Portillo's & Barnelli's Chicago

There's an honesty to a place that calls itself a neighborhood noodle joint and then actually behaves like one.

Here's a place that gets the math right: a tavern in a 1907 building that doubles as a three-room inn, so you can drink, eat a serious burger, and stagger upstairs to a king-sized bed without ever calling a car.

Here's the thing about a bar that calls itself "Sip & Dip": it has to deliver on both, and Gus' actually does.

Here's a Loop secret worth knowing: while the suits clear out of Clark Street, S2 Express Grill is just getting warmed up.

Dhanteraz Indian Fusion occupies the former Savannah Supper Club space on West Roscoe Street, and the transformation matters: what was once a supper club is now one of Roscoe Village's most talked-about Indian kitchens, a BYOB spot where…