The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Fox's Lounge
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Rank 2. The English Room
Continental
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- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
- Eater The Best Places to Eat in Suburban Chicago
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Rank 7. Stumara
Georgian Eastern European
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- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Heritage Restaurant
- Eater The Best Places to Eat in Suburban Chicago
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- San Francisco Chronicle Top San Jose Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Peninsula and South Bay Restaurants
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Rank 15. Al Bawadi Grill
Middle Eastern
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2024 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 18. Oceanique
Global
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Rank 19. Tortas Frontera
Mexican
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- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #22 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Lisa Kirkpatrick and Paul Zerkel
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Midwest · Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #20 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2024 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #24 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 32. Alinea
Creative
Grant Achatz orchestrates dinner as theater—vapor drifts across the table, hidden flavors emerge from diminutive courses, and tableside pyrotechnics render the plate obsolete. The evening oscillates between whimsy and precision, each course a small rupture in expectation, culminating in dessert painted directly onto bare wood.
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- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in Milwaukee
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- USA Today 2024 · Restaurants of the Year
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Ross Bachhuber and Samuel Ek
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Ross Bachhuber and Samuel Ek
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Rank 35. 1033 Omakase
Sushi
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- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 38. Smyth
Contemporary
The open kitchen at this chic West Loop tasting room showcases Shields and Urie-Shields' boundary-pushing approach to seasonal produce, some grown on-site. A kelp tart with pea butter and trout roe, or foie gras doughnuts with crab, exemplify their restless creativity.
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Rank 39. Cariño
Mexican
Beneath the rumble of the Uptown L, Chef Norman Fenton orchestrates a tasting menu of Mexican cooking that pivots between tradition and invention—huitlacoche ravioli with fried corn silk, lamb tartare tostada styled as al pastor. The counter seats you close enough to watch his small team work, their energy matching the pace of each course.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Norman Fenton
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
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- AAA Four Diamonds
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2024 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 43. Ever
Creative
On a hushed corner of Fulton Market, Curtis Duffy orchestrates an austere dining room where every element—light, spacing, plating—answers to a larger vision. The food arrives as disciplined architecture: technically assured, visually composed, each plate a study in structure and restraint.
- AAA Five Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Fine Dining Experience
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Rank 45. Oriole
French-Japanese New American
A former warehouse accessed by freight elevator, Oriole channels restrained elegance through its open kitchen and striking ceiling collage. Chef Noah Sandoval's French-Japanese tasting menu demonstrates disciplined technique, with black truffle capellini and foie gras canapés executed with quiet precision.
- AAA Five Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- The Infatuation Infatuation’s Highest-Rated Restaurants In America
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Rank 46. Santa Masa Tamaleria
Mexican
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Danny Espinoza and Jhoana Ruiz
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Counter Service
- The Infatuation 2024 · Chicago’s Best New Restaurants
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2024 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 48. Galit
Modern Middle Eastern
Inside a modest storefront, Zach Engel's modern Middle Eastern cooking unfolds through a prix-fixe of diners' choosing, opening with creamy hummus, warm pita, and pickles that establish the evening's warmth. The falafel carries unexpected brightness, wines from the Levantine region flow with purpose, and the whole operation hums with genuine hospitality.
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- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Fine Dining Experience
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #11 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 52. Best Intentions
Midwestern
- 50 Best 2026 · #16 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Christopher Marty
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Gregory León
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Midwest · Gregory León
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Gregory León
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Midwest · Zak Baker
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #15 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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- USA Today 2026 · Restaurants of the Year
- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Midwest · Kyle Knall
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- The New York Times 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Ben Lustbader and Sarah Mispagel
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Pastry Chef of the Year · Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader & Ben Lustbader
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Rank 59. Kasama
Filipino
Tim Flores and Genie Kwon cook Filipino food with striking originality in a spare room, each dish—mussel adobo, shrimp-paste peanut sauce—arriving as both homage and reinvention. The desserts, particularly a corn semifreddo that riffs on mais con yelo, are equally inventive, suggesting a kitchen where tradition and technique speak the same language.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- 50 Best 2025 · #31 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
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Rank 60. Side Practice Coffee
Filipino
- Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago
- Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago
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Rank 61. Daisies
Italian
Sunlit and sprawling, Daisies has upgraded into a roomier iteration of itself, keeping its house-made pastas—pappardelle with mushroom ragù, rigatoni with pork ragù and fermented tomato—front and center. The onion dip with house-made ruffles remains essential; a new bakery operation supplies pastries, ice creams, and sorbets that close the meal with intention.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
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- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Amy and Jason Kerstein, Joe Muench, and Dan Sidner - Black Shoe Hospitality
- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
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- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago
- Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago
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Rank 64. Mi Tocaya Antojeria
Mexican
Lively chatter and seasonal cocktails fill the dining room at this Logan Square antojeria, where Diana Dávila's menu reclaims lesser-known Aztec traditions—guisado de nopalitos, a fragrant cactus stew with charred chilies and salty fried cheese curds, arrives with warm tortillas. The tacos carry the clarity of Mexico City street food, unpretentious and exact.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Diana Davila
- Eater The All-Time Eater 38
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Diana Dávila
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Rank 66. Boka
Modern New American
Lee Wolen's dining room—all banquettes, mirrored fixtures, quiet confidence—sustains its reputation through unwavering technique and seasonal rigor. Hokkaido scallops arrive with green garlic purée and aerated sabayon; house-made ricotta gnocchetti swims in cream beneath crispy chicken skin. A restaurant that has earned its steadiness.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Lee Wolen
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Rank 67. Shanghai Terrace
Chinese
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
- AAA Four Diamonds
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
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- 50 Best 2026 · #65 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire 2023 · The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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Rank 69. Ruby's Bagels
Bakery
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- Milwaukee Magazine 2025 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
- OnMilwaukee 2025 · Top picks in Metro Milwaukee
- Milwaukee Magazine 2023 · #17 · The Best Restaurants in Milwaukee
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Rank 72. Feld
Contemporary
Chef Jacob Potashnick orchestrates a produce-focused tasting in Ukrainian Village's open kitchen, drawing ingredients from within four hours of Chicago and coaxing them through multiple preparations—raw asparagus, tempura, juice. A single vegetable becomes the evening's argument, whether maitake mushroom across textures or sour cherries from the backyard trees.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Jacob Potashnick
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 73. Asador Bastian
Basque-inspired Steakhouse
Asador Bastian applies Basque grilling discipline to dry-aged beef cooked over charcoal with deliberate restraint, avoiding performance for precision. Set in a 1883 building, the restaurant prioritizes selection and control over volume, anchored by a working open kitchen.
