Brick walls, Edison bulbs hung by knotted rope, pops of color and upholstery in Pendleton-esque plaid combine for design that evokes a sophisto-casual feel while keeping the focus on the food. Read more.
Chief among the genuine farm-to-table movement is Art and Chelsea Jackson’s understated Bridgeport spot, where seasonal produce comes from Pleasant Farms, a network of small farms in and near Chicago. Read more.
After the nervous drive to this BYOB, you see Talbott, the relaxed, warm host/waiter/sommelier. He learns your name, attends to your wine and sets the tone that makes dining a one-of-a-kind experience Read more.
Scoops of ice cream are blended to become dessert and after-dinner drink in one. Butter pecan gets SoCo and praline liqueur and butterscotch-vanilla are doused with Maker’s and spun to smoothness. Read more.
With chocolate cake, pour-over coffee and gooey grilled-cheese sandwiches from chef Remy Ayesh, we can get through even the coldest winter, making this bakery the coziest place to hibernate in Chicago Read more.
Each winter feast begins with hot glogg in the garden before guests hit the buffet, which features ten varieties of herring and hot dishes like Jansson’s Temptation, a creamy potato casserole. Read more.
As much as we love meringue and aioli, this year all other eggy goodness faded in comparison to Cai’s egg-yolk buns. These Chinese breakfast bombs are sweet, creamy, and filled with sugary egg paste. Read more.
Wisma has des Rosiers’s silky soups, hearty sandwiches and sensible entrées (salmon with quinoa), all of it delicious, all of it made with sustainably, and priced as if it were in the suburbs. Read more.
A well-made cocktail was a hard thing to find in Boystown. Thankfully there’s Elixir, which not only shakes mean drinks, but also keeps the crowd in control and the music somewhat low. Read more.
You can char your own soy-chili–marinated meats to perfection on tabletop burners, but not all the work is left to you; the steamed kimchi dumplings are delicate, plump and made in the kitchen. Read more.
Ganji’s massive miche is crusty and cakey; his cranberry-walnut loaf makes the world’s best toast. The best part of this great bread? We hear PQM also sells some meats to go with it. Read more.
As far as we’re concerned, this is a sun-soaked café rather than just a bike shop. How else do you explain the thoughtfully sourced products—from Southport Grocery cupcakes to Mast Brothers chocolate? Read more.
In the three years since Martha Bayne started Soup & Bread, she’s proven that a modest idea—serve free soup, collect tips for hunger charities—can morph into a movement for social change. Read more.
From that one-off Kentucky dinner (rice biscuits, pearl onion soup and mince pie) to the weekday lunch (fried chicken, greens, biscuits c. 1933), Big Jones is making history of any dining plans we had Read more.
From the look of the multicultural, multigenerational throngs that flock to Hu’s restaurants nightly, Rahm could glean some tips on how to achieve universal popularity. Read more.
Slathered on a bun with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and thick slices of bacon, the sauce takes what would be a serviceable breakfast sandwich and turns it into a decadent morning essential. Read more.
This Euro-chic café bills itself as an organic carry-out, but the word healthy is nowhere to be found. Warm, whole-grain pretzels may indeed be good for you, and no doubt the organic salads are, too. Read more.
Aside from the juicy burgers and chicken sandwiches, this location offers beer (like Goose Island's Green Line) and, most important, an ice-cream program featuring dipped cones, sundaes and shakes. Read more.
If you’re asking why this health-food mini-chain opened its fourth outpost three blocks from its original one, you’ve obviously never waited in line at the first location during the lunch rush. Read more.
Javier Perez opened his own place in Old Irving Park. He's clearly skilled technically—his lamb chops are perfectly tender; his polenta hits the sweet spot between cement and mush. Read more.
The chef brings precision to every dish on the eight-course tasting menu, highlights of which include a luxurious chestnut-mushroom soup and a Cinderella pumpkin semifreddo coated in nougatine powder. Read more.
This is intense food, spicy and oily and built around pork and chicken. “Home fed chicken" is hung for two days to dry age before it’s lightly smoked over a wok filled with dry rice and spices. Read more.
