Chicago On My Mind: Spilled Milk #151
Four dozen or so of my favorite Windy City eateries.
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What I’m listening to these days
Paolo Nutini, good stuff from a Scottish indie rocker with some funk to him from time to time. Good music to cook to, that’s for sure.
My Chicago Hot List
Better late than never. If you are headed to the Windy City, these are the places I like to eat. And there isn’t one on this list that I wouldn’t eat in with you right now. No duds on this one. And NOT in any order either. Apologies to anyone I missed. I love lists but hate making them because, well, I forget stuff.
The Publican: Beer hall meets pig heaven. The owners are my friends, but don’t trust me — it’s a perennial Top 20 spot in town. Casual, loud and fun with superb food. And there is a lot more here than beer and pork.
Mi Tocaya Antojeria: Very personal Mexican cuisine from a brilliant chef. Beyond worth it.
Parachute: A Korean restaurant that reinvents itself regularly, which means they “get it” —in the food business these days, unless you are a heritage restaurant, you have to always be evolving. Superb food and service.
Virtue: A personal interpretation of soulful Southern cooking that has won as many awards as there are to get in this biz.
Next: From the team behind Alinea, Roister and the Aviary comes this modernist champion that changes its menu and everything else four times a year.
Boka: I have no perspective here at all. Everyone involved in this place is a close friend. It’s been one of the best restaurants in town for 20 years, and you simply won’t find better food, ambience and service anywhere. If you go and disagree — well, trust me, you won’t.
Monteverde: Italian heaven from a chef/owner whose meticulous attention to detail has built one of the best places to share a meal with friends that I can think of. I haven’t ever had a bad meal, a bad dish or a bad bite here.
Purple Pig: A neighborhood restaurant right downtown. Great, recognizable and straightforward — good chow.
Bazaar Meat and Bar Mar by José Andrés: Is there a better place to eat meat or seafood in Chicago for pure quality of what’s tossed on the grill? Nope. And everything else is pretty damn awesome too.
Gene & Jude’s: A serious place for those of us who worship tube steaks. Get one.
Oriole: Ultra fine dining from one of the most creative and youngest chefs in America. A must.
Smyth + The Loyalist: Is it one of the best fine dining restaurants in the city? NO. It’s one of the hottest and best fine dining restaurants in North America. And downstairs is a bar with one of the best burgers I have ever eaten.
Johnnie’s Beef: Really delicious hot beef sandwiches and killer Italian ice.
Birrieria Zaragoza: Brilliant Mexican spot that is truly goat heaven and one of my favorite places in town. I have been a regular for about 20 years.
Kasama: Filipino perfection from Beard Award–winning couple who have created a restaurant that is as much fun as it is delicious.
Kyoten: Is it the best sushi restaurant in Chicago? I haven’t been to a better one.
Jeong: Korean brilliance. It’s that good. This is not your buddy’s KBBQ hangout. Prepare yourself for a serious adventure.
Paulie Gee’s: Neapolitan style pizza, wood fired, duh.
Roister: Wood-fired cookery from the minds behind Next, Alinea and the Aviary.
Indienne: Modern Indian with a killer tasting menu. If you like this type of food — and who doesn’t? — this should be a “must.”
Lem’s Bar-B-Q: Chicago-style barbecue, which means you get the rib tips and sausage — and fried chicken for dessert.
Thattu: Keralan restaurant, so that means southwestern India. Stunning food.
Perilla: Insanely good KBBQ, but don’t sleep on the stuff that isn’t grilled.
Sushi By Scratch: Omakase sushi, as good as it gets. VERY inventive style
3 Little Pigs: The char siu made them famous but everything here is just fun deliciousness.
Obelix: Modern French, and you need a place like this in your life.
Lula Café: One of my favorites for over 20 years, and brunch is available EVERY day. Beloved, and deservedly so.
Topolobampo: Insanely good Mexican restaurant that has been a national treasure for over 30 years. You can’t say you’ve eaten in Chicago if you haven’t dined here.
Khmai: Cambodian restaurant that cooks the food I love with honesty and authenticity. And it’s delicious. A knockout restaurant.
Qing Xiang Yuan: The best Chinese dumpling house in Chicago, so that means I go a lot.
Giant: A teeny restaurant with some of the best and most creative menus in town.
Ever: Curtis Duffy’s latest and greatest. 10 course tasting is the way to go. Once again, an Alinea alum has created one of the best restaurants in America, not just in Chicago.
Smoque: Brisket and ribs. Smoque is a traditional barbecue spot that happens to be in Chicago. Love this place.
Superdawg: Is this the best hot dog spot in town? Well, there are about six of them that I think are in the conversation. This is the OG, though.
Girl & the Goat: Eclectic contemporary. No rules, just right.
Alla Vita: Italian delights from the Boka folks. Chicken parm for the win.
Taqueria Chingon: Mexican street food of all types. Heavenly tacos al pastor
Esmé: Tasting menu restaurant from a superbly talented Alinea/Next alum. The real deal for food lovers.
Elske: Superb Scandinavian style modern cooking from Blackbird/Publican alums. Just fabulous.
Galit: The cuisine of the Levant is celebrated at this Lincoln Park restaurant from former chef of NoLa’s Shaya.
Harold’s Chicken Shack: The best fried chicken in Chicago? I don’t know, because Roister is in that conversation. BUT, the slaw, the fries, the hot sauce are just pure excellence.
Au Cheval: Sure the burgers are superb, and probably what brought you to the place, but rest of the menu is beyond primal. Creative, crave-worthy, and a place I find myself all the time. Three words: fried bologna sandwich.
Elina’s: Maybe the best Italian-American place I know of in Chicago. The real deal.
J.P. Graziano: Sandwiches. Heroes. Grinders. Call ’em what you want — just go get one.
Avec: Mediterranean-kissed neighborhood restaurant perfection that I have been dining in since it opened.
Alinea: One of the best restaurants in the world, full stop.
Pequod’s: Chicago-style pizza, but more hybridized than that. A little bit of Detroit and Sicily creep in, and the crusts’ edging, laced with crispy cheese, is the stuff of dreams.
Rose Mary: Italian-Croatian food self described as “Adriatic drinking food.” I call it simply excellent food that is very much of the here and now.
And I really want to go to Warlord and Tuk Tuk Thai and a dozen other places that are new and I am sure I forgot about some old-school classics that I love — like Gibsons. There, I remembered it. Apologies .…
That about says it all! Thanks for the shout-out to my kind of town ❤️
Andrew!! Have you had a chance to go to Uncle Mike's Place for the Filipino breakfast?