Fodor's Expert Review Avenues

The least ostentatious of the city's cutting-edge restaurants, Avenues in the Peninsula Hotel lives a double life. The contemporary black-lacquered accent walls aim to satisfy business travelers and other hotel guests, but true culinary connoisseurs come here for something else altogether. Filling the role of top toque is Curtis Duffy, who has worked with some of Chicago's best chefs, including Grant Achatz of Alinea and Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter's. Expect creative cuisine that is at once familiar and progressive, such as an artfully presented course of hamachi with cranberries and mushrooms.