Defining the hotness factor

Saturday nights at Lincoln Park haute seafood spot L.20 are booked for the next three weeks. Food bloggers are debating its place in the city's fine dining hierarchy. Chef Laurent Gras authors a blog to share recipes and dialogue with readers about sourcing seafood and his preferred type of mixer.

The restaurant, by the way, begins dinner service tonight.

As Chicago becomes accustomed to its status as a food lover's town, people now anticipate restaurant openings with a fervor once reserved for stadium concerts and anything involving Harry Potter.

But what distinguishes that uber-hot venue from the place down the street that closed in eight months?

Ellen Malloy, a longtime Chicago restaurant publicist who publishes the Restaurant Intelligence Agency public relations Web site, has a simple formula. Restaurants with buzz offer, "A clearly defined concept executed well with the customer in mind," she says.

It also doesn't hurt to be extremely small, making reservations a rare commodity, she says.

A well-known chef with a following also drives anticipation. Malloy cites Graham Elliot Bowles, who reigned at Avenues for four years and opened his eponymous restaurant this week.

"Everybody's fascinated to see what he's going to be doing because he's a super creative, James Beard rising star nominee. You know it's going to be good," she says. Bowles' restaurant has a paid membership to Malloy's Web site.

A big-name chef is part of what Ron Paul, president & CEO of food consulting firm Technomic, calls "The two Ps."

According to Paul, "It's people and publicity" that designate a restaurant as "hot." The people can be name-recognized chefs or actors, musicians or politicians. Reviews, a menu on a Web site and Internet anticipation also carry the buzz.

In Chicago, "I think we have a little more interest in the chef aspect than other places because we don't have as many cool celebrities," Paul says.

The food might have a little something to do with it as well.

While the dinnerati might follow new restaurant openings, Paul said Chicagoans are more likely to buzz about a restaurant after the opening fanfare has died down and the cuisine takes center stage.

"We're not as into the new and flashy as they are on the coasts," he says. "We like to have something proven to us."

Allecia Vermillion