Takin’ It to the Streets: A few of
the city’s fine-dining chefs are opening casual spinoffs after seeing success in their restaurants. There’s Big Star, a tequila-whiskey bar and taqueria where tacos are stuffed with anything from spit-roasted pork and pineapples to tempura-style fish. And XOCO, sister to authentic-Mexican fine-dining establishments Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, serves up street food in the form of tortas filled with red-chili chicken and black beans alongside sugared churros and mugs of Mexican hot chocolate. from top left: A tuna dish at L2O, 676 Restaurant & Bar’s elegant atmosphere, sizzling fajitas at [ Clockwise La Pasadita, Blackbird’s modern bar, the casual Hot Doug’s, an appetizer at Green Zebra.
Chicagoans still hanker for the old street-food standbys.
Perennial and Boka are among many eateries in town serving up local, seasonal, and sustainable foods from farms in Illinois and the Midwest. At Prairie Fire, award-winning chefs layer tender slices of Tallgrass beef brisket atop a creamy purée of locally grown potatoes. Naha has also led the farm-to-table movement here, with creamy soups of foraged mushrooms and duck confit drizzled with Michigan blueberry gastrique. Even Gibsons, the classic Chicago steakhouse where regulars sip dry martinis and indulge in juicy, seared chops, switched to a more local source – a network of environmentally friendly family-run beef farms in Minnesota.
Prime Time for Swine:
But pork is prince in Chicago as of late, starting with the latest sister spot of Avec and Blackbird – The Publican, a beer hall where frosty mugs of craft brews are served with thick cuts of rich pork belly with a crispy caramel crust. And then there’s the relative of N’Awlins-style Heaven on Seven: The Purple Pig, a tribute to all things swine, with housemade salamis alongside more 46
Convention & Tourism Bureau
than 100 wines by the glass. Spanish pork dishes spark appetites in the shareable tapas at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, and at nearby Mado, chefs teach pigcarving classes, with a “whole hog” menu for more adventurous eaters. If it’s not meat you seek, veggie lovers flock to Green Zebra, which made vegetarianism cool, turning simple fruits and vegetables into inventive creations that change with season’s bounty. One day you may see a sunchoke ravioli with medjool dates, the next a roasted-beet-and-goat-cheese terrine with hazelnuts. For sweets, Mindy’s HotChocolate draws a cult following for its decadent desserts and tasty dinner menu to boot. Once said to boast the best burger in Chicago, Mindy’s also offers variations on chocolate – a take on peanut butter cups here, a dark soufflé tart there – that take the cake.
More Than Meets the (Rib) Eye: But dining out in Chicago goes beyond the food. Aside from legendary Goose Island, the city is home to Half Acre, Metropolitan Brewery, and Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery for tasty beers. Sometimes called “gastropubs,” these culinaryinspired breweries, or cocktail-inspired eateries, pair up good drinks with just-as-good eats. Across from Millennium Park at The Gage, you might find handcrafted sausage with a strong Belgian ale, or caramelized lobster and a ginger fizz. Speaking of sausage and lobster, lobster sausage and other creative works brought to fame the elegant Lockwood Restaurant inside the Palmer House Hilton. At theWit Hotel, cibo matto does a different take on carbonara – chunky pancettaspecked spaghetti topped with a raw duck egg yolk,
MK now has the offshoot DMK Burger, a grass-fed beef joint with strong cocktails and craft brews. And Chicago restaurant empire Lettuce Entertain You serves up char-grilled
wonders at M Burger that are tasty without the fancy of Tru.
DINE
waiting for your fork. Head to Hotel Elysian’s bistro-like Balsan for flatbread and oysters, or Affinia Hotel’s C-House for fresh fish and chops.
Chicagoans still hanker for the old street-food standbys – and you will, too, once you try them. Somewhere, au jus from an Al’s Italian Beef sandwich drips down someone’s chin, and cheese oozes out of a shortbread crust at Gino’s East. At Hot Doug’s, a customer shakes celery salt on a sweet relish- and onion-laden Vienna Beef Chicago dog at the place that also tops a duck sausage with foie gras. In Chicago, you’ve got the best of both worlds.
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Ferris Bueller, aka Abe Froman, the sausage King of Chicago, once said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” He must’ve been talking about dining in Chicago – definitely something not to miss.
A CITY OF TOP CHEFS Move over, Emeril. Chicago’s home to a slew of celebrity chefs, several of whom have made appearances on – or won – competitive reality cooking shows. Take that, Iron Chefs.
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Grant achatz: All eyes were on Chicago after Achatz, of Alinea, won James Beard’s top honor as Outstanding Chef not long after battling Stage 4 tongue cancer that threatened to destroy his sense of taste. He helped make the term “molecular gastronomy” popular with his highly experimental style, creating extraordinary taste and texture sensations. Alinea, 1723 N. Halsted, tel: 312.867.0110, alinearestaurant.com
a rick Bayless: Pitted against heavy hitters Hubert Keller and Michael Chiarello, this
Topolobampo and Frontera Grill chef outshined them all to win Bravo TV’s “Top Chef Masters” competition, which aired in conjunction with the opening of his third outpost, XOCO. He continues to raise the bar for authentic, fine-dining Mexican cuisine.
Topolobampo/Frontera Grill, 445 N. Clark St., tel: 312.661.1434; XOCO, 449 N. Clark St., tel: 312.334.3688; rickbayless.com/restaurants
a stePhanie izarD: This hometown chef made Chicago proud by earning the title
of “Top Chef” following Season 4’s taping in her native town. She’s since built loyal followers through her Wandering Goat underground dinner series in preparation for her soon-to-open restaurant, Girl & the Goat. Girl & the Goat, 809-813 W. Randolph St., stephanieizard.com
a Paul kahan: Founder of the institutions Avec, Blackbird, and The
Publican, he started the house-made charcuterie and pork belly craze that hasn’t yet died down, and appeared in the Anthony Bourdain “No Reservations” episode in which Bourdain went to his Chicago home for a pig roast with other chefs.
Avec, 615 W. Randolph, tel: 312.377.2002, avecrestaurant.com; Blackbird, 619 W. Randolph, tel: 312.715.0708, blackbirdrestaurant.com; The Publican, 837 W. Fulton Market, tel: 312.733.9555, thepublicanrestaurant.com
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art smith: Before opening Table Fifty-Two, Smith was Oprah Winfrey’s longtime personal chef, cooking up such a mean fried chicken and biscuits that even President Barack Obama took notice. After a presidential Valentine’s Day dinner at his upscale comfort-food restaurant, rumors circulated about a move to the White House. Table Fifty-Two, 52 W. Elm St., tel: 312.573.4000, tablefifty-two.com
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