Best Rated Restaurants in Chicago : 554 Top Picks for 2026

Ciro

Ciro is a sensible italian call in Oak Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Indian•Chicago•moderate

Shaily’s Rasoi

Shaily’s Rasoi is an easy indian option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation. Paani Puri and Batata Vada also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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Piacere Mio Uptown

Piacere Mio Uptown is a asian restaurant in Uptown in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room. Tuna Carpaccio and Shrimp alla Amatriciana also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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Chubby Cattle BBQ | Chicago

Chubby Cattle BBQ | Chicago is one of the better-known chinese spots in Chinatown in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 7495 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ramen-San Lincoln Park

Ramen-San Lincoln Park

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

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Based on 3926 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Leavitt Street Inn & Tavern

Gastropub•Bucktown•value

The Leavitt Street Inn & Tavern

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.

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Based on 3465 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gus' Sip & Dip

Bar•Chicago•moderate

Gus' Sip & Dip

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

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Based on 2931 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for S2 Express Grill Downtown

S2 Express Grill Downtown

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

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Based on 2345 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna

Pizza•Chicago•value

Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna

Boka Group has a knack for making a room feel more expensive than it is, and Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna at 531 N Wells St.

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Based on 2127 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Lil' Ba-Ba-Reeba!

Spanish•Chicago•$$

Lil' Ba-Ba-Reeba!

Lil' Ba-Ba-Reeba! is a spanish pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 2033 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ayayay - Mexican Eatery

Ayayay - Mexican Eatery

Ayayay - Mexican Eatery is a mexican restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 1561 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Matilda Restaurant

Mexican•Chicago•$$$$

Matilda Restaurant

Matilda Restaurant suits a night out when you want mexican that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1551 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Dhanteraz Indian Fusion

Indian•Chicago•value

Dhanteraz Indian Fusion

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…

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Dell' Rooster Restaurant & Bar

Dell' Rooster is the kind of restaurant that only makes sense when you know who built it.

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Based on 611 reviews

Brunch•Edgewater•value

Sauce & Bread Kitchen

Sauce & Bread Kitchen on North Clark Street is exactly what its name promises and almost nothing else — which is a feature, not a limitation.

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Kim’s Korean Cuisine & Sushi

Kim's Korean Cuisine & Sushi occupies a particular and useful niche on N Broadway in Lakeview: a family-run, BYOB Korean kitchen that doubles as a neighborhood sushi spot, priced at a level that makes weeknight regulars out of locals who…

Mediterranean•Chicago•$$$$

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Anna's Thai Kitchen Restaurant

Anna's Thai Kitchen on Montrose is the kind of place that exists because its owner — Chef Anna Ong, who ran Thai Planet before eventually returning with this more focused project — actually had something to say.

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Avaspi

What Mehmet Duzgun is doing at Avaspi in Lakeview is genuinely specific in a way that Mediterranean restaurants in this city rarely are.

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Based on 429 reviews

Chef Ciccio, Beef-Balls-Beer

There's a certain irony in finding one of Chicago's most historically grounded Italian beef operations inside a tourist-facing food hall at Navy Pier, but that's exactly where Chef Ciccio operates — and the disconnect is kind of the point.

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Based on 385 reviews

Joto Sushi

Joto Sushi is doing something specific, and it's worth understanding what that is before you arrive expecting conveyor belts or omakase theater.

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Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen

Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen on West Lawrence Avenue in Lincoln Square is the kind of restaurant born from a specific and personal ambition: to cook the food of Nepal and Tibet on its own terms, not as a supporting act to Indian cuisine.

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Lao Der

Chicago went more than a decade without a sit-down Lao restaurant, and Jack Ekkaphanh — who grew up in Vientiane and now runs the entire kitchen solo at Lao Der — is making that gap feel inexplicable.

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Ila's Chicago

Ila's Chicago, tucked into River North at 15 W Hubbard, operates on a premise that most restaurants only gesture toward: the idea that a room should feel like it belongs to someone specific.

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Trattoria RNB Private Dining & Events

Trattoria RNB Private Dining & Events suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Omakase Box

Omakase Box occupies a specific lane in Chicago's Japanese dining scene: an approachable premium concept built around the logic of the omakase format without the full ceremony — or the full commitment — of a traditional counter.

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Based on 148 reviews

Omakase by Kanemaru

Omakase by Kanemaru suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 139 reviews

Kyoten Next Door

Kyoten Next Door suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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82 Kimbap

82 Kimbap is an easy korean option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Pizza•River North•moderate

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Pizzeria Portofino

Pizzeria Portofino is a pizza pick in River North in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 16530 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Sushi-san

Sushi-san

Sushi-san is Lettuce Entertain You's case that a high-energy, hip-hop-soundtracked sushi room and serious fish-forward cooking are not mutually exclusive — and by most accounts, it makes the argument persuasively.

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Based on 10560 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Aba

Mediterranean•West Loop•moderate

Aba

Aba is a Lettuce Entertain You production perched on a Fulton Market rooftop in the West Loop, and the room appears to be doing considerable work before a single plate arrives.

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Based on 9845 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for RAMEN-SAN Deluxe

RAMEN-SAN Deluxe

RAMEN-SAN Deluxe is one of the better-known japanese spots in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 7823 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for RAMEN-SAN Whisky Bar

RAMEN-SAN Whisky Bar

RAMEN-SAN Whisky Bar is a dependable japanese option that a lot of diners already know and return to.

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Based on 7031 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Wagyu House Chicago

Japanese•South Loop•value

Wagyu House Chicago

Wagyu House Chicago is one of the better-known japanese spots in South Loop in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 5868 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Provare Chicago

Italian•Avondale•value

Provare Chicago

Provare Chicago is one of the better-known italian spots in Avondale in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

hidden gemdinner

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Based on 5359 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Alla Vita

Italian•West Loop•moderate

Alla Vita

Alla Vita is a Boka Restaurant Group Italian project in the West Loop, occupying a bright, plant-filled room that reads as deliberately contemporary — closer to a modern European brasserie than the brick-and-candle Italian template Chica…

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Based on 5056 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Il Porcellino

Il Porcellino

Il Porcellino occupies a warm stretch of River North with the kind of room that does real work before a dish arrives — exposed brick, a glowing bar, and a retractable roof at the back that, when Chicago's weather cooperates, opens the sp…

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Based on 4921 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Costera Cocina Tulum - Chicago

Costera Cocina Tulum - Chicago

Costera Cocina Tulum - Chicago is a sensible mexican call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 4420 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Oakville Grill & Cellar

The Oakville Grill & Cellar

Seventeen floors up in Fulton Market, The Oakville Grill & Cellar makes its case for California-by-way-of-Chicago: an all-California wine list, 750-plus bottles deep, with Wine Director Richard Hanauer steering toward the lesser-known Sa…

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Based on 2921 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Bar La Rue

French•Chicago•moderate

Bar La Rue

Bar La Rue is what happens when someone actually commits to the bit.

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Based on 2797 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Porter Kitchen & Deck

American•Chicago•$$

Porter Kitchen & Deck

Porter Kitchen & Deck is the kind of american room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2220 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for QuesaBirria Jalisco Pilsen

Mexican•Pilsen•value

QuesaBirria Jalisco Pilsen

QuesaBirria Jalisco Pilsen is a sensible mexican call in Pilsen in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 2161 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Sushi Taku Rotary STR

Sushi Taku Rotary STR

Sushi Taku Rotary STR brings the conveyor-belt format to Lincoln Park with enough structural conviction to make the gimmick question irrelevant.

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Based on 2146 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for AMBAR Restaurant, Chicago

Mediterranean•Chicago•value

AMBAR Restaurant, Chicago

AMBAR Restaurant, Chicago is an easy mediterranean option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Late nightlate nighthigh energy

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Based on 2046 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Daebak Korean BBQ

Korean•Chicago•value

Daebak Korean BBQ

Daebak Korean BBQ is an easy korean option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1957 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Itoko

Itoko

Itoko suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1853 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Farm Bar Ravenswood

American•Ravenswood•value

Farm Bar Ravenswood

Farm Bar Ravenswood is a american restaurant in Ravenswood in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 1709 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Crying Tiger

Crying Tiger

Crying Tiger is doing something that most Thai-leaning contemporary spots in Chicago refuse to commit to: building a room with genuine emotional range.

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Based on 1625 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Smack Dab Chicago

Vegan•Rogers Park•value

Smack Dab Chicago

Smack Dab Chicago is a sensible vegan call in Rogers Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1536 reviews

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Birdman Ramen

Birdman Ramen

Birdman Ramen has built a quiet but firm identity around a single conviction: Chicago's ramen scene doesn't need to revolve around pork.

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Based on 1510 reviews

The VIG West Loop

The Vig West Loop occupies a specific and well-defined lane in the Fulton Market district: a 1950s-inspired sports parlor that takes its bar food seriously without pretending to be anything other than a high-energy room built for a game,…

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Based on 1327 reviews

Cedar Palace

Cedar Palace is a sensible mediterranean call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1232 reviews

Bakery•Chicago•$$$$

Alice & Friends' Vegan Kitchen is a vegetarian restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

mexicanbib gourmanddate night

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Kie-Gol-Lanee Uptown

Kie-Gol-Lanee Uptown operates from a position of cultural specificity that is unusual even by Chicago's standards for regional Mexican cuisine.

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Sunset Phở Caffe

Sunset Phở Caffe suits a night out when you want vietnamese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

Italian•Lincoln Park•moderate

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DeNucci's Lincoln Park

DeNucci's is Ballyhoo Hospitality's love letter to the Italian-American neighborhood joint — not the kind that trades on nostalgia ironically, but the kind that actually means it.

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Based on 897 reviews

late nightcocktaildate night

Vegan•Chicago•moderate

Amitabul Simply Vegan

Amitabul Simply Vegan has been making a case for years that plant-based Korean cooking doesn't need meat as a scaffold — it needs conviction.

plant baseddinnerhealthy

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New Village Gastropub & Karaoke

New Village Gastropub & Karaoke isn't trying to be a downtown destination — it's a Korean pocha that landed in Northbrook and somehow became one of the more decorated spots in the greater Chicago dining orbit.

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Based on 872 reviews

Peruvian•Wicker Park•value

Amaru

Amaru is making a case that Wicker Park still has range.

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Based on 870 reviews

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

Blue Sushi Sake Grill plays a specific game, and it plays it honestly: this is Japanese-American dining calibrated for people who want a lively, accessible night out without sacrificing real craft.

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Flub A Dub Chub's

There are Chicago hot dog stands, and then there is Flub A Dub Chub's — a family operation that decided the sidewalk wasn't good enough and went five steps underground on North Broadway to make its case.

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KALA Modern Greek

Clark Street in Lincoln Park has no shortage of fast-casual spots leaning on warm-weather associations to sell mediocre food at inflated prices.

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Beatrix Loop

Beatrix Loop makes an argument that the downtown lunch crowd has quietly accepted: you don't have to choose between eating well and eating fast on a weekday in the Loop.

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Rudy's Ramen

Rudy's Ramen on Milwaukee Avenue is a Wicker Park counter built on a single, serious idea: tonkotsu done right by someone who quit his auditing career to pursue it.

Fine Dining•Chicago•splurge

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MICHELIN ★★

Oriole

Oriole holds two Michelin stars in Chicago's West Loop, and by most serious accounts it belongs in the conversation about America's most rigorous tasting menu experiences.