This charming, date-destination of a restaurant offers three choices in each of three courses for $35, and changes its menu every week. Read more.
Doughnut makers using the noms de plume François and Henri Gras put out batches of vanilla glazed, chestnut, buttermilk old-fashioned and other doughnuts of both the cake and yeast variety. Read more.
It's easy to see how the sweets here became a New York—and now international—addiction: It'd be healthier to mainline sugar than to eat one of these cupcakes. Read more.
TipsyCake offers a small selection of brownies, petit fours and a wonderful confection called a Caramel Slice—a layered bar of chocolate ganache and caramel. Read more.
The pastry case is full of all manner of European-style cakes, tarts and breakfast pastries. An almond Danish and cappuccino is a distinguished beginning to any day; a pan bagnat is an elegant middle. Read more.
Our ideal meal would start with polpettes (plump shrimp meatballs in spicy tomato sauce), move on to a pizza (like the goat cheese, hazelnuts, leeks and roasted dates) and end with a cannoli. Read more.
Welcome to the "Nine Levels of Hell": poblano peppers, pepperoni, giardiniera, bacon, fresh garlic, jalapeño, sausage, red onion and banana peppers, together forming the "Inferno." Read more.
The dough boys behind Dough Boys—best friends and prominent chefs Jimmy Bannos Sr. and Scott Harris—wanted the pizza joint to be a simple, unfussy slice shop. And that's exactly what it is. Read more.
The house specialties here are bubbly, chewy New York–style Neapolitan pizzas and lovely, fluffy New Orleans beignets. Read more.
The shtick at Roots is that it hawks pizza in the style of the Quad Cities—that is, pizza with maltthat’s cut with scissors. Turns out the Quad Cities style can cross county lines and be successful. Read more.
From the breakfast “mashbrown” (a genius combination of mashed potatoes and hash browns) to the crisp and juicy half-chicken with roasted garlic for dinner, the new food is simple and satisfying. Read more.
Getting the roasted chicken with big, juicy roasted peaches, or the hyperseasoned pork steak with corn-studded polenta, or the semaforo pizza topped with peppers, rapini and olives, is a safe choice. Read more.
Chef Ryan LaRoche can generally be trusted with chicken (both the $75 poached and the cheaper roasted), steak tartare and tagliolini. Read more.
After a years-long hiatus, this Edgewater French-Vietnamese gem has returned. Two chefs are in the kitchen: original owner Dan Nguyen and Eric Aubriot. Read more.
The crab toast and the carrot-avocado salad prove exceptions to the rule, competing for attention with the room and its once-again A-list clientele. Read more.
The philosophy behind the Burger Philosophy? Hand-cut your fries and grind your meat daily, and serve a Nutella shake so delicious you won’t mind it sitting uncomfortably in your gut for hours. Read more.
What no one tells you is that the burgers are de facto cooked to medium-well, and that the signature item—the Burger Point Burger with roasted chili peppers—is hot enough to burn your face off. Read more.
If you stick to beef, go with “Grandma’s onion soup” rub and flank your burger with an order of the accomplished fries. Add a scoop of the housemade custard, and you’ll be even happier. Read more.
This burger joint is not so much a restaurant as it is a piece of theater. With quilts on the walls, Ryan Adams on the iPod and plaid flannel shirts on the servers, it screams farmhouse cute. Read more.
We found that it's better to play it safe at this collaboration between Trotter alums, with dishes such as honey-lemon doughnuts, big bowls of Israeli couscous and a soufflelike slice of quiche. Read more.
The shtick at this DePaul neighbor: jars of jam and Nutella on every table, meant to spread on whatever you order. The pancakes here are a step above standard issue, and the coffee is pretty good. Read more.
Dig into whole wheat–carrot pancakes, hearty omelettes and cool melon-ginger juice. You might be full, but don't leave empty-handed: Pick up the pumpkin whoopie pies, which kick cupcakes to the curb. Read more.
This mod eatery—so contemporary it has a conference room—specializes in two versions of its eponymous breakfast food: a crisp and airy Brussels waffle, and a dense and sugary Liége waffle. Read more.
