This is a ranked list of the top restaurants in Chicago. The criteria for inclusion was simply that they were recognized by at least one of the 2011 guides.

How they got ranked and sorted into the juegos inflables following tiers is a secret that we at Chicago Foodies are not completely sharing. (See! I learned something from these guides.) Suffice it to say we weighted the guides and then adjusted the list. We did not take any restaurant specifics into account.

Here are the top 15 Chicago restaurants and the tiers they fall into:

#1 – ALINEA
#2 – TROTTERS
#3 – AVENUES
#4 – L20

—–tier——
#5 tie – EVEREST
#5 tie – SEASONS
#5 tie – TRU
#8 – SIXTEEN
——tier—–
#9 – LES NOMADES
#10 tie – BOKA
#10 tie – NOMI
#10 tie – SPIAGGIA
#10 tie – TOPOLOBAMPO
——tier——
#14 – ARUNS
#15 – RIA
——-tier—–
#16-21 tie:
LOCKWOOD
MK
160BLUE
SHANGHAI TERRACE
SPRING
ZEALOUS
—–tier—–
#22-31 tie:
BLACKBIRD
BONSOIREE
CROFTON
GRAHAM ELLIOT
LONGMAN AND EAGLE
NAHA
SCHWA
SEPIA
TAKASHI
VIE

What’s missing? What don’t Michelin, AAA, Forbes/Mobile know or get wrong?