Chicago Food + Beer Worth Seeking

City Illinois

Willis Tower has risen above the formidable Chicago skyline since 1973.

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Learn about 13 places you should absolutely eat (and drink beer) in Chicago, the unofficial capital of the Midwest, the third largest city in the U.S., and a hotbed for culinary creativity. Listings appear in alphabetical order.

9. GT Fish & Oyster


Seafood Chicago

GT “Deviled Egg” features smoked salmon and green garlic and comes with a caraway liqueur sidecar.

GT Fish & Oyster is a River North seafood restaurant from chef Giuseppe Tentori, a Charlie Trotter protégée. The interior touts a three-sided wood bar with compartmentalized oyster case, silver fish, model ships, diving bell, and patterned brown, white, and black tiled floor. Tentori debuted GT Fish & Oyster in 2011 and now runs GT Prime steakhouse in town as well. I enjoyed seafood in several forms. Thick ropes of house-made bigoli pasta came tossed with shellfish (mussels and clams), ramps, and zesty uni tomato sauce. A notable clam chowder contained Nueske’s bacon and house made oyster cracker cubes.

MUST ORDER: TBD Clam Chowder, Bigoli Pasta, GT “Deviled Egg”

10. Lula Cafe

Vegetables Chicago

Lula Cafe roasted and fried Genesis Farm carrots, plating with vivid turmeric sauce and shaved cured egg yolk.

Chef/proprietor Jason Hammel and chef de cuisine Sarah Rinkavage preside over Lula Cafe, a seasonal Logan Square classic that dates to 1999. The interior features cream colored walls with striking photo portraits, mixed tables, and pressed tin. They print a menu daily, but maintain a flip-side of menu classics. I primarily steered our meal toward seasonality. Bitter greens salad contained cara cara oranges, charred citrus, tarragon, and seminole squash. Fried quail involved a small but juicy bird coated in tapioca flour, cashew chile honey butter and kumquats. Of the two “classic” pastas I ordered, I preferred yiayia, bucatini with cinnamon, feta, garlic, and brown butter.

MUST ORDER: Bitter Greens Salad, Genesis Farm Carrots, Fried Quail, Pasta Yiayia

11. Mott St

Korean Food Chicago

Mott St reimagines Korean dishes in modern, unexpected ways, including “stuffed cabbage.”

This pan-Asian restaurant from Edward Kim on the Bucktown/Wicker Park border features a cartoon mural of kids in animal outfits from artist Loc Hong. The interior includes white brick walls, corrugated metal roof, wood bar and tables. A big patio was out of commission thanks to rain. Mentaiko kimchi udon came tossed with spicy marinated cod roe, kimchi, and nori strands. Stuffed cabbage starred pan seared Napa kimchi packets containing juicy pork butt and sticky rice, served in pungent kimchi broth. If this were my first dinner of the night, instead of second, I definitely would have added everything wings and bar-only Mott burger.

MUST ORDER: Stuffed Cabbage, Mentaiko Kimchi Udon

12. Publican Quality Meats

 Breakfast Chicago

Butchers Breakfast is hearty enough to fortify any Publican Quality Meats diner for the day.

One Off Hospitality Group has another hit in the Fulton Market area with this deli and butcher shop that faces their Publican gastropub and helps support the meat needs for sister restaurants. Enter to find a blue menu board, and further back, a fridge for eggs, dairy, soda, wine and frozen items. Five communal wood tables grace white subway tiles and get full for brunch. A planter-lined patio is popular in warmer weather. Brunch involves some positively beastly plates. Butchers Breakfast pairs bacon with breakfast sausage, potatoes, two fried eggs, and country bread. Porchetta is available on weekends after 11:30am and is worth proper timing. Pork belly “and a little extra” are rolled with herbs and spices and roasted for 8 hours and served on ciabatta with bread and butter pickles, aioli, and whole-grain mustard.

MUST ORDER: Butchers Breakfast, Porchetta

13. Revolution Brewing

Craft Beer Chicago

Revolution Brewing offers a diverse range of beer styles from Old World to cutting-edge.

Longtime brewer Josh Deth and wife Krista Sahakian spearhead the growth of Revolution Brewing, which opened in Logan Square in 2010. Their space features a big horseshoe-shaped wood bar, brick and barrel stave walls, pressed tin ceiling, chandeliers resembling planets in orbit, and colorful raised fist tap handles. If you’re a champion of variety, consider ordering multiple tasting pours. Chicago Smoke is a German-style rauchbier that magically tastes like bacon. Galaxy Hero is a dry IPA brewed for The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo that delivers “a raygun blast of Galaxy and Zythos hops.”

MUST ORDER: Chicago Smoke, Galaxy Hero

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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