Chicago Eats
Chicago may be famous for deep dish pizza, hot dogs, and beef, but there’s also an impressive international gourmet food scene here. Foodies around the world want to come to Chicago, thanks to Hulu’s wildly popular TV series The Bear (which we loved). But the reason Chicago will forever be one of our favorite food cities is that our two favorite chefs have restaurants here - and they just happen to be in River North, less than half a mile from our apartment. So you’ll understand why, even with a well-equipped kitchen at home, we ate out A LOT during our time in Chicago.
And now, our list of top favorites:
Bar Sótano - This is Chef Rick Bayless’s cocktail bar, in the basement under Frontera Grill, with a speakeasy-style main entrance off the alley. We dined there every week, returning time and time again for the delicious, inventive Mexican dishes and excellent, personalized service. We usually ordered a variety of small plates, such as chef de cuisine Jackie Hernandez’s daily taco, the grilled Caesar salad, and the best ceviche we’ve tasted anywhere.
Jaleo - This is the newest of Chef José Andrés’s five Jaleo restaurants; we’ve also tried them in Washington, D.C. and Disney Springs, and they are all great. There’s Sangría Hour every day, and happy hour tapas all day on Tuesdays. Noteworthy dishes here included the summer peach sangría, the montadito de Serrano, the seasonal flight of conos, and the croquetas de pollo. We took Maria’s mom, aunts and uncle here, and they were a bit mystified by the liquid olives, but they loved everything else.
Frontera Grill - We dined at Rick Bayless’s flagship restaurant only once, because reservations were easier to get at Bar Sotano. But Frontera deserves a spot on this list because it was (and always is) superb. The standout dishes were tamales de elote and the chocolate pecan pie with Kahlúa whipped cream. Thanks to our wonderful server Sofia at Bar Sotano, we could also enjoy these favorite items when we were downstairs.
Honorable Mentions:
Mr. Beef - Yeah, it’s the historic neighborhood joint (right near our apartment) that became a tourist attraction because of The Bear. We ordered our sandwich dipped, hot, and sweet. The wall of celebrity photos and humorous menu board kept us entertained while waiting in line. Steve made a repeat visit with Amy.
Kyuramen - If we’d had more time, I would have gone back for the cool dining room and more of the omurice - chicken fried rice topped with a creamy omelet that they slice open at your table and smother in gravy. The ramen was almost as good as Ippudo’s (our favorite ramen place in New York City).
Lou Malnati’s and Labriola (tie) - We tried deep dish pizza at a few different places. Lou’s had our favorite pizza (crispy, buttery crust and fresh tomato chunks), and Labriola had the nicest location (outdoor tables just off Michigan Avenue).
Max’s Restaurant - Maria and 10 of her relatives attended a lavish feast at Max’s, a Philippine restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and authentic Filipino cuisine. Every dish was masarap (delicious).