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Oliang

Oliang sits on Ashland Avenue in Lincoln Park with a premise that's quietly ambitious: build a Thai comfort-food spot around the kind of trust that only comes from genuine partnership.

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Sophia Steak Chicago

Sophia Steak's Chicago expansion in 2025 carries a specific identity that most new steakhouses lack: a traceable origin story.

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Based on 571 reviews

Italian•Edgewater•value

Sfera Sicilian Street Food

Sfera is the rare restaurant with an honest origin story — Steven Jarczyk and Daniela Vitale spent years hawking arancini at North Side farmers markets before they ever had a brick-and-mortar address, and that hustle is baked into the co…

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MISTER TIGER

Mister Tiger operates with a clear and specific ambition: not to be the most elaborate Korean restaurant in Chicago, but the most genuinely pleasurable one.

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Marina's Bistro and Rum Bar

Marina's Bistro and Rum Bar is a 35-seat Puerto Rican kitchen on Magnolia Avenue in Uptown — a neighborhood with deep Caribbean roots and a long history of being underestimated.

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Based on 470 reviews

Vegan Plate

Vegan Plate has spent over a decade making the case that Thai cooking doesn't need animal products to be the real thing.

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Based on 460 reviews

Sila's mediterranean Restaurant

Sila's Mediterranean on North Broadway is a fast-casual operation with a specific philosophy baked into its foundation: no microwaves, no processing, everything made fresh daily from all-natural ingredients — what the kitchen itself desc…

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Ever Restaurant

Ever is Curtis Duffy's West Loop tasting-menu room — his return after the closure of Grace, which carried two Michelin stars and a James Beard Award before circumstances ended it.

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Oliver’s

Oliver's arrived in the South Loop in 2024 with a clear thesis: take the old Acadia space on South Wabash, dress it in 1930s Los Angeles glamour — polished concrete softened by Persian rugs, gold-edged mirrors, and round-edged seats in l…

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Based on 453 reviews

Italian•Edgewater•value

Regalia bar & restaurant

Regalia isn't trying to be the flashiest thing on the North Side.

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American•Chicago•$$$$

fine diningmichelin stardate night

EL ideas

EL Ideas occupies a peculiar and admirably honest position in Chicago's tasting-menu landscape: it is, by deliberate design, a dinner party held in a chef's home — because Phillip Foss actually lives upstairs.

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Based on 408 reviews

Korean•Chicago•moderate

Jeong

Dave Park and Jen Tran opened Jeong in March 2019 on West Chicago Avenue with a name that carries two layers of meaning: it's Park's grandmother's maiden name, and it translates to a distinctly Korean concept of deep, soulful connection…

bbqdinnergroup dinner

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Based on 394 reviews

American•Bucktown•value

Boulevard Bistro

Boulevard Bistro isn't trying to be Bucktown's next buzzy brunch destination — and that's exactly what makes it work.

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Moonflower

Moonflower opened on Milwaukee Avenue in Portage Park — not exactly a neighborhood that gets the press its food and bar scene deserves — and it arrived with more credibility than most new bars can claim.

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AJI

AJI operates with a clarity of purpose that most omakase rooms never quite achieve: ten seats, fifteen courses, and a chefs' counter where Kristian Cho and Arnold Lee — between them carrying over three decades of experience in Chicago's…

cocktailhidden gemdate night

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Q Sushi Bar & Omakase

Q Sushi Bar & Omakase on North Damen operates on a premise that would raise eyebrows in omakase-obsessed circles: two self-described dudes who want to make you great sushi, doing it in a small room with hip-hop on the speakers and murals…

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Amano Bistro Chicago

Amano Bistro arrived on the North Center dining scene Memorial Day weekend 2024, the first restaurant from Serbian-born partners Nikola Paunovic and Nemanja Menicanin — and what makes it interesting is the seam they're working: Italian c…

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Madame Puffs and Thai Bistro

Madame Puffs & Thai Bistro on North Western Avenue is doing something specific and committed: it's taken the bistro framework — intimate room, considered service, food that arrives like it means something — and rebuilt it around elevated…

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Mexican•Evanston•value

Zentli

Zentli takes its name from the Nahuatl word for corn, and co-owners Marcos Rivera and Alfonso "Piloto" Nieves Ruiz mean that literally — corn is the organizing principle of the entire menu, not a talking point.

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Chinese•Bridgeport•value

Han 202

Bridgeport doesn't get a lot of white-tablecloth attention — the neighborhood has historically been a Chicago political stronghold and working-class enclave, not a restaurant destination — which is exactly what makes Han 202 such a speci…

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Italian•Ukrainian Village•value

Mirella’s Tavern

Mirella's Tavern opened in Wicker Park — right on Division Street, not far from the Ukrainian Village border — as something specific: a bar that takes its kitchen seriously, built around a memorial.

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void

Void opened in August 2024 on Milwaukee Ave in Avondale with a premise that sounds like it shouldn't work but apparently does: Italian-American comfort food filtered through the instincts of people who came up at places like Violet Hour,…

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Based on 206 reviews

Noriko Handroll Bar

Noriko Handroll Bar operates on a premise that sounds almost defiantly simple: two Korean American chefs, Billy Lim and Rhan Whang, took the memory of their mothers wrapping seasoned nori around a pinch of fresh rice and built a 20-seat…

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Based on 204 reviews

Sushi by Scratch Restaurants: Chicago

Sushi by Scratch in Chicago is not attempting to replicate the austere reverence of traditional Edomae omakase — and it doesn't pretend otherwise.

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Curry Blah Blah

Curry Blah Blah suits a night out when you want thai that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Omakase Shoji & Izakaya

Omakase Shoji & Izakaya operates in a format that demands commitment from the diner: twenty courses of kaiseki-influenced edomae omakase at $210 per person, at a ten-seat counter on West Town's Chicago Avenue, where the kitchen dictates…

Global•Ukrainian Village•value

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Busaba Garden Thai Cuisine

What Eve and Armera figured out when they opened Busaba Garden in North Park is that the false choice between 'authentic' and 'approachable' was always a Chicago problem, not a Thai one.

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Valhalla

Valhalla shouldn't work on paper — a globally-minded kitchen in Ukrainian Village, priced like a neighborhood secret, turning out the kind of food that usually asks you to dress up and spend twice as much.

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French•Old Town•moderate

Gavroche

Gavroche is running what amounts to a quiet provocation in Old Town's brunch-friendly landscape: French brasserie vocabulary pushed through a global sensibility, served in a room that reportedly earns its unhurried atmosphere through del…

classicdinnerdate night

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Kyōten

Chef Otto Phan left Austin with a specific ambition — not to open a sushi restaurant, but to build the best sushi counter in Chicago.

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Bar Sotto

Bar Sotto is doing something Chicago's bar scene is genuinely bad at: building a room for the second glass of wine and the long conversation, not the content drop and the early exit.

Butcher Shop•Chicago•moderate

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Fatback + The Green Butcher

Fatback + The Green Butcher is a dual-concept operation that takes the butcher shop format seriously — not as a boutique affectation, but as the actual load-bearing logic of the menu.

New openingsdinnerhidden gem

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Fine Dining•Chicago•$$$$

fine diningmichelin stardate night

Cariño

Norman Fenton's Uptown room asks $190 for its tasting menu, $210 at the seven-seat chef's counter, and the question is whether progressive Latin American cooking built on house-nixtamalized heirloom masa earns that figure.

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Thai O'Clock

Thai O'Clock suits a night out when you want thai that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Henrietta

Henrietta is the kind of restaurant room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Gino's East

Gino's East keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable pizza plan.

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Based on 19330 reviews

107

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Kitchen + Kocktails By Kevin Kelley - Chicago

Kitchen + Kocktails By Kevin Kelley - Chicago

Kitchen + Kocktails By Kevin Kelley - Chicago keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable american plan.

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Based on 16932 reviews

108

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for RAMEN-SAN

Japanese•Old Town•moderate

RAMEN-SAN

RAMEN-SAN suits a night out in Old Town when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

classicdinnerdate night

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Based on 16141 reviews

109

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Quartino Ristorante

Italian•River North•moderate

Quartino Ristorante

Quartino Ristorante is a italian pick in River North in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 15470 reviews

110

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gene & Jude's

Gene & Jude's

There are places that survive on myth and places that survive on merit.

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Based on 13574 reviews

111

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mitsuwa Marketplace

Supermarket•Chicago•$$$$

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! is a spanish pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 9105 reviews

117

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Girl & The Goat

Brunch•West Loop•moderate

Girl & The Goat

Stephanie Izard's Girl & the Goat has occupied a particular place in Chicago's dining conversation since it opened in the West Loop — not as a novelty that faded, but as a room that has apparently sustained both critical regard and full-…

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Based on 7822 reviews

118

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Summer House Santa Monica

Californian•Lincoln Park•moderate

Summer House Santa Monica

Summer House Santa Monica keeps showing up in the right conversations in Lincoln Park when people want a reliable californian plan.

Lincoln Parkfamily dinnercomfortable

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Based on 7473 reviews

The Hampton Social - Streeterville

The Hampton Social - Streeterville is a american pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 5615 reviews

120

American•Fulton Market•splurge

Beatrix

Beatrix is one of the better-known american spots in Fulton Market in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

Fulton Marketbusiness dinnerstylish

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Based on 5514 reviews

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

Let's be honest about what Joe's is: a Miami Beach institution (the Weiss family has been hauling in stone crab since 1913) transplanted to North Bridge in 2000, where tuxedoed servers move like they've been doing this their whole lives…

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Based on 5447 reviews

122

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for RPM Steak

RPM Steak

RPM Steak keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable steakhouse plan.

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Based on 5417 reviews

123

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Duck Duck Goat

Chinese•West Loop•moderate

Duck Duck Goat

James Beard winner and Iron Chef Stephanie Izard designed Duck Duck Goat as a love letter to Chinese-American cooking — not a single regional tradition but the whole dreamy, neon-lit mythology of an everytown Chinatown.

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Based on 5396 reviews

124

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Hampton Social - River North

The Hampton Social - River North

The Hampton Social - River North suits a night out in River North when you want american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 4973 reviews

125

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Whale

American•Logan Square•moderate

The Whale

The Whale is a american pick in Logan Square in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 4759 reviews

126

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gibsons Italia

special occasiondinnerupscale

Italian•Chicago•splurge

Gibsons Italia

Gibsons Italia trades on spectacle, and to its credit, the spectacle is real.

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Based on 4207 reviews

127

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Bavette's Bar & Boeuf

Steakhouse•River North•moderate

Bavette's Bar & Boeuf

Bavette's Bar & Boeuf is the Hogsalt group's River North steakhouse, and by most accounts it is the room that set the template for a decade of Chicago imitators.

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Based on 3992 reviews

128

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Momotaro

Japanese•Fulton Market•splurge

Momotaro

Momotaro is the kind of japanese room in Fulton Market you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

Fulton Marketdate nightbusiness dinner

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Based on 3874 reviews

129

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Hopleaf

Hopleaf

Hopleaf is a global restaurant in Ravenswood in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 3861 reviews

130

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The VIG Old Town

American•Old Town•moderate

The VIG Old Town

The VIG Old Town suits a night out in Old Town when you want american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

classicdinnerdate night

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Based on 3778 reviews

131

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for OLIO E PIÙ

OLIO E PIÙ

OLIO E PIÙ suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 3672 reviews

132

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Paradise Park | Pizza & Patio

Pizza•Wicker Park•value

Paradise Park | Pizza & Patio

Paradise Park | Pizza & Patio is the kind of pizza room in Wicker Park you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 3622 reviews

133

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Lula Cafe

Brunch•Chicago•moderate

Lula Cafe

Twenty-five years in Logan Square is either stubbornness or proof of concept.

