The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Stumara
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Rank 1. 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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- 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 5. The English Room
Continental
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Rank 9. 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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Rank 10. Al Bawadi Grill
Middle Eastern
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Rank 11. Oceanique
Global
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Rank 12. 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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Rank 13. 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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Rank 14. 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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Rank 15. 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 16. 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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Rank 17. Kumiko
Japanese Cocktail Bar
Julia Momosé's dining bar pairs an exceptional Japanese spirits collection with sharp-uniformed servers who radiate genuine warmth across a room designed for lingering. The kitchen matches that precision—butter cabbage with ramp miso and katsuobushi, grilled Arctic char in shio koji beurre blanc—each plate calibrated as carefully as the cocktails beside it.
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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 19. 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 20. 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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- 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 22. 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 23. 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 24. 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 25. 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 26. 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 27. 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 28. 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 29. 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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Rank 30. Side Practice Coffee
Filipino
- Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops
- Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago
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Rank 31. 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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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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- Time Out Chicago Pie · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Pizza
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Rank 35. 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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- 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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Rank 37. 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 38. Jimmy's Pizza Cafe
NY-Style Pizza
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Rank 39. Akahoshi Ramen
Noodles
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Time Out #22 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
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- 50 Best 2025 · One to Watch Award
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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Rank 45. 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 46. Scofflaw
Gin-Focused Cocktail Bar
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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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- International Baking Industry Expo 2025 · Winner: Arshiya Farheen · World Bread Awards USA · Challah
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Rank 50. Tortas Frontera
Mexican
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Rank 51. 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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Rank 52. 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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Rank 53. Sepia
New American
A former print shop on Jefferson Street holds a dining room where exposed brick and floor-to-ceiling wine racks frame Chef Andrew Zimmerman's restless intelligence. His brioche with black truffle and leek velouté, his sablefish with barbecue spice and smoked apple, suggest a cook equally at home in Southeast Asia, Korea, and the American South.
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Rank 54. 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 55. 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 56. Coda Di Volpe
Southern Italian
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Rank 57. North Pond
Contemporary
In a converted ice-skate warming shelter facing Lincoln Park pond, Chef Cesar Murillo's seasonal tasting menu braids Latin and Asian influences through dishes like tuna tartare with chicharrón and wagyu with shiso. The dining room trades fussiness for comfort, anchored by rooftop vegetables and city views.
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Rank 58. Spacca Napoli Pizzeria
Neapolitan Pizza
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Rank 59. Schubas Tavern
Chicago
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Rank 60. Brasero
South American
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- Time Out #23 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
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Garlic smoke rises from the rice cooker each time the door swings open at this narrow Filipino spot, once a food stall, now a compact temple to pork—crispy belly hash, herb-marinated cuts, sausage. Steelhead trout in burnt tomato and tamarind broth offers brief reprieve; a fried plantain spring roll dusted with brown sugar closes the meal like a handheld brûlée.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Joe Fontelera
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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Rank 64. 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 65. Valhalla
Contemporary
Chef Stephen Gillanders holds court at a dark Wicker Park counter, sending out a globe-trotting tasting menu that pivots between Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian without apology—lobster tsukune with smoked pimentón butter lands next to white curry noodles. Dessert pavlovas and a beverage program of real thoughtfulness suggest a kitchen that plays seriously.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #16 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Winner · Sommelier of the Year · Jelena Prodan
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Rank 66. 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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- Time Out The best bakeries in America
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Pastry Chef of the Year · Bo Durham
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Rank 68. Schwa
Contemporary
No servers, rap at full volume, and a kitchen that treats classical technique like a toy to dismantle—Schwa remains defiantly itself. A single tasting might pivot from chilled gumbo with blue crab crisps to foie gras ice cream in a cinnamon shell to quail dusted in jerk spice. The cooking is deliberately provocative, sometimes brilliant, always refusing to apologize.
