How to assemble your dining guide

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Print out each page of this PDF on letter-sized (8.5” x 11”) sheets of paper.

Fold the top half of each page down to the bottom, so that the dotted line is on the outside of the crease.

Then fold each page in half from left to right so the dotted line is on the outside of the crease. Then unfold from left to right to make a set of pages.

Stack the pages the order they were printed out, making sure the page numbers are in the right order.

Staple the pages together in the center.You’re done! Now go eat!

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CHICAGODINING

101

By Kevin Pang

Winter 2014/2015

CHICAGODINING

101

Like any world-class city, Chicago presents two simultaneous versions of itself: one as described by the hotel concierge, the other inhabited by those who call it home. The former is defined by deep dish pizzas, cheese-caramel popcorn and architectural cruises in an area triangulated by Willis Tower, the Field Museum and the John Hancock Center. The Chicago of Chicagoans consists of three-flat buildings, beanbag toss on sidewalks, Goose Island Green Line, rib tips grilling on aquarium smokers and tamale-selling abuelas.

Both Chicagos are valid representations of the city. But many out-of-towners only hear about one.

So what does it mean to eat like a Chicagoan? Here, now, is our attempt to encapsulate our city’s restaurant scene, a Chicago beyond what’s perpetuated by guide-books and old “Saturday Night Live” skits.

kpang@tribpub.comTwitter @pang

Welcome to Chicago!

Contents

Note on itineraries: Callahead/check website first toconfirm hours of operation

INTRODUCTION Luxury dining 3 Proletariat food 4 “Yuppie dining” 5 International 6

ITINERARIES Chicago’s Greatest Hits 1 8 Chicago’s Greatest Hits 2 10 River North (no car) 12 Expense Account 14 South Side 16 International 18

INTRODUCTION 2

CThe RadlerSerious German for the cool crowd

Get: Pretzel, German onion pie, any wurst, smoked ham sandwich

2375 N. Milwaukee Ave.,773-276-0270dasradler.com

Note: The beer list is mind-boggling and impressive. Dinner nightly, brunch on weekends.

DLao Sze ChuanThe restaurant that popularized regional Chinese in Chicago

Get: Cumin lamb, Tony’s three-chili chicken, twice-cooked pork, hot pot

Multiple locations, original restaurant at 2172 S. Archer Ave., 312-326-5040 tonygourmetgroup.com

Note: Owner Tony Hu has a string of regional Lao restaurants, including Lao Beijing and Lao Shanghai in same complex.

FSan Soo Gab SanCrowd-pleasing Korean tabletop barbecue

Get: Kalbi (beef short ribs), bulgogi (marinated beef), kimchee zigae (spicy kimchee/pork stew)

5247 N. Western Ave. 773-334-1589

Note: Don’t wear cashmere, unless you want it to smell like barbecue forever.

EChopal Kabab &Steak

Meat-first Indian/Pakastani BYOB

Get: Grilled goat chops,chili chicken

2240 W. Devon Ave.773-338-4080 chopalkababsteak.com

Note: Overdosed on meat? Consider vegetarian Uru-Swati a half-mile west at 2629 W. Devon Ave., 773-262-5280

Itinerary: INTERNATIONAL19

We begin with restaurants at the top — tops in creative verve, critical acclaim and price tag. First some context: Fine-dining in Chicago during the ’70s was shaped by chefs like Jovan Trboyev-ich and Jean Banchet, whose cooking philosophies were ensconced in the school of classic French. Then came Charlie Trotter in 1987, who sourced exotic ingredients and preached farm-to-table kitchen before it was en vogue. Trotter’s kitchen produced a coterie of Chicago’s most influential chefs today.

Among them is Grant Achatz, the man responsible for guiding our city’s restaurants to a new stratum of ambition. When he opened Alinea in 2005, his cooking garnered praise that went beyond local adula-tions. Ruth Reichl, in Gourmet magazine, called it the best restaurant in the country. Where Trotter’s preached refinement and

tradition, Achatz’s food was altogether exacting, playful, interactive and theatrical, influenced by Spain’s avant-garde cooking move-ment (for example, a green taffy balloon dessert suspended with helium).

For this genre of restau-rant, where diners can expect to pay $400 and up per person, Alinea continues to be the standard-bearer. Others, like L2O, Sixteen, Tru, Spiaggia and Grace, shoot for multi-Michelin-star status. Any international gourmet with a passing familiarity of Chicago’s dining scene will reference these restaurants first.

One level down in pricing, but with no less decorum, are Chicago’s famed steakhouses. Gibson’s, Gene & Georgetti’s and Morton’s have long been the go-to beef emporiums for business suits and conven-tiongoers. Here you’ll find chicken Vesuvio, a Chicago invention — bone-in chicken with potatoes sauteed in white wine, garlic and olive oil, then roasted until crisp.

