Lobster salad with fish sauce vinaigrette, melted leek aioli and herbs at John’s Food and Wine in Chicago on March 21, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Photographing in some of Chicago’s finest dining establishments can be quite a contradiction to the normal day for Chicago Tribune photojournalists. In the course of a day, our photographers might start at an overnight crime scene, maybe a building fire, could go to City Hall or a school event. But when we walk into restaurants that feature Michelin-starred menus or Beard Award-winning chefs, our photojournalists really have to change gears. Food photography is an art unto itself. The quality of the light and final photographs needs to match the level of amazing dishes, drinks and servers that will be featured in Tribune dining reviews. Here’s just a sample of the food pictures our photographers produced, along with the hundreds of other daily assignments this year. For more top photographs from 2025 go to chicagotribune.com.
The Summer in Seoul martini is offered at Perilla Steakhouse on Sept. 24, 2025, in Chicago's River North neighborhood. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)Portions of the Fossilized Humita Bone course wait to be plated in the kitchen at Alinea, April 30, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)The staff goes over the evening's details before dinner service on Nov. 20, 2025, at Feld in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, which earned its first Michelin star this year. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)The s'mores croissant is served at Bad Butter Cafe in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood on Nov. 22. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)Maverick Wine Company portfolio manager Rachel Driver Speckan poses for a portrait before working at El Che Steakhouse and Bar on March 12, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)The Crying Tiger dessert, made with wild Thai banana and foster sauce, at Crying Tiger in Chicago's River North neighborhood on Oct. 23, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Beverage director Lisa Brown at Mahari, in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood on July 9, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)The Fossilized Humita Bone course with prawn exposed at Alinea on April 23, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)The Son of a Gun cocktail is on the Nightshade downstairs bar menu at Moonflower in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood on April 17, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