Take a seat and there’s a bartender who’s as happy to make you a cocktail (try the tiki Episode 73) as to crack open a PBR tallboy. Order the Juicy Lucy, a burger injected with Velveeta cheese. Read more.
The Hubbard Inn guys stuck with chef Bob Zrenner for their new barbecue spot. They’ve also brought in author Gary Wiviott to make sure they get the pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken and ribs right. Read more.
Chef Brian Jupiter's food leans toward the hearty, like charbroiled oysters, whole-animal feasts and the more time you spend eating dishes like the pan-roasted striped bass, the more sense it makes. Read more.
Tap your own beer or spirit at the table or sip a cocktail meant to resemble a beer (such as the Port of Call, a Jameson-port-Rum-Patron concoction with a whipped cream head that’s a play on Guinness) Read more.
The focus is on food that is rich and satisfying rather than revolutionary. If a dish fails, Michael Simon's ambitious drinks and sommelier Jason Prah's interesting wine list provide plenty of solace. Read more.
For every miss, there's a phenomenal success, such as a perfect rib eye, pillowy gnocchi, robust housemade sausages and basically every cocktail on the list. Read more.
To set the experience apart, stick with the beautiful housemade pastas and take advantage of the well-executed cocktails from the accomplished bartender, Tim Lacey. Read more.
Call the dishes (pork belly bocadillos, octopus salad) whatever you want: The food remains Spanish, sharable and prepared by ex-Perennial chef Ryan Poli. Read more.
The restaurant has matured, from its strong cocktail program to its desserts, which pastry chef Amanda Rockman is hitting out of the park. (Just try her Basque cake, and you’ll become a believer.) Read more.
Caron has garnered a reputation for forward-thinking desserts, like savory elements (in 2010, TOC gave him an Eat Out Award for his use of cilantro in a chocolate dessert.) Read more.
Dan Pancake and Beth Partridge, a Tony Mantuano–trained dream team, run this Mediterranean cafe complete with greenhouse to grow vegetables used in dishes. Read more.
Dave Beran, a five-year Alinea veteran, runs Grant Achatz's newest restaurant venture in Fulton Market as head chef. Read more.
Chef John Anderes (ex-Avec) elevates Telegraph into a full-fledged restaurant with a seasonal menu and sates wine-induced cravings (e.g., a ham-and-coriander-mustard tartine). Read more.
Some cocktails have amazing presentation, like the Rooibos, and some, like the Blueberry are remarkable in every way. But no matter what you order, you'll never think of a cocktail the same way again. Read more.
Old World wine list and Mediterranean small plates: Scott Harris has nailed the formula at Purple Pig and Davanti Enoteca, so why mess with a good thing? Read more.
Highlights of the menu—hamachi tartare in little taro-root tacos, fried ramen noodles tossed with spicy mustard for a dish called Chiyan Pon, and joyful desserts like softball-sized cream puffs. Read more.
Sunfish ceviche sparkles with acidity but never drowned by it, barbecue eel is geniusly paired with a potato-and-octopus salad, and pastas (squid-ink gnocchi; crawfish tortellini) are masterful. Read more.
Feeling gummy bears for your chocolate–peanut butter or the need to pile a dozen toppings over a gallon of fat-free? Pick the cup, pull one (or three!) of the 14 handles and pile on the toppings. Read more.
Since pretty much everything tastes better with melted cheese, chef Cary Taylor isn’t short of options, topping his pasta with everything from smoked bacon and blue cheese to roasted mushrooms. Read more.
It’s wonderful stuff, with a true yogurt tang and clean, refreshing sweetness. And best of all: the texture, smooth as silk, but not scary-slick like DQ soft-serve. Read more.
First, choose from three types of fro yo. Then, pick fruits to blend in (banana, blueberry, strawberry). Finally, top with anything from fruit loops to fresh fruit. Read more.
Top Starfruit’s frozen kefir with anything from Brazilian gogi berries to Milk & Honey granola at this location of the probiotic yogurt chain. Read more.
It's the original that shows how "Crackberry" earned its nickname, smoother than most with a near perfect sweet-tart balance that's best when simply topped with fresh fruit. Read more.