- World's 101 Best #15 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Esquire 2025 · Dirty Dirty · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire 2023 · The Spanglish · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 74. Anelya
Eastern European
In a cozy Avondale dining room, Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim honor Clark's grandmother through meticulously sourced Eastern European fare: green borsch alive with nettles, a zakusky cart of tart roe and seed hummus, butter-glazed pampushky bread. The stuffed cabbage arrives as a study in restraint—locally raised beef, deliberate flavors, no flourish beyond what the ingredients demand.
- Midwest Living 2024 · Best of the Midwest
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #20 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago
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Rank 75. Atelier
New American
A modest storefront on Western Avenue conceals Chef Bradyn Kawcak's assured kitchen, where a tasting menu draws from nearby farms with global references and uncommon technique—pupusas with blue corn, carrot-miso dumplings in rutabaga wrappers, buckwheat noodles swimming in layered umami sauce. The room is small and the cooking is deliberate, each course calibrated to taste rather than impress.
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Rank 77. Mirra
Fusion
Mirca's kitchen splices Indian and Mexican vocabularies with unguarded confidence, sending out dum biryani with lamb barbacoa and scallop ceviche in crispy fenugreek roti alongside housemade achar and salsa tatemado that taste like they belong together. A young crowd packed elbow-to-elbow under exposed brick and ambient noise confirms what the food already knows: restraint has no place here.
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Midwest Living 2025 · Best of the Midwest
- The New York Times 2025 · Chaas Aguachile · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
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Rank 78. Nadu
Regional Indian
Chef Sujan Sarkar's Nadu serves contemporary regional Indian cuisine designed for sharing, with meen gassi—walleye in coconut and tamarind curry—standing out as a richly spiced centerpiece. The warm, upbeat dining room welcomes walk-ins at the bar, though reservations help secure a table for the vegetable moilee and other dishes meant for the whole table.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- Eater 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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- 50 Best 2025 · One to Watch Award
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 80. Jimmy's Pizza Cafe
NY-Style Pizza
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Rank 83. Next
Contemporary
Each season brings a new culinary theme—ancient Rome, Hollywood, fin-de-siècle Paris—executed with technical precision and theatrical flair. The tasting menu pivots entirely every few months, making repeat visits feel like discovering a different restaurant.
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Rank 84. Johnnie's Beef
Italian Beef American
- Time Out #5 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
- Eater The Best Places to Eat in Suburban Chicago
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Rank 88. Maple & Ash
Steakhouse
A wood-fired steakhouse that doubles as a scene: leather banquettes, a photo booth, and a semi-open kitchen where dry-aged beef and whole octopus emerge burnished from the flames. The seafood tower arrives tableside, lobster tail and king crab glistening in garlic butter and chili oil, but it's the theatre—the music, the glow—that makes you want to stay.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Top 10 U.S. Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central
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After years of pop-ups, this neighborhood spot has settled into a playful approach to Indian cooking that freely mixes tradition with invention. Naan arrives topped with jalapeños and mozzarella or folded into a butter chicken calzone; Kerala crab curry and chana chaat hold their own alongside. The warehouse space, with exposed brick and a long bar, feels open and generous.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Zeeshan Shah and Yoshi Yamada
- Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza
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Rank 92. Bisous
Parisian
- 50 Best 2026 · #30 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Top 10 U.S. Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 93. Milly’s Pizza In The Pan
Pan-style Pizza
- Time Out Chicago Pie · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- The Infatuation #23 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Pizza
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Rank 95. Lula Cafe
American
A brick-lined neighborhood corner that fills early and stays full, Lula cycles through seasonal plates with the ease of a place that knows its regulars. The potato 'nduja tart arrives burnished and sharp with aged cheddar; the house-made spaghetti, dressed in pancetta and a sweet-heat chili bean sauce, tastes of real technique applied without pretense. This is comfort that doesn't announce itself.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · Outsdanding Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
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Rank 97. Kie Gol Lanee
Oaxacan Mexican
In a quiet corner of Little Saigon, regulars who've traveled to Oaxaca gather to debate the merits of soft pork tamales in green mole and crispy tlayudas loaded with chorizo. The roasted Cornish hen arrives with skin like a potato chip, cloaked in a dark mole built from layers of spice that taste faintly sweet. A focused menu, executed with care, for those who know the difference.
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Eater Best New Bar
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- Time Out Chicago Pie · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Pizza