First time Chicago visitor looking to optimize [2020]

Big cheers to everyone for the amazing site. Content is fantastic and the GNR function is crazy good. I’m quite active on our local sites but haven’t seen anything like that.

I’m coming to town finally for the first time never week, staying in River North neighborhood. I’ve done as much research as I could and reserved a number of places but am finding this page a bit late in the game.

I’m being told by some locals that I shouldnt prioritize places we’ve all heard about for years such as Publican and Girl and the Goat so I’m reconsidering my choices.

Just after the best food I can get in the French, Italian, Spanish, new and old American genres. Dont really want to do tasting menus and small plate format as I’ll likely dine alone half the time. Places with bar service are especially appreciated.

Booked at Monteverde, Girl and the Goat, Publican, Piccolo Sogno, Avec. So that’s about the price range, general area and style of restaurant. Would you change any of these for something you consider upgrades? Acutely aware that I’m supposed to try the proper Italian beef, a deep dish and THE burger also, hopefully lunches will work out. Should probably take your Polish suggestion (Podhalanka) to heart as well. I’ll be around Purple Pig a lot so might be tempted.

I will continue to go through the GNRs and check availability but if you happen to think of something...

If ever need any advice in Southern California do reach out

Your list so far is excellent. If you visited and ate at those places, you'll have eaten well and enjoyed your meals. They're no longer new but you'll have wonderful meals at each!

Here's some other places I would consider (trying to keep you from traveling too far away from river north)

Fat rice - this is probably the furthest but worthy of a visit for macanese inspired cuisine
Labriola - If you want to try deep dish, this would be better than the other more famous options downtown.
Bari - for an Italian beef fix, this Italian deli would be a great choice
Cafe Marie Jeanne - my favorite restaurant in Chicago. If you can get there on Wednesday night, you can try 3 dishes on their menu for 42
Jeong - upscale Korean inspired cuisine. This may not be of interest to you coming from socal but it's damn good.

Good luck in your research. Honestly that's part of the fun of travel for me. Hope you enjoy it as well! This is just skimming the surface and there's many other great food options here

Welcome and enjoy. You've probably seen this and I'm glad you enjoyed the GNR list - we're due for an update. Also worthwhile to peruse may be this list where we consider some iconic Chicago-originating or Chicago-peculiar items.

My perennial list for beef, deep dish, and burger consists of Johnnie's (North Ave), Pequod's, and Red Hot Ranch, respectively. If you need to sit down with a hamburger Bad Apple and Kuma's are very satisfying. If you want to explore some homemade-profile beef and pizza options in the same place, consider a run to the decidedly non-Californian Freddy's in Cicero, and as the onetime Pizza Professor I'd be remiss not to point out stellar offerings at Bebu and Coalfire (and Nella, but not over these central options) in blistered thin, D'amato's in bakery sheet, and Marie's and Pat's in tavern and local color. Don't let anyone tell you we have a single local style.

Monteverde, Publican, and Avec are great representative choices for chef-driven solo dining. Consider also Elske - something special in Danish-inflected American - and Leña Brava, arguably the strongest current Rick Bayless show. The following may be fighting words, but I like Duck Duck Goat even better than Girl & the Goat from Stephanie, and it's delightful as a party of one at the bar (with a boozy bubble tea in hand). Galit has also wowed some visitors of mine. I also think Proxi is a sleeper with some highly creative global takes. Finally, at the intersection of burger and fine dining is the Loyalist at Smyth, with some beautiful Midwest farm touches - would take it over Au Cheval any day.

If you're flying out you may end up with a Tortas Frontera sandwich in hand anyway, but you can also consider packing a Graziano, Tempesta Market, or Bari sub. Absent an ocean, our freshness is preserved by nitrates, and many of us take this as a point of pride (and, if not with a hipster shot of Malort, a can of Old Style).

WhyBeeSea wrote:Your list so far is excellent. If you visited and ate at those places, you'll have eaten well and enjoyed your meals. They're no longer new but you'll have wonderful meals at each!