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Based on 3608 reviews

134

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Chicago Diner, Lakeview

The Chicago Diner, Lakeview

What The Chicago Diner gets right — and has gotten right since opening on North Halsted in 1983 — is that it doesn't perform vegetarianism at you.

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Based on 3311 reviews

135

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Spacca Napoli Pizzeria

Italian•Ravenswood•value

Spacca Napoli Pizzeria

Chicago's pizza discourse tends to overcorrect — either romanticizing Neapolitan tradition to the point of parody or dismissing it as European affectation.

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Based on 3274 reviews

Francesca's On Chestnut

Francesca's On Chestnut is a italian pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 3171 reviews

137

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Chicago Chop House

Chicago Chop House

Chicago Chop House is a steakhouse restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 3096 reviews

138

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Saigon Sisters

Vietnamese•Chicago•$$

Saigon Sisters

Saigon Sisters is the kind of vietnamese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2875 reviews

La Luna

La Luna is an easy mexican option in Pilsen in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2830 reviews

140

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Doc B's Restaurant (Gold Coast)

Fine Dining•Gold Coast•splurge

Doc B's Restaurant (Gold Coast)

Let's correct the record first: despite the "fine dining" billing, Doc B's Gold Coast is a from-scratch neighbourhood kitchen, not a tasting-menu room.

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Based on 2785 reviews

141

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio

Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio

Sarah Grueneberg's Monteverde has occupied a particular position in Chicago's West Loop since it opened — the room that demonstrated the city could sustain genuinely serious Italian cooking, not as novelty but as ongoing commitment.

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Based on 2738 reviews

Mild 2 Spicy – Modern Indian Restaurant

Mild 2 Spicy – Modern Indian Restaurant is the kind of indian room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2579 reviews

Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago

Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago is a pizza restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 2283 reviews

Tweet has been holding down its corner of Uptown long before anyone started writing trend pieces about the neighborhood, and it operates with the quiet confidence of a place that doesn't need your validation.

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Based on 2238 reviews

Del Seoul

Del Seoul is an easy korean option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2225 reviews

146

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Boka

Boka

Lee Wolen's Lincoln Park restaurant has held a Michelin star and a reputation as one of Chicago's more disciplined fine dining rooms — a distinction that matters in a city where ambition and restraint are not always the same thing.

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Based on 2058 reviews

147

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Farm Bar Lakeview

Farm Bar Lakeview

Farm Bar Lakeview is an easy american option in Lakeview in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1937 reviews

148

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Coda di Volpe

Italian•Lakeview•value

Coda di Volpe

Coda di Volpe is an easy italian option in Lakeview in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1838 reviews

Lawrence Fish Market

Lawrence Fish Market has operated on Lawrence Avenue long enough to earn the kind of neighbourhood credibility that no marketing budget can manufacture.

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Based on 1756 reviews

Ssyal - Chicago Korean Restaurant

Ssyal - Chicago Korean Restaurant is a sensible korean call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1624 reviews

Shinhwa Korean Steakhouse

Shinhwa Korean Steakhouse is an easy korean option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1612 reviews

Pleasant House Pub

Pleasant House Pub asks a fair question of the British pie: does it deserve a place at the table, or only the consolation prize of nostalgia?

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Based on 1608 reviews

153

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Duck Inn

American•Chicago•value

dinnercocktailbib gourmand

The Duck Inn

The Duck Inn occupies a pre-Prohibition tavern with genuine lineage: Kevin Hickey's great-grandmother opened a restaurant under this name in the 1930s, and Hickey revived it in 2014.

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Based on 1596 reviews

154

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Scofflaw

American•Logan Square•moderate

Scofflaw

Scofflaw is a sensible american call in Logan Square in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

dinnercool

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Based on 1548 reviews

Mon Ami Gabi

Mon Ami Gabi has anchored Lincoln Park since 1998, tucked into the Belden Stratford — a former hotel on the National Register of Historic Places — and that pedigree shows in the wood-trimmed, softly lit dining room.

bistrobrunchdate night

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Based on 1473 reviews

156

Hot Pot•Chicago•$$$

Haidilao HotPot Chicago Inc

Haidilao HotPot Chicago Inc suits a night out when you want hot pot that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1403 reviews

American•Ravenswood•value

157

The Warbler

The Warbler is a sensible american call in Ravenswood in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1349 reviews

Turkish•Wicker Park•value

158

Elia Chicago

Elia Chicago suits a night out in Wicker Park when you want turkish that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1321 reviews

159

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Trattoria Demi

Italian•Evanston•value

Trattoria Demi

Trattoria Demi is an easy italian option in Evanston in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1310 reviews

Yaya Mas Greek Kuzina

Yaya Mas in Lincoln Park is the rare Chicago kitchen that pulls off counter-service Greek without losing the soul of a family table.

brunchdate night

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Based on 1249 reviews

161

Momento Cantina

Momento Cantina is not auditioning for the tasting-menu circuit, and that's precisely the point.

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Based on 1193 reviews

French•Fulton Market•moderate

162

La Serre

La Serre arrived in Fulton Market at a moment when that neighborhood's opening announcements had started to blur together — ambitious concepts, expensive buildouts, menus that read better than they cook.

dinnercocktails

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Based on 1134 reviews

Mexican•Logan Square•moderate

163

Mucho Gusto Barra + Cocina - Chicago

Mucho Gusto Barra + Cocina opened in Logan Square in 2021 with a design concept that references the architectural warmth of San Miguel de Allende — cascading florals, hand-crafted textures, and a back room styled as a reimagined cathedra…

dinnercool

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Based on 1086 reviews

164

La Nonna

La Nonna is doing something Avondale badly needed and most Chicago neighborhoods still can't claim: an Argentine-inflected all-day spot that treats a choripan with the same institutional seriousness a River North bistro gives a thirty-do…

cocktailfine diningwine bar

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Viaggio Restaurant Chicago

Viaggio Restaurant Chicago is a italian restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Casa Tulum

Casa Tulum is not trying to be your elevated, deconstructed Mexican tasting-menu situation, and that is clearly the point.

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Cocktail Bar•Chicago•$$$

Community Tavern

Community Tavern is a cocktail bar pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Lonesome Rose (Andersonville)

Lonesome Rose arrives in Andersonville with a clear sense of what it wants to be: a bar-kitchen hybrid serving contemporary Mexican that works equally at a 7pm weeknight dinner and a late-night second-round situation.

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KAI ZAN CHICAGO

Kai Zan operates on a premise that sounds simple until you watch it unfold: identical twin chefs Melvin and Carlo Vizconde — the Sushi Twins, as Chicago's dining scene has come to call them — run a room on West Chicago Avenue where omaka…

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Spirit Elephant

Spirit Elephant occupies a specific and unusual position in the Chicago area dining landscape: it's the north shore's first fully plant-based restaurant and bar, planted in Winnetka rather than the expected Wicker Park or Wicker-adjacent…

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Mediterranean•Chicago•$

Taza Mediterranean Cuisine

Taza Mediterranean Cuisine is a counter-service spot on Franklin Street that has, by most accounts, been quietly correcting the Loop's lunch problem for thirteen years.

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American•Avondale•value

Eden

Eden isn't trying to out-trend the West Loop or prove anything to the Michelin circuit.

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Bistro Campagne

Bistro Campagne has been doing the same thing since 2002 — quietly and without apology — in Lincoln Square, a neighborhood that suits it perfectly: unhurried, residential, not chasing anything.

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YooYee 喜又

YooYee 喜又 arrived on North Broadway's quieter stretch — south of the Argyle corridor, in Uptown — as an unapologetically Sichuan operation with a clear sense of what it wants to be: a room built around the tingly, numbing logic of Sichua…

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The Evie

The Evie is the kind of swing that only a team with serious Chicago pedigree would take on the Mag Mile: an unapologetically American room built around prime steaks, chef-crafted sushi rolls, freshly baked breads, and USDA Wagyu hot dogs…

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Italian•Lakeview•value

Ella Elli

Ella Elli arrived on the Southport Corridor in 2017 as the eleventh restaurant under 4 Star Restaurant Group, and it has held its footing in Lakeview with the kind of low-key specificity the neighborhood rewards.

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Dearly Beloved

Dearly Beloved opened in 2024 in the River North space that used to house Kiki's Bistro — a classic French bistro that ran for over 30 years — and it couldn't be more deliberately different.

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Sweet Moon

Sweet Moon is doing something genuinely singular on the Chicago breakfast-and-lunch circuit: translating Kyrgyzstani home cooking into a crepe format that Chicago has essentially no other frame of reference for.

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EL TRAGON TAQUERIA

El Tragón Taqueria operates out of a tiny space tucked behind a gas station on North Halsted — and that framing tells you everything about its priorities.

French•Lincoln Park•moderate

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North Pond

North Pond is a restaurant built by history, geography, and a specific kind of culinary sincerity that most Lincoln Park addresses can only gesture toward.

Mediterranean•Oak Park•value

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Citrine Café

Oak Park tends to get dismissed as a pass-through suburb rather than a dining destination in its own right, and Citrine Café is the kind of place that quietly makes the counter-argument.

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Chez Joël

Since 1999, Chez Joël has operated as a family enterprise — brothers Joël and Ahmed Kazouini running a room that insists on a very specific idea of what a French bistro should be.

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Latin American•Chicago•$$

Casa Yari

Casa Yari suits a night out when you want latin american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Mediterranean•Chicago•$$$$

Sinya Mediterranean

Three locations across Chicago — Albany Park, River North, Roscoe Village — in what appears to be a relatively short run since opening suggests Sinya Mediterranean is doing something right beyond luck.

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Ada Street

Ada Street doesn't pretend to be a restaurant that happens to serve drinks, or a bar that happens to have food — it plays both sides with real conviction, and that's what keeps it relevant in Bucktown after more than a decade.

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Diego

Diego opened in West Town in 2023 with a premise that sounds like a contradiction: a DJ bar that also happens to be one of Chicago's most talked-about Mexican restaurants.

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Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar

Rootstock opened in 2009 at 945 North California — that corner of Humboldt Park bleeding into Ukrainian Village, back when the neighborhood wasn't yet a destination — and it's been running the same bet ever since: that a bar founded on o…

Filipino•Ravenswood•value

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Bayan Ko

Bayan Ko operates in Ravenswood at a price point that keeps things honest — we're talking a menu of $10-and-under bites where Filipino home cooking and Latin American street food don't so much collide as recognize each other.

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mfk. Restaurant

Named for M.F.K.

wine barcocktailbib gourmand

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Butcher and the Bear

Butcher and the Bear arrives on North Halsted with a clear thesis: that a steakhouse can carry the atmospheric weight of a 1920s speakeasy without sacrificing the precision that Wagyu beef demands.

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Bistro Monadnock

Bistro Monadnock earns its identity from the building it occupies as much as the food it serves.

