Chicago Restaurants: 5 Best Restaurants In Chicago
Chicago restaurants are among the best restaurants in America, but which restaurants in Chicago should you go to? If you're visiting Chicago for the first time, you'll want to make sure you visit the best Chicago restaurants.
The Daily Meal put together a list of the Chicago's 15 Best Restaurants. We considered every aspect of the culinary experience these Chicago restaurants offer their customers, from their ambiance and creativity, to their ability to simply deliver the goods on a delicious meal. Without further ado, here are our choices for the best Chicago restaurants.
Next
The food at Next is inventive and exciting without being gimmicky, and the service is flawless without being fawning. But good luck getting in. There's an online reservation system for buying "tickets," but you'll be joining 20,000 (yes, 20,000) other folks just as desperate to score a table.
Publican
The Publican is a self-described beer-focused restaurant, but chefs Paul Kahan and Brian Huston prove that it's much more than that. Aged hams, rabbit pasta, and pork confit are just some of the amazing delicacies you can enjoy at The Publican, along with a large savory dessert menu to cap off the evening.
Girl & the Goat
Stephanie Izard's West Loop restaurant Girl & the Goat is popular with chefs and locals alike. Dishes like locally grown roasted beets, green beans, white anchovy, avocado crème fraîche, and bread crumb are just part of the reason why Izard won the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef: Great Lakes award in 2013.
Blackbird
With its highly imaginative menu executed by chef David Posey, Paul Kahan's 1997 vintage Blackbird continues to please diners with always interesting but never quite outré creations; including steak tartare with rye berries, spicy radish, and hazelnuts; grilled octopus with parsnips, pomegranate, and toasted garlic; aged duck breast with dried parsley root and Brussels sprouts; and grilled Wagyu flatiron with charred cabbage, crispy onion, and roasted beef cream.
Alinea
The menu at Alinea can sometimes sound deceptively simple. The lobster with carrot and chamomile, for example. What shows up on the plate; however, is absolutely original and almost always dazzlingly good. Having successfully reinvented the way people look at reservations at Next with their innovative, nonrefundable online ticket system, and reinterpreted cocktails, bar food, and bar experience with The Aviary, Grant Achatz and his partner Nick Kokonas have also intensified the attention they pay to Alinea. They installed a Next-style reservation system there and continue to push the envelope regarding how people think about restaurants. Meanwhile, Achatz consistently turns out some of the most imaginative and delicious contemporary (or modernist, if you will) cuisine in the country.