25 Best Restaurants in Chicago

What put this Lincoln Park, three-Michelin-star restaurant (Chicago’s only) on the map is how chef-owner Grant Achatz plays around with molecular gastronomy. He also published a memoir about being inflicted with tongue cancer (Life, on the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, published in 2012). Alinea opened in 2005. There are three types of bookings: Kitchen Table (an intimate table in the kitchen), in the first-floor gallery, or a second-floor salon. All three serve multi-course tasting menus.

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For a classic, no-frills diner experience, pop into Lou Mitchell’s near Union Station in the West Loop for greasy-spoon fare. Look for the vintage neon sign declaring “serving the world’s best coffee.” It’s open for breakfast and lunch and has won diners over since 1923, now on its fifth generation of ownership. Whether it’s fresh-squeezed orange juice and a stack of pancakes in the morning or turkey and mashed potatoes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, don’t leave without trying the complementary donut holes. Their house-made marmalade is so popular on toast that some customers order jars of it to-go.

Located in Hyde Park on the South Side, this Black-owned, dinner-only restaurant debuted in 2019 from chef-owner Erick Williams and is focused on Southern cuisine. This includes starters (like biscuits with sides of pimento cheese and local honey, gumbo, and green tomatoes with Gulf shrimp) before easing into heartier entrees, including shrimp and crawfish or blackened catfish. In 2022, Erick Williams nabbed a James Beard Award. For this veritable taste of the South, it doesn’t end with savory dishes: be sure to order something for a sweet ending, such as coconut cake or banana pudding.

Former Alinea chef de cuisine Curtis Duffy’s fine-dining restaurant in Fulton Market opened as a successor to After and Grace during the summer of 2020—yep, the height of the pandemic—and already has two Michelin stars. It also appeared on an episode of The Bear. Plating is far from conventional, and each course is a true work of art. Indulge in an 8- to 10-course nightly dinner tasting menu (with optional wine pairings) deeply connected to what’s in season.

What’s unique about this brewery just east of Chinatown is it’s the world’s first two-Michelin-star brewery. That means you can sip a tasty brew and enjoy cuisine under one roof. And it’s not your typical gastropub fare. Instead, it’s of the highest quality. At the 28-seat restaurant, with Jared Wentworth at the helm, a 12-course tasting menu fluctuates regularly but is always paired with beer, such as roasted duck with framboise or veal sweetbread with sour watermelon saison.

Chicago has long been celebrated for its steakhouses, but this steakhouse (in Gold Coast since 2015) sports a modern flair and a killer wine list. In addition to nightly dinner, it’s open for Sunday brunch, with a Champagne cart to pair with items like a fire-roasted seafood tower. Classic starters include a wedge salad, Wagyu beef carpaccio, and fire-roasted oysters, and if choosing between wood-fired steaks and seafood is perplexing, choose the “I Don’t Give a F*@K” tasting menu.

This glitzy dining room is tucked into a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed skyscraper and within Langham Chicago, capitalizing on the skyline view and open for all three meals of the day. It’s also where chef de cuisine Justin Gomes serves a love letter to his favorite food cities around the world, paired with a 1,600-bottle wine list and cocktails like “Joyfull Expression,” served in a ceramic cat. Ask for the “Bar Bites” menu if all you want are apps (such as burrata, oysters, and just-baked chocolate-chip cookies), a drink, and the view.

This seafood institution in River North debuted in 1984 and is still—pardon the pun—swimming along, with a second location since in Schaumburg. Dine for lunch and dinner in the wood-paneled, white-tablecloth dining room or at the oyster bar. You’ll find the typical seafood fare—such as oysters, fish fillet, Maryland crab cakes, Santa Barbara stone crab, and even Lake Michigan whitefish—but also sushi, poke, and fish salads.

Chicago’s hot dogs are the real deal—a beef hot dog served in a poppy-seed bun and topped with chopped onions, among other things—which you can find at this drive-in on the Northwest side. In 1948, a newly married couple opened the stand, which hasn’t closed since. There are also menu items you won’t find at most hot dog stands, such as the Whoopskidawg, a version of a Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian sausage. Wash it all down with a chocolate shake.

This Korean-American restaurant in the Avondale neighborhood by Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim has earned a Michelin star and a James Beard Award. Dishes are a mix of meat and seafood, such as beef tartare or 30-day dry-aged sirloin (both from a family farm), or spicy lobster soup, and some vegetarian selections too (like rice cake noodles with vegetables). While you can sip a wine or cocktail, try Korean alcoholic beverages, such as plum wine.

If you’re only in Chicago for a few days and want to try a hot Italian beef sandwich (spiced roast beef in French bread and a side of giardiniera), Johnnie’s Beef in the nearby suburb of Elmwood Park is where you need to go. This family-owned stand has been in business for 60 years. Owner Frank Stompanato is the son-in-law of founder Johnnie Aretos. Few things are more refreshing on a hot day than the stand’s lemon Italian ice.

A Michelin-star restaurant in Lincoln Park since 2003—and part of the Chicago based BOKA Restaurant Group—the seasonally driven menu’s been in the hands of executive chef Lee Wolen since 2013. There are three dining rooms, each very intimate, and much of the ingredients are sourced from local farms. While there is an eight-course tasting menu (with an option to add either standard or reserve wine pairings and a non-alcoholic pairing), one can also order à la carte off the menu for greater flexibility. Entrees include grilled and glazed beets, New York strip, and roasted duck.

Designed to emulate a European beer hall with its communal tables, this Fulton Market eatery debuted in 2008. Heavy on charcuterie and oysters, and of course beer, it’s open for dinner daily plus weekend brunch (from shakshuka to French toast, it’s a mix of sweet and savory). Vegetarians can find bliss here thanks to a portion of the menu dedicated to vegetable dishes. This is a true farm-to-table restaurant with a farm partner listed for every item on the menu, and products from sister businesses Publican Quality Bread and Publican Quality Meats are also featured.

Since opening in 2007, this fine-dining restaurant in the Loop has nabbed many awards and recognition, including a Michelin star. Chef Andrew Zimmerman’s four-course eclectic tasting menu—wine pairings can be added, selected by wine director Alex Ring, named Chicago’s best sommelier in 2022 by the Jean Banchet Awards—allows for a choice among four selections in each course, such as sea urchin chawanmushi as a starter, halibut with green curry and naan or for dessert, dark chocolate marquise.

Not every city hosts an Ethiopian restaurant, which makes this Uptown restaurant unique—but it can also stand on its own thanks to chef-owner Tigist Reda’s fine cuisine. In 2007, she opened Demera, and it continues to cater to a variety of diets, including vegan, with ten vegan dishes like a vegan chocolate cheesecake with red chai ice cream or a vegan sampler. That said, beef, chicken, lamb, and seafood are also featured prominently on the menu in dishes designed to share. Go even further into Ethiopian cuisine by ordering tej, honey wine. A smaller location is in Time Out Market, a food hall with 21 bars and restaurants in the Fulton Market neighborhood.

This Michelin-star, fine-dining restaurant (in French, it means “beloved”), owned by couple Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo, is in Lincoln Park. Plating for its tasting menu is extremely colorful, whimsical, and dimensional, and the menu itself changes only two to three times annually, with artist collaborations building out the concept even further. At the 16-seat Bar Esmé are small plates, cocktails, and wine.