Great in '08: Dining

Making a break for it

Top chefs stepped out of the shadows to open their own spots at breakneck pace this year. Former Avenues chef Graham Elliot Bowles (pictured) gave us his eponymous River North spot, causing us to revaluate the relevance of Cheez-Its to our diets, and longtime Nacional 27 chef Randy Zweiban debuted Province, proving there’s more to him than Nuevo Latino. Next up: Dean Zanella, who plans to open his own place sometime in 2009—after he cooks his last meal at 312 Chicago on New Year’s Eve.