Here's some other places I would consider (trying to keep you from traveling too far away from river north)

Fat rice - this is probably the furthest but worthy of a visit for macanese inspired cuisine
Labriola - If you want to try deep dish, this would be better than the other more famous options downtown.
Bari - for an Italian beef fix, this Italian deli would be a great choice
Cafe Marie Jeanne - my favorite restaurant in Chicago. If you can get there on Wednesday night, you can try 3 dishes on their menu for 42
Jeong - upscale Korean inspired cuisine. This may not be of interest to you coming from socal but it's damn good.

Good luck in your research. Honestly that's part of the fun of travel for me. Hope you enjoy it as well! This is just skimming the surface and there's many other great food options here

Thanks for the feedback! Happy to hear Marie Jeanne is as good as it seemed to me. I bookmarked before and will try to book now.

Korean ! Im turning into a Korean i eat it so much. We live by the biggest Koreatown in the world outside of Korea and its extraordinary.

Big thanks for Labriola. Fat rice is on every good list but for some reason isn’t calling me. We have a bunch of modern and fusion Asian here as well.

Having recently been to LA, I'm trying to think of other places unique to Chicago that can't be had out there.

Galit is fantastic but I wonder if it's too similar to Bavel. We ended up not going to Bavel for that reason.

Tempesta for a sandwich during lunch would be fantastic. Note they have a 2nd location at wells st Market. It's not a full menu but they have the Dante!

Trying to avoid Asian influenced places otherwise SKY and proxi would be good options! Elske is a great suggestion. I haven't been yet but middle Brow for beer and pizza seems to be excellent

You're in great hands with this group. They'll make sure that you eat well.

BTW, order the fooditor 99 on Amazon. Great resource for Chicago dining!

SoCal has good pizza now but you have to seek it out and it costs way more than it should. You’re not far from Forno Rosso, where the sausage and pistachio pesto pie is one of my favorites anywhere. Or Bonci for Roman-style by the slice.

Eat With Gusto wrote:I’m being told by some locals that I shouldnt prioritize places we’ve all heard about for years such as Publican and Girl and the Goat so I’m reconsidering my choices.

That's silly. Since you've never been here before, all places are new to you, even if we locals have been to them before. Just because a place has been around a while, doesn't mean it's not still great and better than many newer places. It just doesn't get the hype that always goes primarily to new places.

Eat With Gusto wrote:Just after the best food I can get in the French, Italian, Spanish, new and old American genres.

Well, I'm not sure I would limit myself to such conventional genres, but assuming that's what you want...

For French, our best by far is Everest, a longtime (34 years) favorite. I ate there last month and it was as good as ever. However, it's quite expensive, unless you're going for the fixed pre-theater menu available at early seatings. For a more affordable French option, for my money La Sardine is the best moderately-priced French bistro in town. Note, La Sardine has some specials with good value (half price bottles Mondays, three courses for $38 Tuesdays although there are a few dishes from their regular menu that don't appear on Tuesdays).

For Italian, you mentioned Monteverde and Piccolo Sogno. Either is worth dining at, but I would not dine at both in a short trip to Chicago. Too redundant. And they're not that different from Italian in SoCal, based on my dinner at Osteria Mozza in October.

For Spanish, I think mfk. may be our best in town, although you can also find some very good tapas at Cafe Iberico and Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba.

Eat With Gusto wrote:Booked at Monteverde, Girl and the Goat, Publican, Piccolo Sogno, Avec. So that’s about the price range, general area and style of restaurant. Would you change any of these for something you consider upgrades?

Yes. As I mentioned above, I wouldn't go to both Monteverde AND Piccolo Sogno, just to provide a bit more diversity (and less redundancy) in your cuisines. Similarly, I don't think I would do both Publican and Avec, since they're both from Paul Kahan's OneOff Hospitality. Not that they're identical, but their style is quite similar in some ways.

Here are some of my favorites that are a bit different from what you've listed (which is mostly pretty mainstream and won't really be all that different from food back home). Giant is absolutely terrific, the one place that will blow you away more than anything you've listed, it's that good. S.K.Y. is mentioned above and it's really NOT strictly Asian-influenced, it's more global influences and it's incredibly good. I'm not sure why you would avoid small plates if you're dining alone, since small plates let you try more dishes than other places when you go solo and you're not splitting dishes with anyone else; if you can ignore that objection, consider GT Fish & Oyster, which is a small plates restaurant specializing in... well, you can guess. And it's right in River North. Also delicious and in River North is Purple Pig, which is already on your radar; the downside has been the 90-120 minute waits to be seated with no reservations accepted, but they moved to a bigger space recently and I don't know whether that still applies. Another of my favorites is North Pond, for Sunday brunch. The setting is spectacular, in the middle of the park looking out over its namesake pond and the city skyline, and the food is terrific. Dinner there is pricey but they do a three-course Sunday brunch prix fixe for $39, and the dishes are lunch/dinner-ish, not the usual eggs and pancakes.