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- VinePair 2025 · Food & Beverage Program of the Year · The Next Wave Awards
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 1 Pin
- 50 Best 2026 · #27 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 70. John’s Food and Wine
Modern New American
White brick and a long banquette set the scene at this counter-service neighborhood spot where diners order before sitting. The kitchen sends out country ham with fried sunchokes, lobster salad with leek aioli, dry-aged steaks with potato pavé—each plate arriving with the confidence of a place that knows what it's doing. Beef fat fries alone justify a return.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #13 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Rising Chef · Madalyn Durrant
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Rank 73. Sol de Mexico
Traditional Mexican
Tropical walls and mariachi set the scene at this Cicero mainstay, where sopes arrive filled with caramelized plantain and house chorizo in vivid abundance. The pollo en mole manchamanteles—its mahogany sauce rich and nutty—justifies the dish's name: tablecloth stainer.
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Rank 74. Pizz’amici
Tavern-Style Pizza
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation 2025 · #10 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
- Eater Best New Pizzeria · The 2025 Eater Chicago Award Winners
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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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Chef Otto Phan's 10-seat omakase strips down to nigiri alone, with fish cut large and pressed onto generous rice mounds that feel substantial rather than precious. The tamago finishes silky; the prices and beverage list suggest a counter confident enough to skip pretension.
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Rank 79. Kyōten
Sushi
- Time Out #3 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Winner · Chef of the Year · Otto Phan
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Rank 81. Topolobampo
Mexican
Rick Bayless's Mexican fine dining showcases seasonal, tradition-rooted dishes with unexpected flourishes, from memela divorciada to salmon in pipian sauce. The agave-focused beverage pairings elevate each course with studied care.
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Rank 82. Ina Mae
Southern
A sprawling New Orleans tavern anchors a corner of Wicker Park with a three-deep bar and the restless energy of a place that knows what it does. The gumbo and po'boys arrive honest and sturdy, but it's the Nashville fried chicken—a staff obsession—that reveals the kitchen's true ambition.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Mark Domitrovich, Brian Jupiter, and Aaron Torricelli - Pioneer Tavern Group
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 84. Esmé
Contemporary
Chef Jenner Tomaska's minimal gallery-like space treats each course as art, with flavorful compositions like Dover sole in vin jaune sauce served on custom ceramics by local makers. The high-concept tasting blurs dining and visual experience without sacrificing the precision of dishes like goat cheese ice cream with yuzu and cured egg yolk.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Jenner Tomaska
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Chicago
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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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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Best Neighborhood Restaurant
- Bon Appétit 2019 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 90. Elske
Contemporary
The Posey's airy dining room and garden patio set a calm stage for cooking that honors ingredients with Danish-inflected restraint. Duck liver tart with salted ramp, composed vegetable plates, and gently handled proteins move across the season; desserts—shaped by Anna Posey's visual arts background—balance considered composition with simplicity. A thoughtful wine and juice program follows.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Anna Posey
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
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Rank 93. Maxwells Trading
Contemporary
A converted warehouse in West Loop fills nightly with the sound of conversation ricocheting off black-framed windows and an almost endless bar, its kitchen playing confidently with Japanese, Chinese, and Thai influences across dishes like soup dumpling tortellini and turbot with kombu beurre blanc. The rooftop garden feeds the plates; the bartenders fuel the momentum.
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Christopher Jung and Erling Wu-Bower
- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
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In a converted coach house on Division, Zubair Mohajir distills his childhood across India and the Middle East into tasting menus that layer pickling and fermentation through South and Southeast Asian cuisines. A sweet potato pavé under molaga podi rub, dumplings glossed with beet butter and mushrooms, ube jalebi swimming in saffron—each plate announces a cook fully arrived at his ambition.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Zubair Mohajir
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Chicago
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Rank 97. Munno Pizzeria & Bistro
Roman-style Pizza
The dining room fills nightly with neighborhood regulars drawn to Roman-style pizzas with a bubble-like char and a serious kitchen that doesn't settle for one talent. Oblong pies like the diavola sbagliata, paired with house-made pastas that sing with restraint and care, suggest this unfussy spot knows exactly what it's doing.
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Rank 99. EL Ideas
Contemporary
Phillip Foss cooks from his home in a warehouse where one seating means everyone eats together, wine is unlimited, and the kitchen is theater—guests drift past the pantry and stand inches from the plating. His cuisine surprises with playful riffs, though the French fries with potato leek soup and nitro ice cream remain steadfast.
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- Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago