high achievement that will put the restaurant on notice for a possible third star in the years ahead.

Curtis Duffy's West Loop restaurant Grace and Grant Achatz's Lincoln Park fine-dining mecca Alinea each retained three stars, Michelin's highest rating, reserved for the best restaurants in the world.

That's despite a five-month shutdown and reboot for Alinea, which underwent a massive renovation at the beginning of the year. Not only did it change the space it inhabits, the 11-year-old restaurant headed by Achatz and executive chef Mike Bagale reimagined itself, swapping out standby menu items and more or less starting from scratch.

Alinea, which also this year celebrated its James Beard Foundation Award for outstanding restaurant, one of the highest achievements in the food industry, “picked up right where they left off,” Ellis said. “Their ability to retain three stars is really something to be applauded. These are not lifetime achievement awards.”

In all, the French tire manufacturer and guidebook publisher bestowed stars on 26 Chicago restaurants for 2017, up from 22 in 2016 and 24 in the 2015 guide. Inspectors also recognized 26 spots with stars in 2014.

A record 19 Chicago restaurants received one star, including these newcomers to the list: Alinea Group's Roister; John and Karen Urie Shields' recently opened West Loop tasting-menu restaurant Smyth; Danny Meyer's cocktail-focused GreenRiver; and “culinary brewpub” Band of Bohemia in Ravenswood.

Aside from the late Homaro Cantu's shuttered Moto, all restaurants that earned a star in the 2016 guidebook repeated for the 2017 edition, which goes on sale Dec. 8.

We did a live blog of restaurants tweeting about their star awards this morning. The full list is below.