You have to book reservations well in advance at some of the places mentioned here, so the sooner you can nail those down, the better.

Eat With Gusto wrote:If ever need any advice in Southern California do reach out

Thanks. I already travel to the Southland quite a bit, and enjoy some of the places there very much. This past fall I had one of the 3-4 best meals in my entire life at Vespertine in Culver City. And I love Musso & Frank's in Hollywood, especially on Thursdays for chicken pot pie. Gotta respect a restaurant that's been around for 100 years with only three executive chefs in its history!

Enjoy your trip, and feel free to ask more questions!

cilantro wrote:SoCal has good pizza now but you have to seek it out and it costs way more than it should. You’re not far from Forno Rosso, where the sausage and pistachio pesto pie is one of my favorites anywhere. Or Bonci for Roman-style by the slice.

Wtf. You have a bonci? I was at the source recently. As far as pizza yes we have plenty of quality now but Chicago stuff maybe 2 or 3 but I need to try the real thing there too. Thanks for Rosso also

thanks for this. Elske and Duck Duck got me intrigued

Eat With Gusto wrote:
Wtf. You have a bonci?

Nope... we have two. One’s not far from River North. As far as I know, these are the only US locations so far.

And in case it wasn’t clear, Forno Rosso is Neapolitan — I’m indifferent to Chicago-style, but please don’t tell anyone here or I will get banned and possibly physically harmed.

cilantro wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:
Wtf. You have a bonci?

Nope... we have two. One’s not far from River North. As far as I know, these are the only US locations so far.

And in case it wasn’t clear, Forno Rosso is Neapolitan — I’m indifferent to Chicago-style, but please don’t tell anyone here or I will get banned and possibly physically harmed.

I would put Forno Rosso, Pizzeria Bebu, Coalfire, Spacca Napoli, and Nella (also Stop 50, Floriole when they do it, the former Great Lake and its popup reincarnation) into a local style distinct from pure VPN but honoring that heritage. Each obsesses over local Chicago-style Italian sausage and (as specials or baseline) local produce, nuts or pestos, niche cured meats you'd never see in Naples, and distinct Midwestern cheeses. It's frankly my favorite local development and distinct from what I find in other places. I mean, Forno Rosso makes kids' pizzas in the shape of Nemo or Mickey Mouse, and I actually like the crust ratio of those shapes better than round, so put me down for blasphemy too.

All points well taken! I’ll be revisiting my choices today. Already booked Cafe Marie Jeanne

Mozza is great but just favorite in the whole city has been her Chi Spacca around the corner for years. Try it out. Kind of tough alone, welcome to find me again, I’m just down the street.

Thin pizza we have good representation now, I have to put inner debate about your casseroles once and for all on location. I do like them though they rip my guts

Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

Eat With Gusto wrote:Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

Yay, as long as you can avoid a long wait to be seated (per my comments above). When I've eaten there, the food has been awesome.

cilantro wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:
Wtf. You have a bonci?

Nope... we have two. One’s not far from River North. As far as I know, these are the only US locations so far.

And in case it wasn’t clear, Forno Rosso is Neapolitan — I’m indifferent to Chicago-style, but please don’t tell anyone here or I will get banned and possibly physically harmed.

Hahah. I enjoy a good Chicago pizza though we almost never have it

That greek town area appears to be loaded with fun restaurants. My bookmarks are beginning to cluster

nsxtasy wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

Yay, as long as you can avoid a long wait to be seated (per my comments above). When I've eaten there, the food has been awesome.