Luxury dining

INTRODUCTION 3

An example of square-cut pizza.

What is the food of Chicago’s Everyman and Everywoman? Each neigh-borhood has its say. In Lakeview, it might be a pub serving a two-handed cheeseburger. On the Southwest Side along Cermak Road, it’s the fry houses selling breaded shrimp by the paper bag. You’ll hear the phrase “tip-link combo” uttered on the South and West sides, shorthand for rib tips and hot links found in barbecue takeouts.

Most ubiquitous of all is the corner grill, found in almost every neighborhood, that’ll serve a Chicago-style hot dog (mustard, neon relish, onions, pickle, tomato slices, sport peppers, celery salt). Italian beef — the irresistibly sloppy bomb of roast beef, hot peppers and jus-soaked roll — is Chicago’s Everyman sandwich, and finer purveyors (Johnnie’s, Al’s #1, chains like Portillo’s and Buona Beef) still roast

and slice beef in-house daily.Origins of the gyro

sandwich are hotly disputed among a handful of Greek-town restaurant magnates along South Halsted Street, but all acknowledge it was introduced to America via Chicago sometime in the mid-’60s. As for pizza, there’s this false belief that Chicago-ans exclusively consume deep dish pizzas. More representa-tive of Chicago’s pizza preference is the thin-crust sausage and cheese party cut: Instead of standard triangle-shaped wedges, the pie is cut crisscross into squares.

Proletariat food

INTRODUCTION 4

EPleasant House BakeryBlue-collar English food with farm-to-table sensibility

Get: Chicken balti pie, premium pasty, deluxe gravy chips

964 W. 31st St., 773-523-7437, pleasanthousebakery.com

Note: Second location now open in Three Oaks, Mich.

FPunch HouseUnderground VFW Hall ambience, with punch on draft

Get: Pimm’s Cup, Pilsen Fish House Punch

1227 W. 18th St. 312-526-3851 punchhousechicago.com

Note: Punch House (drinks) is part of the Dusek’s (restaurant) and Thalia Hall (live shows) triumvirate.

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Itinerary: SOUTH SIDE17

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A La ChaparritaSupermarket taqueria of the highest order

Get: Crispy tripe and al pastor tacos, tepache (fermented pineapple drink)

2500 S. Whipple St.773-254-0975

Note: The supermarket makes its own longaniza sausage, which it sells by bulk.

B Smak-TakHomey Polish cooking in lodge setting

Get: Pierogis, hunter stew, stuffed cabbage rolls

5961 N. Elston Ave. 773-763-1123 smaktak.com

Note: Translation means “taste-yes!”

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Itinerary: INTERNATIONAL18

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TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES / TRIBUNE PHOTO 2010

Diners eating al fresco at the Purple Pig.

For lack of a better term, we use “yuppie” in its literal sense — restaurants frequented by young, urban professionals. This covers a wide swath of establishments, to be sure, but by our definition these restaurants: 1) offer beverage programs; 2) have changing menus that reflect ingredient seasonality; 3) are “buzzy” spots covered by media; and 4) charge around $100 for

‘Yuppie’ dining dinner for two (by Chicago standards, this is considered a midtier price). Restaurants that fit that bill include: Girl & The Goat, Lula Cafe, The Publican, Hopleaf, The Purple Pig, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, Sunda, Balena, so on and so forth. The overwhelming majority of these restaurants are on the North Side, though in recent years, restaurants like Nightwood and Dusek's have thrived south of Roosevelt Avenue.

INTRODUCTION 5

Goat chops at Chopal Kebab & Steak.

One in every five Chicago-ans is of Mexican descent, representing more Latinos than people from any other country. The largest groups reside on the Southwest Side, in Pilsen and Little Village, neighborhoods where taquerias and carnicerias abound.

Mexicans are responsible for Chicago’s most robust street food scene (in a city where regulations all but stifle the culture), and it can be found Sundays at Maxwell Street Market, a mile south-west of the Loop. You also can’t mention Mexican food in Chicago without a hat tip to Rick Bayless, who elevated the cuisine to four-star status. He practically owns the entire block of Clark Street between Hubbard and Illinois streets with his trio of popular restaurants, in descending levels of formality: Topolob-ampo, Frontera Grill and Xoco.

After English and Spanish, Polish is the most-spoken

language among Chicagoans. Some of the most popular restaurants for the Chicago Polonia can be found along Milwaukee Avenue on the Northwest Side (Smak-Tak, Staropolska, Red Apple).