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Loving Heart Vegan Cafe

Loving Heart Vegan Cafe has been quietly anchoring the Uptown stretch of Montrose Avenue since 2013 — a tenure that matters in a city where plant-forward fast casual has become crowded and frequently fleeting.

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Italian•Evanston•value

Campagnola

Campagnola occupies a specific and useful lane in the Evanston dining scene — a global menu at an accessible price point in a suburb that defaults pretty reliably toward safe Italian-American and faculty-dinner comfort.

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Thai•Rogers Park•value

Ezankaya

The name is the concept: Ezankaya splices Isaan — Thailand's fire-driven northeastern region, home of som tum, grilled meats, and herb-forward heat — with izakaya, the Japanese framework for communal eating and easy drinking.

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Munno

Munno Pizzeria & Bistro on North Clark Street in Uptown is doing something genuinely scarce in Chicago: Roman-style pizza — oblong, charred, architecturally puffy — executed with the kind of focused intent that earns a 2025 Michelin Bib…

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All Together Now

All Together Now lands in Ukrainian Village as a deliberate counterargument to the idea that a neighborhood all-day café has to be boring.

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Burgers•Avondale•value

The Wolfhound Bar and Kitchen

The Wolfhound Bar and Kitchen opened in 2021 in a 130-year-old Avondale building — founded by a Chicago firefighter, which tells you something about the room before you even look at the menu.

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Cultivate by Forbidden Root

Cultivate by Forbidden Root earns its reputation not by accident of location but by design: it's the restaurant arm of Chicago's first botanic brewery, planted in Ravenswood's Malt Row corridor in the space that previously housed Band of…

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Ghin Khao Eat Rice

Ghin Khao Eat Rice operates from a position of inherited knowledge and hard-won confidence.

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Dēliz Italian Steakhouse

Dēliz Italian Steakhouse arrived in Bucktown in December 2025 with a premise that's harder to pull off than it sounds: marry the muscle of a serious American steakhouse with the soul of Italian cooking, in the former Etta space on West N…

brunchwine barcocktail

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Jinsei Motto

Jinsei Motto is the kind of sushi room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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No Vacancy

No Vacancy isn't hiding behind its concept — it owns it.

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Tiffany's On Broadway

Tiffany's On Broadway is a family project in the most literal sense: Michelle Tiffany Corrales runs the kitchen while her mother Marcela works the floor of this cozy Uptown BYOB, and the restaurant itself sits in a space where Marcela wa…

Global•Andersonville•moderate

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Tala House

Andersonville has long operated on its own frequency — plural, unhurried, unbothered by what the rest of Chicago is doing — and Tala House fits the neighborhood like it was always supposed to be there.

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Brunch•Ukrainian Village•value

Nettare

Here's what Nettare gets right that most Chicago restaurants fumble: it found a genuine thesis and then actually committed to it.

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SO GONG DONG(SGD) TOFU & KOREAN BBQ - WICKER PARK

SGD Tofu & Korean BBQ in Wicker Park carries a name rooted in genuine Korean history — SoGong-Dong was a royal district in Seoul, and the restaurant leans into that lineage with a gold-and-floral identity borrowed from the Sungnyemun gat…

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Mexican•Logan Square•moderate

Fuego Logan Square

Fuego Logan Square is the kind of mexican room in Logan Square you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Feld

Feld is the kind of restaurant that makes a statement just by existing where it does.

bistrohidden gemdate night

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Mahanakhon Thai & Noodle Bar

Mahanakhon Thai & Noodle Bar is the kind of thai room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Petit Pomeroy

Petit Pomeroy is a bistro pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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COO Thai Cuisine

COO Thai Cuisine is a sensible thai call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Ox Bar & Hearth

Ox Bar & Hearth is the kind of american room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Cumin Restaurant - Lakeview

Cumin in Lakeview occupies a genuinely specific lane in Chicago's Indian dining landscape: it's one of the few spots in the city where the menu tilts unmistakably toward Nepali and Himalayan traditions rather than staying in the well-wor…

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La Mom Kitchen

La Mom Kitchen is the kind of chinese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe

Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe is a smart brunch call when the morning is supposed to feel a little more like an occasion.

Brunchbrunchbright

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Based on 9730 reviews

Three Dots and a Dash

Three Dots and a Dash is the kind of bar room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 8492 reviews

217

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ricobene's

Pizza•Bridgeport•value

Ricobene's

Ricobene's is a dependable pizza option in Bridgeport that a lot of diners already know and return to.

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Based on 8265 reviews

218

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Purple Pig Restaurant

Mediterranean•Chicago•moderate

The Purple Pig Restaurant

On Michigan Avenue, where most rooms trade on location and coast, The Purple Pig does something harder: it earns its crowd with conviction.

tacosdinnerwine bar

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Based on 7367 reviews

219

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse

Steakhouse•Gold Coast•splurge

Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse

Gibsons has held court on Rush Street since 1989, and it wears its longevity with the confidence of a room that knows exactly what it is.

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Based on 6797 reviews

220

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Johnnie's Beef

Johnnie's Beef

Johnnie's Beef keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable sandwiches plan.

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cocktailfine diningdate night

Based on 5967 reviews

Greek Islands

Greek Islands is a greek pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 5942 reviews

222

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mercadito

Mercadito

Mercadito keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable mexican plan.

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Based on 5852 reviews

223

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for River Roast

River Roast

River Roast is the kind of american room in River North you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 5561 reviews

224

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Jimmy's Red Hots

Jimmy's Red Hots

Jimmy's Red Hots has been operating on the Northwest Side of Chicago long enough that the menu itself has become the argument.

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Based on 5485 reviews

225

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ema

Ema

Ema is a mediterranean pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 5404 reviews

226

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Gage

The Gage

The Gage occupies a specific and useful position in Chicago dining: a serious-cooking pub on Michigan Avenue's southern edge, directly across from Millennium Park, where the dark wood and exposed brick are reported to generate the kind o…

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Based on 5077 reviews

227

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Siena Tavern

Italian•River North•moderate

Siena Tavern

Siena Tavern is a large, deliberately social Italian-American room in River North that makes no effort to disguise its ambitions: this is a restaurant built for groups, for noise, and for the kind of occasion that calls for a long table…

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Based on 4825 reviews

Lou Mitchell's

Some Chicago institutions earn their reputation; Lou Mitchell's has been earning its since 1923, when William Mitchell opened a diner named for his son.

Brunchbrunchbright

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Based on 4748 reviews

Volare Ristorante Italiano

Volare Ristorante Italiano suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 4064 reviews

Greek Islands Lombard

Greek Islands Lombard is a greek pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 3914 reviews

231

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Little Bad Wolf

Mexican•Andersonville•moderate

Little Bad Wolf

Andersonville's Clark Street corridor has developed into one of Chicago's most reliably interesting dining stretches, and Little Bad Wolf — open since 2014 — has a lot to do with that reputation.

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Based on 3843 reviews

232

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ramen Wasabi - Logan Square

Ramen Wasabi - Logan Square

Logan Square has a particular metabolism — it moves fast, stays unpretentious, and has a low tolerance for restaurants that perform authenticity without delivering it.

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Based on 3609 reviews

233

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings

Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings

Qing Xiang Yuan has built a reputation in Chicago's Chinatown that has little to do with hype and everything to do with consistency.

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Based on 3254 reviews

Maharaj Indian Grill

Maharaj Indian Grill is an easy indian option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 3145 reviews

235

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for 3 Arts Club Cafe at RH Chicago

Fine Dining•Gold Coast•splurge

3 Arts Club Cafe at RH Chicago

3 Arts Club Cafe at RH Chicago is a fine dining pick in Gold Coast in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 3088 reviews

236

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Alinea

MICHELIN ★★★

Alinea

Alinea has spent two decades as Chicago's argument for dining-as-theatre, and the question now is whether the spectacle still earns the occasion.

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Based on 2991 reviews

237

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Longman & Eagle

Longman & Eagle

Longman & Eagle occupies a particular position in Chicago's dining conversation — a Logan Square tavern that functions simultaneously as a serious whiskey bar, a kitchen of genuine ambition, and a small inn, without fully capitulating to…

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Based on 2967 reviews

Boqueria Fulton Market

Boqueria Fulton Market suits a night out when you want spanish that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2828 reviews

Psistaria Greek Taverna

Psistaria Greek Taverna is the kind of greek room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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brunchcocktailfine dining

Based on 2810 reviews

Remington's

Remington's occupies prime real estate on the Magnificent Mile, a 225-seat room facing Millennium Park, and it knows exactly what it is: a classic American grill dressed in modern booths and fireplaces, not a destination tasting room.

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Based on 2735 reviews

241

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Tzuco

Tzuco

Tzuco is an easy mexican option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2731 reviews

242

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Calo Ristorante

Italian•Andersonville•moderate

Calo Ristorante

Calo Ristorante has been anchoring Andersonville's Clark Street since 1963, and the Recchia family's refusal to modernize the room or the menu is, by every account, the entire point.

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Based on 2648 reviews

243

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Handlebar

Vegetarian•Wicker Park•value

Handlebar

Handlebar is a vegetarian pick in Wicker Park in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 2589 reviews

244

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for La Grande Boucherie Chicago

La Grande Boucherie Chicago

La Grande Boucherie Chicago is the kind of restaurant room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2570 reviews

245

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Virtue Restaurant

American•Chicago•value

Virtue Restaurant

Hyde Park rarely gets the dining attention it deserves, which makes Virtue's standing all the more notable: it remains the only restaurant south of Chinatown to hold Michelin's Bib Gourmand, and at roughly $61 a head, the value propositi…

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Based on 2419 reviews

246

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for avec Restaurant

Mediterranean•West Loop•$$$

avec Restaurant

Avec opened in the West Loop in 2003 and is, by most accounts, still the most consequential room that neighbourhood has produced.

wine barbrunchcocktail

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Based on 2398 reviews

Demera Restaurant

Let me be direct about what Demera is doing in Uptown: it's putting some of the most transportive Ethiopian cooking in Chicago on the table at a price point that embarrasses half the city's restaurant scene, and the people who know, know.

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Based on 2349 reviews

248

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Swift & Sons

Swift & Sons

Swift & Sons is Boka Restaurant Group's contribution to the grand American steakhouse tradition, occupying a soaring Fulton Market space that trades on scale and contemporary polish rather than the dimly lit nostalgia that defined the fo…

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Based on 2295 reviews

249

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for PLANTA Chicago

PLANTA Chicago

Most plant-based restaurants in this country are still making one of two mistakes: apologizing for what's absent, or moralizing about what's at stake.

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Based on 2272 reviews

250

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Roka Akor

Roka Akor

Roka Akor is the kind of japanese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2225 reviews

251

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for La Scarola

La Scarola

La Scarola operates on a logic that most Chicago Italian rooms have quietly abandoned: the room itself is the destination.

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Based on 2145 reviews

Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern

Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern is an easy pizza option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2059 reviews

253

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Wolfy's

Wolfy's

Wolfy's is a hot dogs restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 2037 reviews

Osteria Via Stato

Osteria Via Stato suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1954 reviews

255

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gilt Bar

Gilt Bar

Gilt Bar occupies a specific and underserved position in Chicago's dining landscape: the serious American room that refuses to perform seriousness.