Understood. Work is right there so should be able to time it or just pop in for lunch

Eat With Gusto wrote:Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

I'm in the minority who finds Purple Pig generally water-cooler food, and crowded at that. What do I mean by water-cooler food? The Monday morning foooodie folk crowing about the pig ear, sweetbread etc they had at PP. All well and good except I find these halo dishes so chef manipulated at PP the protein could as easily be deli turkey as sweetbreads. Cafe Marie Jeanne is at the other end of this spectrum.

One place not mentioned yet is Band of Bohemia, I dig the joint and it has the visitor cool factor in that its a one star Michelin brewpub. Not that any food centric Chicagoan worth his square cut tavern style thin/crisp sausage pizza gives a flying f about Michelin.

Have fun in Chicago and bring me a Tommy's chili cheese burger from Beverly and Rampart.

Monteverde is excellent. We were there for lunch on a visit last summer and loved it. The food there is not classic Italian or anything and some of the dishes we've never had anywhere else in the US. Creatively done I think.

For a quick-ish bite but something that will satiate you for a bit, you should consider going to Thattu at the Politan Row Food Hall in West Loop (near Monteverde). It serves food from the Kerala region of India and one of the only regions of India that will serve you beef dishes. I have a few friends from Kerala here in NYC and have told me multiple times that they've never found any good Keralan restaurants anywhere in the US whether in the Bay Area, NYC, or elsewhere. When I sent them pictures of this place while visiting Chicago, they said it looked the most legit of anywhere they'd seen in the US. It's the first time I've had that region's food so I'm not an expert but it was really good.

As far as Bonci goes, the Chicago stores were the first in the US but I believe there's one in New Orleans now too that opened not long ago. I had eaten at a Bonci run joint near the Vatican in 2013 and wasn't a huge fan. This last summer I had Bonci in Chicago and liked it quite a bit. The flavors are quite interesting, but toned down from what I had in Rome.


I think one place that could be on a list is Qing Xiang Yuan Dumpling. Now, on average Chicago does not have as good of Chinese food as LA, South Bay, or NYC but it's coming into its own the last 4 or 5 years. This place serves Jiaozi in 23 different kinds and the owners are from Liaoning in NE China. This is where my wife is from and the owners are from where my mother and father in law are from. My wife and I have been here many, many times and she still tells me it's the best jiaozi she's ever had in the US - that's including LA, Bay Area, NYC, etc. We were married in Chicago this summer and took her parents (who live in Shanghai right now) there for lunch one day and they used a word for "especially good" in Chinese I've never heard. They made friends with the owners and mentioned to them that their dumplings, as they're more Dongbei style, are better than anything they've been able to get their hands on in Shanghai. It's hard to believe that this exists in Chicago - I have other friends from the Bay Area who were like that - until they tried it. If you go, make sure to get some steamed dumplings. These are the best, but be careful with the liquid inside. The skin on these dumplings is also incredibly delicate when steamed. Busy place though, so plan accordingly - they do take reservations but only a few per time slot per day I think and you have to do it a day ahead of time.

G Wiv wrote:One place not mentioned yet is Band of Bohemia

Band of Bohemia is another of my favorites, and it's quite unique, for delicious food as well as the atmosphere (which is like sitting in your old grandmother's house). It's not very close to downtown, though. However, you can take the Metra commuter train (Union Pacific Line) from Ogilvie Station just west of the Loop, 13 minutes to the Ravenswood stop, which is right across the street from the restaurant.

My 3 cents:
Italian Beef- Al's on Taylor, ordered "combo, dipped, hot and sweet, w/fries, thanks"
Deep dish- Due's on Ontario
Burger- Red Hot Ranch on Ashland

BTW, for the deep dish, I would go to Lou Malnati's - the most popular deep dish in town (56 locations) and IMHO the very best. They have three locations in River North: Rush and State, 439 North Wells, and their newest which is now open, 410 North Michigan. Beware, it's very filling, in case you think you're going to have a light lunch. You can call ahead with your pizza order so you don't have to wait for it to bake when you get there.

Eat With Gusto wrote:Already booked Cafe Marie Jeanne

Agree with everyone regarding CMJ, it's in my 'hood and I love it.

