The Ever-Growing Popularity of Bakery Lines
Are the waits ever worth it? Our dining critic mulls the question.
All Stories
Mixed Grill
Stephen Sandoval’s Latin steakhouse Trino offers some nice dishes, but the menu doesn’t fully mesh.
Chicago’s 50 Best Restaurants
With picks that span from tasting menus to food trucks, our critic ranks his favorite places to eat.
Maxwells Trading
Maxwells says out loud what just about every fine-dining tasting menu in town whispers: Chicago loves Asian flavors. We love the heat, rawness, bright acidity, and savory umami so fundamental...
Oriole
When did Oriole become Chicago’s best fine-dining restaurant? Has it been so ever since chef-owner Noah Sandoval and his then-wife, Cara, opened it 10 years ago, channeling the punk energy...
Kyoten and Kyoten Next Door
The sushi Otto Phan serves at Kyoten is unlike what you’ll find anywhere else. His inochi-no-ichi rice is big and plump, and he acid-etches it with sharp red vinegar. He...
Feld
Chicago has plenty of tasting menus with luxury ingredients and intricate platings. Feld, which opened in 2024, is different. Chef-owner Jake Potashnick (pictured above) calls his approach “relationship-to-table,” which sounds...
Cellar Door Provisions
What Ethan Pikas opened 12 years ago as a bakery and café has morphed into the most reliably innovative modern American bistro in town. He and his chef de cuisine,...
Smyth
Getting a third Michelin star in 2023 put this elaborate tasting-menu spot in rare company and turned around its fortunes. The kind of people who fly all over the world...
Virtue
“I can’t breathe.” — George Floyd. “I can’t jog.” — Ahmaud Arbery. “I can’t peacefully protest.” — Black people everywhere. Those messages, stenciled on Virtue’s windows, are chef-owner Erick Williams’s reminder of America’s...