Chicago Reader - Your Top 50

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/restaurants/070309/

Your Top 50

The best restaurants in town according to Reader Restaurant Raters

Don't see your favorite restaurant on our list? You can change that by becoming a Reader Restaurant Rater.

Raters are a small army of volunteers who send us reports whenever they eat out. These feed the online database that helps keep the Reader's restaurant listings up to date....

-Too many to list in a post

Did I read it wrong, or is Charlie Trotter's not on the list?
Charlie Trotter's is no longer the best place in America, as it once was, but it definitely ranks with the best in Chicago.
How does Les Nomades make the list but not Charlie Trotters?

I think, just a thought, but the Chicago Reader's audience is not typically the type of crowd that goes to Charlie Trotter's. You see Alinea, TRU and Avenues because they are new on the scene and a newer frame of thought in regards to cusine but Trotter's skews to a more affluent, classic and conservative crowd...hence maybe why it didn't make this list.

cjchaps,

Just curious, are you affiliated with the Chicago Reader?

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:cjchaps,

Just curious, are you affiliated with the Chicago Reader?

Enjoy,
Gary

Nope, I am not. My buddy sent me the link saying we should go to a few of those places so I thought I would pass it on.

cjchaps wrote:Nope, I am not. My buddy sent me the link saying we should go to a few of those places so I thought I would pass it on.

Sounds like a good plan, which place you going first?

I've only been to 10 spots on that list; this time tomorrow, it will be eleven, as I'm being taken to lunch at Catch 35. And I've got a nice big gift certificate for Spiaggia, which I will be negotiating at the end of the month, so that will make 12. Anyway, I guess I need to get out more.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I've only been to 10 spots on that list; this time tomorrow, it will be eleven, as I'm being taken to lunch at Catch 35. And I've got a nice big gift certificate for Spiaggia, which I will be negotiating at the end of the month, so that will make 12. Anyway, I guess I need to get out more.

My count is 16.

However, how did Naniwa make the list?

I like Naniwa, but mostly because they do great delivery.

Go there? It would be way down my list.

28 here.

Biggest omission...Blackbird (which I guess is partially my own fault since I signed up to be a rater and have submitted maybe 2 reports)

I think Catch 35 is a weak link on this list.

42

Big whoop: it's a crap list.

E.M.

I've been to 23 and several others are on my radar. But I have to admit there are a couple on the list that I've almost no desire to visit and couple others I'm not sure belong there. Still, it's a fun list (as lists like these usually are).

=R=

Couldn't agree more with Erik. Carnivale, ughhh. Once was more than enough for me. Even the Bongo Room. I loved it when it was under the EL tracks at Damen and Milwaukee, I would never stand in line for a breakfast burrito when I could get a better breakfast at Forno. Even Cafe Absinthe was a surprise for me. With so many other places in the neighborhood, I don't go there any more either.

I think this list says more about the demographics of Reader Restaurant Raters than the restaurants. It consists of the usual media darlings, a few Check Please "discoveries", and a bunch of wicker park/bucktown neo-urban contemporary fusion favorites. It is telling that some of the entries got as many as 42 reviews(Think and Lula), while others only had 5 (pho 777). I am pleased to see Taste of Peru on the list, and am very happy for Cesar and his family(what nice people). However, in a city of 7000 restaurants, I question whether TOP actually qualifies as a "top 50" establishment. I won't even address Wholly Frijoles. Which brings up another interesting point. Many of the venues that made the RRR top 50 list, got totally lukewarm or cool reviews from the professional reviewers.

jesteinf wrote:I think Catch 35 is a weak link on this list.

After lunch today, I concur. From the annoying maitre'd to the lukewarm and flavor-free crab bisque (why, oh why, did I order the full bowl of this dreck) to the pasty hockeypuck in my crabcake sandwich (again, the crab (if that is what it was) got a radical flavorectomy sometime before being served), to the frozen-in-1993 decor, Catch 35 was a total "ennh"xperience. Although I didn't have to pay for it, so I had that going for me.

d4v3 wrote:I think this list says more about the demographics of Reader Restaurant Raters than the restaurants.

Just wondering -- are many LTH'rs also RRR'rs? I've submitted a few reviews now and again, but it really slides under my radar. In general, I like the idea, but in reality, I'm more likely to post a review here than there and I'm not at all likely to double-up. But there must be a few folks who do both.

Dave's point is very well taken--but also note that they don't count reviews for ranking after six months; they drop the scores and wait for "fresh" reviews to come in. And since it's all volunteers and they don't have the profile of a Zagat or even a Yelp, that churn is likely to have a pretty big impact on statistics.

germuska wrote:

d4v3 wrote:I think this list says more about the demographics of Reader Restaurant Raters than the restaurants.

Just wondering -- are many LTH'rs also RRR'rs? I've submitted a few reviews now and again, but it really slides under my radar. In general, I like the idea, but in reality, I'm more likely to post a review here than there and I'm not at all likely to double-up. But there must be a few folks who do both.

Dave's point is very well taken--but also note that they don't count reviews for ranking after six months; they drop the scores and wait for "fresh" reviews to come in. And since it's all volunteers and they don't have the profile of a Zagat or even a Yelp, that churn is likely to have a pretty big impact on statistics.

That's a good point. I like Avenues much more than Naniwa, but I go to Naniwa far more often.

I submit Reader reviews, but because you have to put the amount you spent down, I often don't end up doing it. I forget how much it was, and don't want to go searching through the file for the receipt. If I post a Reader review, I usually post it here too.

Just wanted to clarify: we don't in fact drop Reader Restaurant Rater reports after six months. They stand for five years, then are automatically eliminated (so you may have noticed that Pho 777 has returned to the realm of the unrated again--just one quirk of many in a democratic system). What Germuska may be thinking of is our policy of prohibiting Raters from submitting more than one review for a given restaurant in the course of a six-month period.

FYI, Charlie Trotter's and Blackbird both dropped down to two Rs this time around; perhaps our latest Rater report for Trotter's gives an indication why (http://www.chicagoreader.com/cgi-bin/rr ... e&numb=820). Hype can easily lead to letdowns even when an experience is good overall, and though we ask Raters to keep this factor in mind and do their best to set aside their expectations, there's no question they seep in. Well, that and paying $500 for your supper.

Kate Schmidt
Associate Editor
Chicago Reader

kates wrote:Just wanted to clarify: we don't in fact drop Reader Restaurant Rater reports after six months. They stand for five years, then are automatically eliminated (so you may have noticed that Pho 777 has returned to the realm of the unrated again--just one quirk of many in a democratic system).

Kate:

thanks for clarifying. It always seemed to me that the number of restaurants needing "just one more" was long because of the six month thing -- but I apparently was bending the facts to fit my hypothesis