Snagging a Michelin star is one of the highest honors a restaurant can achieve. Mostly, the stars are handed out to fine-dining restaurants or ambitious culinary ventures, but in early November one of them went to a brewpub for the first time: Band of Bohemia, in Chicago, IL, open for just over a year.

 

If any brewpub were to win a Michelin star, it makes sense that it would be Band of Bohemia: The pub’s two co-owners, head brewer Michael Carroll and director of operations Craig Sindelar, both have backgrounds as chefs at Michelin starred restaurants. Most notably, they share a background at Alinea, Chicago’s only restaurant to have kept three stars (the most a place can attain) for five straight years. Various members of the staff also have experience working at Alinea and other Michelin-starred restaurants.

 

Band of Bohemia is not your everyday pub, which is unsurprising given its pedigree. The bar serves a small menu of traditional pub fare, like a fried chicken sandwich, but the bulk of its focus is on its tasting menu, a $65 meal with around six courses and optional wine or beer pairings. Small plates like foie schnitzel and mushroom tarts grace the menu, as do entrees such as duck breast and market steak; it’s certainly a more indulgent experience than your average pub. Still, at its heart it is a brewpub, and its award speaks to the growing respect that brewing is receiving in today’s culinary world.