Garces' machine revved faster in 2008: He opened Distrito, on the ground floor of a new building at 40th and Chestnut Streets; he defeated Flay in a cook-off on Iron Chef America; he popped out a cookbook, Latin Evolution; and he won "Best New Restaurant" ratings from Esquire critic John Mariani (for Distrito and Mercat a la Planxa, a Chicago Catalan restaurant where he's listed as executive chef). This year, besides winning the Beard honor, he opened Chifa, a Peruvian-Cantonese restaurant at 707 Chestnut St., and opened his first non-Latin restaurant, a tiny burger-and-booze bar called Village Whiskey, next door to Tinto.