If you are going for dinner, and up for a drink afterwards, walk across the street to the California Clipper. A great old bar that has been nicely preserved with good cocktails. Owned by Brandon Sodikoff who owns several good spots in town. I especially like the evenings when there is live jazz, they attract excellent jazz musicians. If you are into jazz, I highly recommend the Green Mill (my favorite spot in Chicago), Constellation, Elastic Arts, Winter's, or the Whistler usually has jazz on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Rootstock wine bar is on the opposite corner as CMJ, and great choice for wine.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:Already booked Cafe Marie Jeanne

Agree with everyone regarding CMJ, it's in my 'hood and I love it.

If you are going for dinner, and up for a drink afterwards, walk across the street to the California Clipper. A great old bar that has been nicely preserved with good cocktails. Owned by Brandon Sodikoff who owns several good spots in town. I especially like the evenings when there is live jazz, they attract excellent jazz musicians. If you are into jazz, I highly recommend the Green Mill (my favorite spot in Chicago), Constellation, Elastic Arts, Winter's, or the Whistler usually has jazz on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Rootstock wine bar is on the opposite corner as CMJ, and great choice for wine.

Very into jazz and go a lot in LA. Many thanks

G Wiv wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:water-cooler food, and crowded at that. What do I mean by water-cooler food? The Monday morning foooodie folk crowing about the pig ear, sweetbread etc they had at PP.

You effortlessly communicated the concept I couldn’t put into words and couldn’t really put my finger on before

Eat With Gusto wrote:

nsxtasy wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

Yay, as long as you can avoid a long wait to be seated (per my comments above). When I've eaten there, the food has been awesome.

Understood. Work is right there so should be able to time it or just pop in for lunch

Also, I know there's a location in LA (on Crenshaw? near koreatown), but if you're looking for another lunch option by work: gus's fried chicken on state st. Still continues to be the best fried chicken I've ever had.

Given where you live in LA, I'd reiterate some of the explicit and tacit suggestions provided already to ditch the Italian options (Monteverde, Piccolo Sogno) and instead focus on 'New American' places with a midwestern lens--e.g., Loyalist, Publican, CMJ (sort of)

WhyBeeSea wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:

nsxtasy wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:Purple pig yay/nay? Only asking because I’ll see it daily and a friend suggests it.

Yay, as long as you can avoid a long wait to be seated (per my comments above). When I've eaten there, the food has been awesome.

Understood. Work is right there so should be able to time it or just pop in for lunch

Also, I know there's a location in LA (on Crenshaw? near koreatown), but if you're looking for another lunch option by work: gus's fried chicken on state st. Still continues to be the best fried chicken I've ever had.

Yes I love Gus’s but I bring key own hot sauce the chess pie is killer

Hi,

If you don't want to dine solo, you may want to throw open the door to see if anyone here might join you.

Great food-centric conversation, the opportunity to order more and maybe a lift to your next destination.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

If you don't want to dine solo, you may want to throw open the door to see if anyone here might join you.

Great food-centric conversation, the opportunity to order more and maybe a lift to your next destination.

Regards,
Cathy2

It’s a bit tough, I don’t know which dinners coworkers or friends will end up joining . A great idea though. Let’s try it

Who wants to meet at the Publican on Friday at 8:30?

Eat With Gusto wrote:Who wants to meet at the Publican on Friday at 8:30?

That might not be the best choice of meals for eating with others. For one thing, the Publican is SO LOUD IT IS EAR-SPLITTING, so you can't count on being able to hear each other very well. For another, given the seating there - about half the room consists of a couple of loooooooong communal tables - it is often easier to get seated quickly for solo dining, than for a larger party. So you might want to open the invitation for one of your other meals rather than Publican.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

Eat With Gusto wrote:Already booked Cafe Marie Jeanne

Agree with everyone regarding CMJ, it's in my 'hood and I love it.

If you are going for dinner, and up for a drink afterwards, walk across the street to the California Clipper. A great old bar that has been nicely preserved with good cocktails. Owned by Brandon Sodikoff who owns several good spots in town. I especially like the evenings when there is live jazz, they attract excellent jazz musicians. If you are into jazz, I highly recommend the Green Mill (my favorite spot in Chicago), Constellation, Elastic Arts, Winter's, or the Whistler usually has jazz on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Rootstock wine bar is on the opposite corner as CMJ, and great choice for wine.

The cafe is so so nice! I don’t want to leave. Going on a jazz hunt though.

Edit: the Whistler! Score. Big thanks for the list