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Based on 1941 reviews

256

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Chief O'Neill's Pub Restaurant Beer Garden

Steakhouse•Avondale•value

Chief O'Neill's Pub Restaurant Beer Garden

Chief O'Neill's Pub Restaurant Beer Garden is a sensible steakhouse call in Avondale in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

hidden gemdinner

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Based on 1895 reviews

257

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for CHICAGO RAMEN

CHICAGO RAMEN

CHICAGO RAMEN is a japanese restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 1867 reviews

258

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mr. Beef

Mr. Beef

Mr. Beef is a sensible sandwiches call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1858 reviews

259

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for m.henry

m.henry

Some Andersonville institutions coast on longevity.

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Based on 1813 reviews

260

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Logan 11 Bar & Kitchen

American•Logan Square•moderate

Logan 11 Bar & Kitchen

Logan 11 Bar & Kitchen is the kind of american room in Logan Square you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1753 reviews

261

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Middle East Bakery & Grocery

Middle Eastern•Chicago•$

Middle East Bakery & Grocery

Middle East Bakery & Grocery in Chicago's Edgewater neighbourhood operates on a logic that predates the current enthusiasm for Middle Eastern food by decades — a Lebanese bakery and grocery with a reputation built on consistency rather t…

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Based on 1654 reviews

262

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Sepia

Sepia

Sepia occupies a specific register that Chicago's fine dining scene rarely sustains: the special-occasion room that doesn't perform occasion at you.

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Based on 1534 reviews

RL Restaurant

RL Restaurant is the kind of american room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1530 reviews

264

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Tryzub Ukrainian Kitchen

Ukrainian•Ukrainian Village•value

Tryzub Ukrainian Kitchen

Tryzub Ukrainian Kitchen is a sensible ukrainian call in Ukrainian Village in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1465 reviews

265

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Staropolska Restaurant

American•Avondale•value

Staropolska Restaurant

Staropolska Restaurant is a american restaurant in Avondale in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

hidden gemdinner

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Based on 1444 reviews

266

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for S.K.Y.

S.K.Y.

S.K.Y. suits a night out in Lincoln Park when you want american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1331 reviews

267

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Smyth

Smyth

John and Karen Urie Shields built smyth around a premise that still reads as quietly radical in fine dining: that the vegetable courses deserve the same intellectual rigor as anything else on the tasting menu.

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Based on 1330 reviews

268

Pizza•Rogers Park•value

R Public House

R Public House is an easy pizza option in Rogers Park in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1329 reviews

269

Japanese•Chicago•$$

Gaijin

Gaijin suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1327 reviews

270

Japanese•Chicago•$$

SUSHI DOKKU Japanese Restaurant

SUSHI DOKKU Japanese Restaurant suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1318 reviews

271

Bar•Chicago•moderate

Arbella Cocktail Bar

Let me tell you what Arbella actually is, because the word "cocktail bar" undersells it in one direction and oversells it in another.

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Based on 1289 reviews

272

Steakhouse•Chicago•$$$$

Fioretta

Fioretta suits a night out when you want steakhouse that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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mexicanbib gourmanddate night

Based on 1200 reviews

Mi Tocaya Antojería

Diana Dávila's Logan Square room makes its argument quietly, then refuses to let go.

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Based on 1150 reviews

274

Italian•Hyde Park•value

Ascione Bistro Hyde Park

Ascione Bistro Hyde Park is an easy italian option in Hyde Park in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1149 reviews

275

French•Bucktown•value

Le Bouchon

Le Bouchon is the kind of french room in Bucktown you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1135 reviews

276

GEMINI

Fifteen years on Lincoln Avenue is a particular kind of credential — long enough to mean something, short enough that a place can still surprise you — and Gemini, Lincoln Park's contemporary bistro, appears to have spent those years buil…

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Based on 1087 reviews

277

Vietnamese•Chicago•$

Nhà Hàng Vietnam Restaurant

Nhà Hàng Vietnam is not a room that performs for you.

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Based on 1080 reviews

278

Pizza•Bucktown•value

The StopAlong

The StopAlong is a pizza pick in Bucktown in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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italianbib gourmanddate night

Based on 1075 reviews

Ciccio Mio

Hogsalt's restaurants tend to traffic in a particular brand of theatre, and Ciccio Mio leans into it: vintage chandeliers, velvet drapery, antique mirrors throwing candlelight across a 51-seat room.

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Contemporary•Logan Square•moderate

Gretel

Gretel opened in Logan Square in September 2020 with no reservations policy, no soft launch fanfare, and what appears to be a very clear idea of what it wants to be: a serious drinking bar — black-painted walls, a rolling ladder on the l…

Mediterranean•River North•moderate

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Mexican•Edgewater•value

Mas Alla del Sol

Mas Alla del Sol is the kind of Edgewater neighborhood anchor that earns loyalty the old-fashioned way: a clear culinary point of view, ownership that actually gives a damn about sourcing, and prices that keep the regulars coming back we…

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avec River North

Avec has been one of Chicago's most influential dining ideas since 2003 — a wood-fired, Mediterranean-leaning kitchen built around shared plates and the kind of wine list that makes you stay longer than you planned.

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Italian•Bridgeport•value

Franco's Ristorante

Franco's Ristorante has been holding down the corner of 31st and Princeton since 1989, which in Bridgeport terms means it's basically infrastructure.

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American•Oak Park•value

Chicago Waffles Oak Park

Chicago Waffles in Oak Park has built a clear identity around a single proposition: waffles as the organizing principle of an entire global brunch menu, not just the thing you order when you can't decide.

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Immm Rice & Beyond

Immm Rice & Beyond arrived in Uptown in 2016 with a straightforward declaration: this is Thai street food, the kind that comes from a cart or a stall, not a tablecloth.

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Urban Vegan Thai Cuisine

Urban Vegan Thai Cuisine has done something that most plant-based restaurants in Chicago only gesture at: it has committed fully to Thai tradition without a single animal product on the menu, and it operates out of a cozy, full sit-down…

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Elske

Anna and David Posey's West Loop restaurant has developed a reputation as one of Chicago's more quietly serious tasting-menu destinations — serious in the sense that the kitchen's Scandinavian-influenced approach appears genuinely intere…

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brunchcocktailfine dining

Il Vicolo Trattoria

Vito Tufano left Naples and landed in Oak Park, which is either a surprising choice or a logical one depending on how you look at it — a tight-knit, walkable suburb just west of Chicago that actually supports the kind of neighborhood tra…

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Le Sud Mediterranean Kitchen

Le Sud Mediterranean Kitchen in Roscoe Village is the product of a genuinely particular biography.

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Indienne

Indienne is the argument Chicago's dining establishment needed made in public: that Indian cuisine belongs in the same conversation as the city's most exacting tasting-menu rooms, not as a novelty but as a peer.

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Restaurant•Chicago•moderate

Table, Donkey and Stick

Table, Donkey and Stick draws its name from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale and its culinary DNA from the mountain inns of the Alps — and that pairing is not merely decorative.

American•Wicker Park•value

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Port union

Port union is a american pick in Wicker Park in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Willow Room

Willow Room occupies a specific and underserved position in Lincoln Park's dining landscape: a historically rooted bistro with Potawatomi ownership that takes its bistro-classic framework seriously enough to actually elevate it.

Mediterranean•Bridgeport•value

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Little Madrid Tapas-Café

Little Madrid Tapas-Café opened in Andersonville in 2020 — weeks before the pandemic locked everything down — and the fact that it not only survived but drew recognition from the City of Madrid and the Spanish Consulate tells you somethi…

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Apolonia

Chef Stephen Gillanders named his second restaurant after his Filipino grandmother — the woman who first put a wok in his orbit and lit whatever spark became a career — and that personal gravity gives Apolonia a grounding that a lot of S…

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Veggie House

Veggie House holds a singular distinction in Chicago's food landscape: it is the first vegetarian restaurant to plant itself in Chinatown, and that fact alone tells you something about its ambition.

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Italian•Gold Coast•splurge

MEDI Kitchen + Cocktail

On North Halsted in Lincoln Park, MEDI Kitchen + Cocktail is doing something more personal than the city's usual riff on Mediterranean — it's drawing directly from the family recipes of Helen and Hermiz Younan, who immigrated from Lebano…

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Alpana

Alpana Singh opened this Gold Coast room in 2022 with a credential most restaurateurs can only aspire to: she is the youngest woman in history to pass the Master Sommelier exam, and she built the entire restaurant around that fact rather…

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Volo Restaurant Wine Bar

Volo Restaurant Wine Bar is the kind of wine bar room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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TAK Korean Bistro & Karaoke

TAK Korean Bistro & Karaoke is a korean restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Global•Edgewater•value

Beard & Belly

Beard & Belly is a global restaurant in Edgewater in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Global•Oak Park•value

Amerikas Restaurant

Chef Armando Gonzalez grew up in Oaxaca, arrived in the United States in 1994, and eventually put down roots in Oak Park with a genuinely interesting question: what does American food actually look like when you stop pretending it came f…

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Fine Dining•Chicago•$$$$

fine diningmichelin stardate night

Next Restaurant

Next Restaurant is the kind of fine dining restaurant room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Basant Modern Indian Restaurant

Basant Modern Indian Restaurant is a indian restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Brunch•Avondale•value

The Avondale Tap

Avondale has been doing the slow-burn cool thing for years, and the Avondale Tap — open since 2017 and part of the Hammock Hospitality group behind West Town's Aberdeen Tap — fits the neighborhood's frequency exactly.

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dumplingsdinnergroup dinner

Wentworth Seafood House

Wentworth Seafood House is not interested in atmospherics or cocktail programming — it is interested in feeding a table the way Chinatown's best rooms always have: with technique that shows up in cold preparations as confidently as it do…

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Cucina Paradiso

Cucina Paradiso has been holding down the Hemingway District since 1995, which in Oak Park years is basically geological time.

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Old Lviv Restaurant

Old Lviv Restaurant is an easy contemporary option in Ukrainian Village in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Steakhouse•Evanston•value

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The Barn Steakhouse

The Barn Steakhouse is a steakhouse restaurant in Evanston in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Magic Jug

Magic Jug is an easy contemporary option in Ukrainian Village in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Filipino•Chicago•$$$$

Boonie's Filipino Restaurant

Boonie's began as a pandemic food stall at Revival Food Hall, and its origins still shape the experience: this is cooking with something to prove, and a personal stake in proving it.

Breakfast•Ukrainian Village•value

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Global•Rogers Park•value

Khmai

Here's the weight you carry into 6580 North Sheridan: Chef Mona Sang's family survived the Khmer Rouge, and the recipes she's cooking at Khmai nearly didn't.

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Sunrise Cafe Chicago

Sunrise Cafe Chicago is an easy contemporary option in Ukrainian Village in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

wine barcocktailhidden gem

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Sandwich Shop•Chicago•$

Nhu Lan Bakery & Sandwiches

Nhú Lân occupies a specific and well-documented place in Chicago's banh mi conversation — a Vietnamese bakery and deli in Lincoln Square that bakes its baguettes in-house and is consistently cited by the city's food press and by regulars…

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Bhoomi Modern Indian Grill

Bhoomi Modern Indian Grill suits a night out when you want indian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Websters Wine Bar Chicago

Websters Wine Bar Chicago suits a night out when you want wine bar that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Yasemi, A Modern Mediterranean Restaurant

Yasemi, A Modern Mediterranean Restaurant is a restaurant pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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SeoulSpice

SeoulSpice is a korean pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar

Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar is a restaurant pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Italian•Bucktown•value

Antico

Chef Brad Schlieder built Antico around a conviction that still reads as quietly radical on the Chicago Italian scene: restraint is a skill.