Pockets of ethnic commu-nities produce vibrant and compact restaurant rows. The milelong stretch of Devon Avenue between California and Damen avenues is home to 40-plus Indian and Pakistani restaurants. The Chinese represent the largest Asian ethnicity in Chicago, with a bustling variety of mostly Cantonese food

International

INTRODUCTION 6

CBlackbirdThe restaurant that began West Loop’s fine-dining boom

Get: For lunch, pork belly or whitefish sandwich. Menu changes often for dinner.

619 W. Randolph St.312-715-0708 blackbirdrestaurant.com

Note: The $25 three-course lunch is the best 4-star restaurant deal in town.

Grace/Alinea/Sixteen/EL Ideas/SpiaggiaThe most adventurous, expensive, Michelin star-chasing restaurants in town

Get: Most of these restaurants have set tasting menus.

Note: Reservations will need to be secured months ahead.

Grace: 652 W. Randolph St., 312-234-9494,grace-restaurant.com

Alinea: 1723 N. Halsted St., 312-867-0110, alinearestaurant.com

Sixteen: 401 N. Wabash Ave., 312-588-8030, sixteenchicago.com

EL Ideas: 2419 W. 14th St., 312-226-8144, elideas.com

Spiaggia: 980 N. Michigan Ave., 312-280-2750, spiaggiarestaurant.com

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JOHN J. KIM / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Itinerary: EXPENSE ACCOUNT15

A Top NotchBeefburgers

Legendary burger restaurant that still butchers its own beef

Get: Half-pound cheese-burger with grilled onions

2116 W. 95th St.773-445-7218

Note: Why are the French fries so good? (They’re fried in beef fat.)

C Original RainbowCone

The official ice cream of Chicago summers

Get: The rainbow cone

9223 S. Western Ave., 773-238-7075, rainbowcone.com

Note: The five flavors of the rainbow cone are chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio and orange sherbet.

B Vito & Nick’sClassic Chicago thin-crust pizza

Get: House special pizza (sausage, mushroom, green pepper, onion)

8433 S. Pulaski Rd.773-735-2050 vitoandnicks.com

Note: Cash only. Friday is all-you-can-eat fried smelts night.

D Uncle John’s BBQand Dat Donut

South Side Chicago-style barbecue next to 24-hour doughnut shop

Get: At Uncle John’s, rib tips and hot links. At Dat Donut, ask for anything fresh from the fryer.

Uncle John’s: 8249 S. Cottage Grove Ave., 773-952-6236,Dat Donut: 8251 S. Cottage Grove Ave., 773-723-1002 datdonut.com

Note: Always ask for barbecue sauce on the side.

Itinerary: SOUTH SIDE16

The Hungarian style pancake at Smak-Tak!, a Polish restaurant on the northwest side.ALEX GARCIA / TRIBUNE PHOTO2005

options in Chinatown (Archer and Wentworth avenues on the South Side). On the North Side, Argyle Street between Sheridan Road and Broadway features a cluster of Vietnam-ese restaurants. The Filipino, Korean and Middle Eastern restaurant scenes in Albany Park are, by comparison, more insular, catering to their countrymen (some menus don’t have English transla-tions). But if you seek cuisine that won’t compromise authenticity, Albany Park boasts the most diverse array of international restaurants in Chicago. (Bridgeview isn’t part of Chicago but is another

hub of top-notch Middle Eastern restaurants.)

Italian restaurateurs made Little Italy (Taylor Street) and the Heart of Chicago neighborhood (Oakley Avenue between 24th and 26th streets) into red-sauce gravy central. A handful of reliable German restaurants exist in Lincoln Square. Pub food is ever present in Beverly, home to the annual South Side Irish Parade. Puerto Ricans settled in Humboldt Park, where the jibarito (steak sandwich with fried plantains in place of bread) garnered much fame at Borinquen restaurant.

INTRODUCTION 7

DGene & Georgetti’sOld-school Chicago steakhouse since 1941

Get: Chicken alla Joe, broiled petite strip steak

500 N. Franklin St., 312-527-3718, geneandgeorgetti.com

Note: Come during lunch, and sit at the mahogany bar. Listen to old-timers tell stories.

EThree Dots and a DashThe tiki bar, updated for the craft cocktails crowd

Get: Puka Puka Punch, Dead Reckoning

435 N. Clark St.312-610-4220 threedotschicago.com

Note: Psst. The entrance is in the alley behind the building on Hubbard St.

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Itinerary: RIVER NORTH (no car)13

A NoMI KitchenPark Hyatt hotel restaurant with spectacular Michigan Avenue view

Get: The weekend brunch

800 N. Michigan Ave., 7th floor, 312-239-4030, hyatt.com

Note: The only brunch in town with brioche French toast and sushi.

B David Burke’s PrimehouseSteakhouse with dry-aging room on site

Get: 55- or 75-day dry aged rib-eye steak, 40-day prime steak burger

616 N. Rush St., 312-660-6000 davidburkesprimehouse.com

Note: Dry-aged steaks can be purchased for home grilling.

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Itinerary: EXPENSE ACCOUNT14

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AXocoMexican-inspired street foods

Get: Churros, choriqueso, woodland mushroom torta, Mexican hot chocolate

449 N. Clark St., 312-661-1434;1471 N. Milwau-kee Ave.,872-829-3821, rickbayless.com

Note: River North location closed Sunday and Monday, Wicker Park location closed on Monday.

BThe PublicanPork, oysters, beer hall

Get: Charcuterie, farm chicken, any of the seafood offerings

837 W. Fulton Market312-733-9555 thepublicanrestaurant.com

Note: Dinner only Monday to Friday, weekend brunch. Reservations suggested.

CMargie’s CandiesOld-school ice cream parlor

Get: Turtle sundae, turtle split

1960 N. Western Ave. 773-384-1035and 1813 W. Montrose Ave. 773-348-0400 margiesfinecandies.com

Note: Western Avenue location open since 1921, has higher charm factor but longer lines.

ABEL URIBE/TRIBUNE PHOTO 2009

Itinerary: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS 1 8

G Garrett PopcornHabit-forming popcornGet: Chicago mix (cheese and caramel combo)Multiple locations, garrettpopcorn.comNote: Last-minute stragglers can pick up popcorn at O’Hare Terminal 3.

D Portillo’sThe Chicago-est of Chicago foodGet: Italian beef with peppers, Chicago-style hot dogsMultiple locations around town; downtown location at 100 W. Ontario St., 312-587-8910portillos.comNote: A tourist restaurant worth trying at least once.

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Itinerary: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS 1 9

A The Purple PigMediterranean-inflected communal small plates

Get: Roasted bone marrow, jowl bacon-duck egg sandwich, milk-braised pork shoulder

500 N. Michigan Ave. 312-464-1744 thepurplepigchicago.com

Note: Prime foot traffic location + no reservations = super busy

B Frontera GrillRick Bayless' raucous and signature Mexican restau-rant

Get: Ceviche trio, sweet corn tamales, guacamole, tortilla soup

445 N. Clark St., 312-661-1434rickbayless.com

Note: Limited reservations. Line up here at 4:30 p.m. if you plan on dining. Closed Sunday and Monday.

C EatalyAn Italian foods department store

Get: Nutella crepes, affogato (gelato plus espresso, located on first floor), prosciutto bar (second floor)

43 E. Ohio St.312-521-8700eataly.com

Note: There are 23 “restaurants” inside here. Walk around first before committing.

E. JASON WAMBSGANS / TRIBUNE PHOTO 2013

Itinerary: RIVER NORTH (no car)12

AFat RiceYour first Macanese restaurant

Get: Linguica, Portuguese chicken, arroz gordo

2957 W. Diversey Ave.773-661-9170eatfatrice.com

Note: Dinner nightly except Monday (closed), brunch Friday-Sunday, limited reservations. Macau, just outside Hong Kong, was formerly colonized by the Portuguese.

BAu ChevalThe greasy spoon, upscaled for beautiful people

Get: Chopped chicken liver, duck heart hash, cheese-burger (skip the bacon)

800 W. Randolph St.312-929-4580 auchevalchicago.com

Note: Dinner lines can be ridiculously long, so visit during lunch or after 11 p.m. (open until 1:30 a.m. most nights.)

CBalenaSophisticated, contem-porary Italian worth donning your Sunday best

Get: Squid ink pasta with sea urchin and crab, fennel sausage pizza

1633 N. Halsted St.312-867-3888 balenachicago.com

Note: Dinner only, reserva-tions suggested.

Itinerary: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS 2 10

EHopleafMind-boggling selection of Belgian and other rare beers

Get: Whatever beer the server recom-mends, Montreal-style beef brisket

5148 N. Clark St.773-334-9851hopleaf.com

Note: 21 and over only.

DYushoInventive Japanese small plates

Get: 2x fried chicken, okonomiyaki, chawanmushi (if they have it), takoyaki

2853 N. Kedzie Ave.773-904-8558yusho-chicago.com

Note: Closed Tuesday, dinner only except Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.

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Itinerary: CHICAGO’S GREATEST HITS 211

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PHIL VELASQUEZ/TRIBUNE PHOTO 2013