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American•Chicago•$$$$

Schwa Restaurant

Schwa asks an unusual question of its 26 seats: does a Michelin-starred kitchen still earn the occasion when the chefs themselves drop your plates, rap thunders overhead, and you've hauled in your own wine because there isn't a stemware…

michelin stardate night

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elephant + vine

elephant + vine is a restaurant pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Union

Union sits in that productive ambiguity Logan Square does well — neither quite bar nor quite restaurant, a dark room of wood and brick where the bar claims most of the floor and reservations still apply.

fine dininghidden gemdate night

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Sushi Suite 202 - Lincoln Park Chicago by Sushi by Bou

Sushi Suite 202 - Lincoln Park Chicago by Sushi by Bou is the kind of sushi room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Palilgu

Palilgu is doing something Chicago's Korean dining scene has needed for a while: making the food genuinely approachable without defanging it.

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Restaurant•Chicago•value

Bucktowndinnerbib gourmand

Pompette

Pompette operates as a Bib Gourmand-recognized wine bar in Chicago, and the distinction matters precisely because the recognition comes without the performance that usually accompanies it.

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Breakfast House Uptown

Breakfast House Uptown is a asian restaurant in Uptown in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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American•Evanston•value

The Fat Shallot Evanston

The Fat Shallot Evanston is a sensible american call in Evanston in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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DJ's Great Room

DJ's Great Room is a restaurant pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Mexican•Pilsen•moderate

Giordano's

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Giordano's in Pilsen is not what you'd expect from one of Chicago's most culturally specific neighborhoods, and that's kind of the whole point.

tacosdinnerhidden gem

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Based on 25628 reviews

Giordano's

Let me be direct about what Giordano's is: the Chicago deep dish argument, settled — at least for the people willing to engage with it seriously.

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Based on 12627 reviews

332

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Jim's Original

Jim's Original

Jim's Original has been doing the same thing since 1939, and based on everything the historical record and generations of Chicago eaters have to say about it, that thing is going extremely well.

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Based on 9684 reviews

333

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Superdawg Drive-In

Superdawg Drive-In

Superdawg Drive-In is one of the better-known hot dogs spots in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 6724 reviews

Benihana - Chicago (John Hancock)

Benihana - Chicago (John Hancock) suits a night out when you want japanese that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 6472 reviews

India House Restaurant Chicago

India House Restaurant Chicago keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable indian plan.

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Based on 6055 reviews

Billy Goat Tavern (The Original)

Billy Goat Tavern (The Original) suits a night out when you want burgers that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 5948 reviews

337

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Eleven City Diner

Eleven City Diner

Eleven City Diner in the South Loop is not making an argument for reinvention.

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Based on 5667 reviews

Batter & Berries

Some brunch lines you grumble through; the one outside Batter & Berries on Lincoln Ave you earn — folks here have waited up to two hours, and they keep coming back.

Brunchbrunchbright

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Based on 4934 reviews

339

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Village

The Village

The Village is the kind of italian room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 4891 reviews

340

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Broken English Taco Pub

Broken English Taco Pub

Broken English Taco Pub is not trying to be an authentic taqueria, and based on everything I can find, that's entirely deliberate.

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Based on 4759 reviews

341

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Kuma's Corner

Kuma's Corner

Kuma's Corner in Avondale operates on a single, loudly stated premise: the hamburger is a serious thing, and anyone who disagrees can leave.

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Based on 4348 reviews

Bub City

Bub City is the kind of barbecue room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 4296 reviews

343

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Maple & Ash

Steakhouse•Gold Coast•splurge

Maple & Ash

Maple & Ash is the kind of steakhouse room in Gold Coast you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 4166 reviews

344

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Honey Butter Fried Chicken

American•Avondale•value

Honey Butter Fried Chicken

Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Avondale operates on a philosophy that's deceptively simple and genuinely hard to execute: make one thing with real conviction, price it like you want people back on a Tuesday, and don't perform ambiance at…

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Based on 4149 reviews

Gino’s East - South Loop

Gino's East South Loop isn't trying to reinvent deep dish — it's making the case that nobody needed to.

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Based on 3850 reviews

346

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for R.J. Grunts

Burgers•Lincoln Park•moderate

R.J. Grunts

R.J. Grunts suits a night out in Lincoln Park when you want burgers that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 3700 reviews

Barrio

Barrio suits a night out when you want mexican that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 3553 reviews

348

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant

American•Oak Park•value

Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant

Cooper's Hawk in Oak Park is doing something the wine-bar industry rarely pulls off without embarrassing itself: it functions as an actual winery-restaurant hybrid rather than a tasting room with a sad charcuterie plate bolted on.

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Based on 3350 reviews

349

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for XOCO

XOCO

XOCO is a sensible mexican call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 3316 reviews

350

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Al's #1 Italian Beef

Al's #1 Italian Beef

Al's #1 Italian Beef is a sensible sandwiches call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 3273 reviews

Sunda New Asian - River North

Sunda New Asian - River North is the kind of sushi room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 3048 reviews

Happy Lamb Hot Pot

Happy Lamb Hot Pot suits a night out when you want hot pot that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 3028 reviews

Chicago Curry House - Indian - Nepali Cuisine.

Chicago Curry House does something the city's South Asian dining scene rarely pulls off at this price point: it takes the Indian-Nepali overlap seriously, without collapsing either tradition into crowd-pleasing approximation.

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Based on 3018 reviews

354

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Publican

The Publican

Paul Kahan's Publican occupies a large, deliberately unconventional room in what is now Chicago's most contested stretch of real estate — Fulton Market, West Loop — where the format itself functions as an editorial statement.

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Based on 2962 reviews

5 Rabanitos Restaurante & Taqueria

5 Rabanitos Restaurante & Taqueria suits a night out when you want mexican that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2824 reviews

356

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Honeybear Cafe

Global•Rogers Park•value

Honeybear Cafe

Honeybear Cafe is a sensible global call in Rogers Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 2732 reviews

357

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for True Food Kitchen

True Food Kitchen

True Food Kitchen is a sensible vegetarian call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 2697 reviews

Fat Cat

Fat Cat has been anchored on Broadway in Uptown since 2007, and the 4,000-square-foot room is upfront about what it is before anyone pulls up a menu: plush leather booths, vintage rock photography covering the walls, a central bar that t…

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Based on 2694 reviews

359

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Shore Club Chicago

cocktaillate nightdate night

Lounge Bar•Chicago•$$$

Shore Club Chicago

Shore Club Chicago suits a night out when you want lounge bar that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2549 reviews

360

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for LUXBAR

Burgers•Gold Coast•splurge

LUXBAR

LUXBAR suits a night out in Gold Coast when you want burgers that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2509 reviews

361

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Smith

The Smith

The Smith suits a night out in River North when you want american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2394 reviews

Flo & Santos

Flo & Santos operates on a premise that sounds like a bar bet — Polish and Italian, one kitchen, South Side Chicago — and by all accounts it pulls it off without breaking a sweat.

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Based on 2268 reviews

363

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Le Colonial Chicago

Vietnamese•Chicago•$$$

Le Colonial Chicago

Le Colonial Chicago is the kind of vietnamese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2215 reviews

LÝRA

LÝRA is the kind of greek room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2189 reviews

Piccolo Sogno

Piccolo Sogno suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 2159 reviews

366

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant

Steakhouse•South Loop•moderate

The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant

The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant occupies a specific and underserved position in the South Loop dining landscape — one that doesn't require justification by occasion but holds up to it.

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Based on 2132 reviews

Kasama

Kasama operates as two genuinely distinct restaurants under one roof in Chicago's West Town, and its reputation suggests it is doing something remarkable in both modes.

michelin star

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Based on 2123 reviews

Storyville Chicago

Storyville Chicago suits a night out when you want bar that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1923 reviews

369

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Maya Del Sol

Mexican•Oak Park•value

Maya Del Sol

Oak Park doesn't usually make Chicago feel like the consolation prize — Maya Del Sol is the exception.

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Based on 1831 reviews

370

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Rose Mary

Croatian•Rogers Park•value

Rose Mary

Joe Flamm's rose mary sits in Rogers Park rather than the more obvious Fulton Market corridor, and that geography alone tells you something about the restaurant's confidence.

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Based on 1805 reviews

Umai

Umai is the kind of japanese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1721 reviews

Tapas Valencia Restaurant

Tapas Valencia Restaurant is the kind of tapas room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

brunchwine barcocktail

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Based on 1513 reviews

373

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Cira

Cira

Cira is a mediterranean pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1482 reviews

374

Wine Bar•Chicago•$$$

Leña Brava

Leña Brava suits a night out when you want wine bar that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1407 reviews

375

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mott St

Asian Fusion•Chicago•$$

Mott St

Edward Kim's resume reads like a riddle: Per Se in New York, then Ruxbin, now this narrow West Town room built around Korean night-market cooking that wanders happily into Japanese, Vietnamese, even Polish and Mexican territory.

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Based on 1381 reviews

376

High Five Ramen

High Five Ramen is a japanese restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 1377 reviews

377

MCCB Chicago

MCCB Chicago is an easy chinese option in Chinatown in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1358 reviews

AO Hawaiian Hideout

AO Hawaiian Hideout is the kind of vegan room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1322 reviews

379

Italian•Bucktown•value

Club Lucky

Club Lucky has been a Bucktown institution long enough to have watched the neighborhood transform around it, and that history reads clearly in how the room carries itself — red-sauce Italian-American confidence, zero apologies.

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Based on 1206 reviews

Fine Dining•Chicago•splurge

380

Bar Mar

Bar Mar is an easy fine dining option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1204 reviews

381

Greek•Chicago•$$

Andros Taverna

Andros Taverna suits a night out when you want greek that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

brunchdate night

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Based on 1183 reviews

382

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Kale My Name

Kale My Name

Kale My Name is a sensible vegetarian call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1178 reviews

Tortello

Tortello sets its terms plainly: handmade pasta worked in the front windows, a counter to order at, a Vespa overhead, and a long, narrow room floored in black-and-white tile.

italianbib gourmand

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Based on 1178 reviews

384

Buffet•Chicago•$$$$

Umi Hot Pot Sushi & Seafood Buffet Niles

Umi Hot Pot Sushi & Seafood Buffet Niles suits a night out when you want buffet that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1165 reviews

385

Greek•Chicago•$$

Athenian Room

Athenian Room is a greek pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1157 reviews

386

Roux

Roux is a sensible american call in Hyde Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1144 reviews

387

Mexican•Pilsen•value

La Mejikana

La Mejikana is an easy mexican option in Pilsen in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1085 reviews

388

Mexican•Pilsen•value

Del Toro

Del Toro is a Pilsen original in the least performative sense of that phrase — opened in 2012 by brothers Everardo and Andres Garcia, who grew up on these exact blocks and built the place out of the comfort foods and cocktails they actua…

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Based on 1072 reviews

Italian•Gold Coast•splurge

389

Adalina Italian

Adalina Italian is a italian pick in Gold Coast in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1061 reviews

390

Armitage Alehouse

Hogsalt Hospitality has built a reputation for rooms that feel less designed than destined, and Armitage Alehouse — their Lincoln Park address at 1000 W Armitage — is reportedly one of their most atmospheric achievements.

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Based on 1043 reviews

391

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for A Taste of Heaven

Contemporary•Andersonville•moderate

A Taste of Heaven

A Taste of Heaven earns a weekend detour in Andersonville when you want brunch that beats the usual default.

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Based on 1033 reviews

392

Chicago's Dog House

Chicago's Dog House is an easy hot dogs option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1003 reviews

393

Greek•Chicago•$$

Avli River North

Avli River North is a greek pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Rustico

Chef Gabriel Padilla spent close to three decades moving through the Spanish and Italian end of Chicago's dining world — Café Iberico, Piccolo Sogno, Oggi Trattoria — before landing on the idea that Oak Park didn't need to be a suburb pe…

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Southern Chicago

Southern Chicago is a contemporary pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

Gastropub•Lincoln Park•$$$

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mexicanfine diningmichelin star

Giant

Jason Vincent's Giant sits in Lincoln Park — though its reputation consistently positions it alongside the more closely watched rooms on Chicago's dining map.

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Black Barrel Tavern

Black Barrel Tavern is a american pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Bistronomic

Bistronomic suits a night out when you want wine bar that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

bistrococktailwine bar

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Topolobampo

When Rick and Deann Bayless opened Topolobampo in 1989, the proposition that Mexican cooking belonged in the haute-cuisine conversation was, frankly, radical.

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Italian•Lakeview•value

Angelina Ristorante

Angelina Ristorante is a sensible italian call in Lakeview in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

mexicanbib gourmanddate night

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Chilam Balam

A basement room beneath a sex shop is not the obvious setting for a Bib Gourmand kitchen, yet Chilam Balam has held that Michelin designation every year since 2013 — a consistency that says more than the address.

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Tuk Tuk Thai Isan Street Food

Tuk Tuk Thai Isan Street Food is an easy thai option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Global•Evanston•value

Five & Dime

Five & Dime is a sensible global call in Evanston in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Obélix

Obélix is the kind of french room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Brunch•Wicker Park•value

The Perch Kitchen and Tap

The Perch Kitchen and Tap is the kind of contemporary room in Wicker Park you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

cocktailmichelin stardate night

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Moody Tongue

Moody Tongue occupies an unusual niche: the world's only Michelin-starred brewery, where the pairing question is answered not with wine or cocktails but with beer brewed on the premises.

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The Lakefront Restaurant at Theater on the Lake

The Lakefront Restaurant at Theater on the Lake is a sensible american call in Lakeview in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Superkhana International

The premise at Superkhana International is that there isn't one.

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Golden Bull Restaurant

Golden Bull Restaurant is an easy chinese option in Chinatown in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Gussie's Handmade Italian

Gussie's Handmade Italian suits a night out when you want italian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Vincent

Andersonville runs on a particular frequency — unhurried, genuinely welcoming, built for the long evening rather than the quick turn — and Vincent seems to have tuned itself to that same signal.

Italian•Andersonville•moderate

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Anteprima

Andersonville has always rewarded the curious — that stretch of Clark that still feels like it belongs to the people who live there rather than to an algorithm optimized for foot traffic.

chinesebib gourmanddate night

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JJ Thai Street Food

JJ Thai Street Food is not trying to be a destination restaurant, a neighborhood anchor, or a cultural ambassador.

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Little Vietnam Restaurant

Little Vietnam Restaurant is the kind of vietnamese room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Kama - Wicker Park

Kama - Wicker Park is an easy indian option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Shanghai Terrace

Shanghai Terrace is a chinese pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

fine diningdate night

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Namaste Chicago

Namaste Chicago is a indian pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Indian•Chicago•moderate

Mirra

What separates Mirra from the crowded field of fusion concepts is that it reportedly doesn't split the difference between its two source traditions.

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Yao Yao

Yao Yao earns its place as Chinatown's first Michelin Bib Gourmand without ceremony, which is rather the point.

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Coffee Shop•Chicago•$$$$

Lardon

Lardon makes a sound case for the all-day room done with intent.

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PIZZ'AMICI

Pizzamici is doing something Chicago's thin-crust scene has needed someone to do with a straight face: taking the city's own pizza tradition seriously without draping it in nostalgia kitsch or charging craft-cocktail prices for the privi…

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American•Bucktown•value

The Royal Grocer & Co.

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Anelya

Anelya is doing something almost no one else in Chicago is bothering to do: treating Ukrainian cooking like the serious, layered cuisine it actually is — not a novelty pivot, not an ethnic curiosity, but a full argument that beet and cur…

cocktailhidden gemdate night

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MIKAMI IZAKAYA & RAMEN

MIKAMI IZAKAYA & RAMEN is a japanese pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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OMAKASE YUME

OMAKASE YUME is the kind of sushi room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Vietnamese•Chicago•$$

Sochi Saigonese Kitchen

Sochi Saigonese Kitchen, on a busy stretch of Belmont in Lakeview, is the work of Son Do and Chinh Pham, a husband-and-wife team who built the menu from childhood memories of Saigon.

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Ithaki Estiatorio

Ithaki Estiatorio is a greek pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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To Korean Cuisine

To Korean Cuisine suits a night out when you want korean that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Bar Parisette

Bar Parisette suits a night out when you want bistro that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

bistrococktailhidden gem

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SUSU

SUSU is the kind of contemporary room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Kama - West Loop

Kama - West Loop suits a night out when you want indian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Mexican•Pilsen•moderate

Portillo's & Barnelli's Chicago

Portillo's & Barnelli's Chicago is one of the better-known mexican spots in Pilsen in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

tacosdinnerhidden gem

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Based on 24275 reviews

Pequod's Pizza

Pequod's Pizza in Lincoln Park has built one of the most fervent followings in a city that treats pizza allegiance as a matter of civic identity.

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Based on 16324 reviews

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is a dependable pizza option that a lot of diners already know and return to.

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Based on 12831 reviews

435

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Cindy's Rooftop

Contemporary•The Loop•moderate

Cindy's Rooftop

Cindy's Rooftop is a dependable contemporary option in The Loop that a lot of diners already know and return to.

The Looplunchbusiness dinner

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Based on 5501 reviews

Labriola Ristorante - Chicago

Labriola Ristorante is doing something that feels almost countercultural in Chicago's pizza scene: it's priced and positioned like it actually wants you back next week, not just for a special occasion.

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Based on 4593 reviews

437

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Alhambra Palace Chicago

Alhambra Palace Chicago

Alhambra Palace Chicago is a sensible mediterranean call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

cocktaillate night

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Based on 4457 reviews

438

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Big Star

Mexican•Wicker Park•value

Big Star

Big Star is a mexican pick in Wicker Park in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 4391 reviews

439

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Carnivale Chicago

Latin American•Chicago•value

Carnivale Chicago

Carnivale doesn't do subtle, and that's entirely the point.

Late nightlate nighthigh energy

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Based on 4354 reviews

440

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Devil Dawgs on State

Devil Dawgs on State

Devil Dawgs on State is a sensible hot dogs call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 3987 reviews

Cantón Regio

Cantón Regio isn't cooking for anyone who needs Mexican food translated or elevated into something unfamiliar.

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Based on 3782 reviews

Athena Greek Restaurant

Athena has operated on South Halsted in Chicago's Greektown corridor long enough to become a reference point rather than a destination — a mid-priced Greek restaurant that, by most accounts, treats the occasion seriously without inflatin…

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Based on 3481 reviews

Frontera Grill

Frontera Grill opened in Chicago's River North in 1987 under Rick Bayless, and its continued relevance is not accidental.

mexicanbib gourmand

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Based on 3395 reviews

444

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Chicago Cut Steakhouse

Chicago Cut Steakhouse

Chicago Cut Steakhouse is a steakhouse restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Based on 3288 reviews

445

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Medici On 57th

Medici On 57th

Medici on 57th has been a Hyde Park anchor long enough that its regulars measure their relationship with the place in decades, not Yelp check-ins.

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Based on 3227 reviews

La Cantina Grill

La Cantina Grill is an easy mexican option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2639 reviews

447

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Lowcountry South Loop

Seafood•South Loop•moderate

Lowcountry South Loop

Lowcountry South Loop has a thesis, and it commits to it without apology: you are here to get your hands dirty.

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Based on 2425 reviews

448

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Soul Veg City

Soul Veg City

Soul Veg City is an easy vegetarian option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 2392 reviews

449

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mastro's Steakhouse

Steakhouse•Chicago•$$$$

Mastro's Steakhouse

Mastro's Steakhouse is a steakhouse pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

fine diningdate night

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Based on 2328 reviews

450

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Tavern On Rush

cocktailfine diningdate night

Steakhouse•Chicago•$$$

Tavern On Rush

Tavern On Rush is the kind of steakhouse room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 2281 reviews

451

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Luke's Italian Beef

Luke's Italian Beef

Luke's Italian Beef is the kind of Chicago institution that exists outside the usual food-media feedback loop — no tasting menu, no Instagram lighting, no chef's note explaining its ethos.

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Based on 2196 reviews

452

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Beatnik West Town

Mediterranean•Wicker Park•value

Beatnik West Town

Beatnik West Town is a mediterranean pick in Wicker Park in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1974 reviews

Niu Japanese Fusion Lounge

Niu Japanese Fusion Lounge is a sensible japanese call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1938 reviews

Cabra

Cabra is the kind of peruvian room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 1887 reviews

455

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Crosby's Kitchen

Crosby's Kitchen

Crosby's Kitchen has anchored Southport Avenue since 2012, which in a neighborhood that cycles through concepts quickly says something real.

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Based on 1874 reviews

456

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Big Jones

Big Jones

Big Jones is a strong brunch move in Andersonville in Chicago when you want the meal to feel worth leaving the house for.

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Based on 1819 reviews

457

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Luella's Southern Kitchen

American•Ravenswood•value

Luella's Southern Kitchen

Luella's Southern Kitchen is an easy american option in Ravenswood in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1812 reviews

La Josie

La Josie is an easy mexican option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1719 reviews

459

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for The Duplex

Italian•Logan Square•moderate

The Duplex

The Duplex is a italian pick in Logan Square in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1625 reviews

460

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Peckish Pig

Global•Evanston•value

Peckish Pig

Here's what Peckish Pig gets right that most places in Evanston fumble: it's a craft beer bar with a kitchen that people actually talk about.

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Based on 1584 reviews

461

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Kyuramen x TBaar - Downtown Chicago

Kyuramen x TBaar - Downtown Chicago

Kyuramen x TBaar - Downtown Chicago is an easy japanese option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1483 reviews

The L Station

The L Station is a smart brunch call when the morning is supposed to feel a little more like an occasion.

brunchcocktail

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Based on 1430 reviews

463

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Daisies

Restaurant•Chicago•moderate

BIB GOURMANDGREEN STAR

Daisies

Daisies is a pasta-focused Logan Square room from chef-owner Joe Frillman, who in 2017 built the place around produce from his brother Tim's southwest Michigan farm.

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Based on 1399 reviews

464

Indian•Chicago•$$

Adda Indian Cuisine

Adda Indian Cuisine is a sensible indian call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1263 reviews

465

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Replay Andersonville

Global•Andersonville•moderate

Replay Andersonville

Replay Andersonville suits a night out in Andersonville when you want global that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

dinnerdate night

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Based on 1209 reviews

American•Gold Coast•splurge

466

Blue Door Kitchen & Garden

Blue Door Kitchen & Garden suits a night out in Gold Coast when you want american that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 1172 reviews

American•Gold Coast•splurge

467

Somerset

Somerset sits inside the Viceroy Chicago, a Gold Coast tower that fused 2010s glass construction onto a preserved 1920s brick shell, and the room's character reportedly mirrors that layering — low lighting, a Mediterranean-inflected pale…

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Based on 1172 reviews

468

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen

Vietnamese•Chicago•$$

HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen

Pilsen's HaiSous has spent the better part of a decade earning its keep, and the record bears it out: five MICHELIN Bib Gourmand nods and four James Beard nominations for Chef Thai and Danielle Dang since opening in 2017.

bib gourmand

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Based on 1165 reviews

469

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Nia Restaurant & Wine Bar

Pilsen has never needed outside validation to define what good Mexican food looks like, and Azul 18 fits that neighborhood logic exactly.

Middle Eastern•Chicago•$$$$

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Galit

Galit operates on a single premise: a $105 prix-fixe, four courses, no a la carte, with the automatic 20% gratuity and add-ons pushing the evening toward $150 with drinks.

cocktailmichelin star

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Pilsen Yards

Pilsen Yards operates without apology in one of Chicago's most culturally rooted Mexican neighborhoods, and that context is inseparable from what the menu is trying to do.

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Global•Edgewater•value

The Waterfront Cafe

The Waterfront Cafe has been running Edgewater summers for nineteen years, which is a long time to keep a secret that's essentially an outdoor lakefront patio behind Berger Park — one of the last surviving Lakefront coach houses in Chica…

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The Reservoir

The Reservoir is an easy asian option in Uptown in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Cocktail Bar•Chicago•$$$$

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The Loyalist

The Loyalist lives downstairs from Smyth, one of Chicago's most acclaimed fine-dining rooms, and the relationship matters.

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ROJO GUSANO

Rojo Gusano doesn't ask for your attention politely — it takes it.

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Bronzeville Winery

Bronzeville Winery is a wine bar restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Aroy Thai Chicago

Aroy Thai Chicago is a sensible thai call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Picnic Digital Food Court - Avondale

Picnic Digital Food Court - Avondale is a contemporary restaurant in Avondale in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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D Cuisine

D Cuisine on North Clark Street has developed a quiet reputation in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood for something the city's broader Chinese-American dining scene rarely prioritizes: disciplined, focused Cantonese cooking in the Hong Kon…

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Barbecue•Avondale•value

Soul & Smoke - Avondale at Rockwell on the River

Soul & Smoke at Rockwell on the River isn't chasing prestige-barbecue status, and the Avondale crowd that keeps coming back on Tuesday nights seems to appreciate the honesty.

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sushijapanesemichelin star

Cellar Door Provisions

Cellar Door Provisions makes a particular kind of promise: that a roughly 1,000-square-foot room on Diversey can earn your evening by starting over each day.

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Bocaditos Chicago

Bocaditos Chicago is a sensible mexican call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Siam Thai Eatery Chicago

Siam Thai Eatery Chicago is an easy thai option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Mako

Mako asks $215 for B.K.

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Fine Dining•Chicago•$$$$

fine diningcocktailmichelin star

Esmé

Esmé operates on a premise that could easily collapse into gimmick: a Lincoln Park tasting room that reinvents itself every twelve weeks in collaboration with local artists, each of eight to ten courses arriving on custom-made vessels.

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The Exchange

The Exchange occupies a lane the South Loop handles with surprising inconsistency: the contemporary American room pitched at a genuine occasion without the theatrics that usually accompany one.

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River North Bistro

River North Bistro is the kind of american room in River North you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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The Black Vegan

The Black Vegan is a sensible restaurant call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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MingHin Cuisine

MingHin Cuisine is one of the better-known chinese spots in Chinatown in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 8447 reviews

493

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Joy Yee

Joy Yee

Joy Yee is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 4325 reviews

494

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Elephant & Castle

Contemporary•The Loop•moderate

Elephant & Castle

Elephant & Castle is a contemporary restaurant in The Loop in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

The Looplunchbusiness dinner

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Based on 2953 reviews

495

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Fatso's Last Stand

Burgers•Ukrainian Village•value

Fatso's Last Stand

Fatso's Last Stand is a sensible burgers call in Ukrainian Village in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 2383 reviews

Simone's

Simone's isn't positioning itself as the most traditional taqueria on 18th Street, and the concept seems to hinge on that distinction.

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Based on 2201 reviews

497

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Fireside Restaurant & Lounge

Pizza•Andersonville•moderate

Fireside Restaurant & Lounge

Fireside Restaurant & Lounge is a strong brunch move in Andersonville in Chicago when you want the meal to feel worth leaving the house for.

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Based on 2112 reviews

ROOP Chicago Innovative Indian Restaurant & Cocktail Bar

ROOP Chicago Innovative Indian Restaurant & Cocktail Bar is a indian pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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Based on 1991 reviews

Opart Thai House - West Town

Opart Thai House - West Town is a thai restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

Thaidinnertakeout

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Based on 1591 reviews

500

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for 14 Parish

Caribbean•Hyde Park•value

14 Parish

14 Parish is an easy caribbean option in Hyde Park in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1536 reviews

MingHin Cuisine - Lakeshore East

MingHin Cuisine - Lakeshore East is an easy chinese option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1505 reviews

Ahjoomah's Apron Korean Restaurant

Ahjoomah's Apron Korean Restaurant is a sensible korean call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1479 reviews

503

American•Chicago•value

Yardbird

Yardbird is an easy american option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation. Chicken Tortilla Soup and House Chopped Rotisserie Chicken Salad also give you a decent sense of the menu.

late nightdinner

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Based on 1348 reviews

504

dumplingsdinnergroup dinner

Dolo Restaurant and Bar

Dolo Restaurant and Bar is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1269 reviews

505

Chinese•Chicago•$$

Minghin Cuisine - Streeterville

Minghin Cuisine - Streeterville is an easy chinese option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1234 reviews

506

Chinese•Chicago•$$

Shang Noodle Chicago Streeterville

Shang Noodle Chicago Streeterville is an easy chinese option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Based on 1134 reviews

507

Chinese•Chicago•$$

Furama Restaurant

Furama Restaurant is a sensible chinese call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1091 reviews

508

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Blue Door Farm Stand

Lincoln Parkfamily dinnercomfortable

Blue Door Farm Stand

Blue Door Farm Stand is a sensible american call in Lincoln Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1010 reviews

509

Chinese•Ukrainian Village•value

Mesler Kitchen | Bar | Lounge

Mesler Kitchen | Bar | Lounge is a sensible american call in Hyde Park in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Lao Peng You

Lao Peng You in Ukrainian Village isn't trying to impress you.

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PERILLA korean fare

PERILLA korean fare is a sensible korean call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Greek•Wicker Park•value

Taxim

Taxim is a greek pick in Wicker Park in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

Middle Eastern•Chicago•$$

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Japanese•Chicago•$$$$

Miru

Miru is a japanese pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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SIFR

SIFR is an easy middle eastern option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Can't believe it's not meat

Can't believe it's not meat is a strong brunch move in Chicago when you want the meal to feel worth leaving the house for.

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Sol de Mexico

Sol de Mexico is a mexican restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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South Indian•Chicago•$$$$

Le Petit Marcel

Le Petit Marcel is a restaurant restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Thali Indian Cuisine

Thali Indian Cuisine is a sensible indian call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Nadu

Nadu is not running a pan-Indian survey course.

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Trilokah Kerala and South Indian Restaurant

Trilokah Kerala and South Indian Restaurant is a south indian restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Wolf & Company

Wolf & Company has managed something genuinely unusual on Bucktown's edge: a single address that operates simultaneously as café, deli, market, and full chef-driven restaurant without reading like a concept in search of an audience.

cocktailhidden gemdate night

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Brindille

Brindille suits a night out when you want french that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Portillo's Chicago – Canal and Taylor

Portillo's Chicago – Canal and Taylor is one of the better-known hot dogs spots in Chicago, which makes it a practical place to start.

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Based on 12982 reviews

524

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Triple Crown Restaurant | Dim Sum • Cantonese

Triple Crown Restaurant | Dim Sum • Cantonese

Triple Crown Restaurant has been holding down the south end of Wentworth Avenue since 1993, and that kind of tenure in Chinatown's competitive corridor means something specific: a kitchen calibrated over decades to satisfy multi-generati…

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cocktaillate nightdate night

Based on 4006 reviews

TAO Chicago

TAO Chicago suits a night out when you want asian that feels grown-up without getting stiff.

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Based on 3833 reviews

LH Rooftop

LH Rooftop is the kind of bar room you reach for when the evening is meant to matter a little more.

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Based on 3670 reviews

Burger Bar Chicago

Burger Bar Chicago is a sensible burgers call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 3394 reviews

Bar Goa is a sensible indian call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Mercat a la Planxa

Mercat a la Planxa is a spanish pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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HIDE+SEEK

HIDE+SEEK is a american pick in West Loop in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

wine barcocktailhidden gem

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Event Venue•Chicago•$$

Avli on The Park

Avli on The Park is an easy event venue option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Noble Thai

Noble Thai is an easy thai option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Steakhouse•Chicago•$$

PERILLA korean steakhouse

PERILLA korean steakhouse is a sensible steakhouse call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Figo Wine Bar

Figo Wine Bar is a wine bar restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Coquette

Coquette is a sensible french call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

cocktailwine barhidden gem

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Indian Garden Restaurant

Indian Garden has a sharper identity than most budget Indian restaurants in Chicago dare to claim: the menu moves deliberately across regions, from Punjabi fish preparations to Rajasthani slow-burn meat dishes to southern deep-fry tradit…

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Based on 4540 reviews

543

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Beatnik On The River

Mediterranean•The Loop•moderate

Beatnik On The River

Beatnik on the River occupies a particular lane in Chicago's Loop dining scene that most contemporary rooms fumble: it reads as a special-occasion address without performing that status with exhausting self-importance.

The Looplunchbusiness dinner

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Based on 3073 reviews

Star of Siam

Star of Siam is a thai restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

Thaidinnertakeout

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Based on 2346 reviews

Panchos Rooftop Cantina

Panchos Rooftop Cantina is a sensible mexican call in Chicago when you want something that usually lands well.

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Based on 1812 reviews

546

Sushi•Chicago•$$$$

Nobu Chicago

Nobu Chicago is a sushi pick in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.

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UncommonGround - Lakeview

UncommonGround - Lakeview is a american restaurant in Lakeview in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

Contemporary•Hyde Park•value

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Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told is a contemporary restaurant in Hyde Park in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Hing Kee

Hing Kee is a chinese restaurant in Chinatown in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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8.0

Based on 1621 reviews

550

Ken Kee Restaurant Hong Kong

What Kenny Yang appears to have understood when Ken Kee opened in late April 2021 is that cart noodle culture is an architecture, not an aesthetic.

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8.0

Based on 1274 reviews

Mama Delia

Mama Delia is a spanish restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Lao Sze Chuan (Downtown)

Lao Sze Chuan (Downtown) is an easy chinese option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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7.6

Based on 1561 reviews

553

Jordyn's Soul Cafe

Jordyn's Soul Cafe is a american restaurant in Hyde Park in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Chicken Wings•Chicago•$$

St. Bess Jerk

St.

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7.6

Based on 450 reviews