The Best Places to Eat and Do in Chicago

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1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

The Depression dog, a Chicago hot dog variant that arrives with fries piled right on top of the bun, is a good reason to find this counter-service hot dog stand on Armitage. Redhot Ranch uses natural-casing sausages, which means an actual snap when you bite in. The smash burgers are a serious value. The same owners run 35th Street Red Hots near Sox Park, same menu, if that's closer.

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Long-fermented dough is the whole point at this casual Lincoln Park pizzeria, where the crust is meant to be light enough that a second slice doesn't feel like a moral failing. The round pies lean classic but wander happily, and the all-day format means sandwiches and salads fill out the menu for those not committed to pizza before noon. Relaxed neighborhood room, no dress code implied.

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Colorful fabric drapes the ceiling like a Bedouin tent, and the smell of mesquite smoke hits you before you find a table. Al Bawadi is a sprawling Middle Eastern grill in Niles where the portions arrive on banquet platters, hummus and rice piled high enough to guarantee tomorrow's lunch. Kefta, kebabs, lamb, chicken, seafood, all over hardwood. The New York Times put it on their list of the 25 best restaurants in Chicago right now.

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1. Eater Lincoln Park’s Best Restaurants

Au Levain is a North Center bakery and cafe where the morning rush is a mix of couples nursing coffee, commuters grabbing a pastry on the way to work, and parents running crumb containment while a toddler dismantles a pain au chocolate. The croissants are the draw, with a honeycomb interior, and the sourdough english muffin breakfast sandwich has a way of lingering in your thoughts around dinnertime. It's on The Infatuation's list of Chicago's best bakeries.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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This is a casual Logan Square counter where the name is the entire menu philosophy: pie and biscuits, no further questions. The biscuits come big and a little crisp, with butter inside and more butter on the side, plus seasonal jam in case that felt like too little butter. The pies rotate through flavors like apple cider donut and German chocolate, by the slice or whole, and eating one before noon is an option nobody will stop you from taking.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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Black Briar is a gastropub in the old Bar Takito space on North Morgan, which means it has 110 seats and a menu that wanders from raw oysters to venison tartare without apologizing. Snail toast shares the page with handmade cavatelli, so nobody has to commit to a single personality. There's a U-shaped bar for the solo diners and an open kitchen for anyone who likes to watch dinner get argued over.

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This is a small counter-service bakery in Greater Grand Crossing where the cakes are sold by the slice, so you can sample the whole case without committing to a wedding order. The caramel cake is the one people talk about, with light, open layers frosted so neatly it looks like a surveyor was involved. Cheesecake, pies, and cupcakes crowd the case too, and the line tends to move with the focus of people who already know their order.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

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1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

Carlyle Club sits on the Chicago River and runs a menu that can't decide between a steakhouse and a sushi bar, then declines to choose. Dry-aged steaks share the table with raw bar towers, handmade pasta, and a wagyu cooked over binchotan. There's a small sushi counter for the committed, plus hand rolls at the bar for everyone else. Expect an all-day, expense-account kind of room where a burger and a lobster pie coexist peacefully.

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This is an old-school Chinatown bakery on Wentworth where the pastry case does all the talking and the register takes only cash, so bring some. The baked BBQ pork buns are soft and fluffy, the sesame balls and egg tarts are the other usual suspects, and the egg tart crust flakes enough that you should check a mirror before rejoining society. Everything is made fresh daily, and a few dollars buys a bag.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

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1. Eater Chicago’s Best Breakfast Spots

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

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1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

From the street, Hermosa looks like the hot dog and beef stand you grew up near, which is the joke, because inside it's a Cambodian sandwich shop with a fried chicken sandwich that has opinions. At night it quietly becomes a dinner tasting, where a group of up to 14 can take over the whole room for an 11-course BYOB spread. It's casual and counter-service, so dress for sandwiches, and bring the wine.

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Breakfast Spots

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

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1. Eater Chicago’s Best Breakfast Spots

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1. Time Out #17 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

Lao Peng You is a tiny, no-frills dumpling and noodle spot where the dumplings arrive plump, in a dried shrimp broth, and the chile oil is homemade enough to sell by the jar. Two brothers took their grandmother's lessons and ran with them, and the noodles have a pleasing chew. Seats are scarce, so arrive early or spend the wait watching other people's dinner with open envy.

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Lost Larson is a Scandinavian-leaning bakery and cafe in Andersonville that mills its own flour, which sounds like a bit until you see the loaves. The pastry case looks like a Great British Baking Show finale, all tarts, cardamom buns, and savory croissants. Order at the counter, grab a sandwich or an afternoon bun with Earl Grey sugar, and expect to linger over coffee longer than you planned.

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops

This is a Pilsen panadería where you grab a tray and a pair of tongs at the door, which makes you feel briefly like you work there. The shelves of Mexican pan dulce run from cocoa-dusted conchas to molasses-heavy marranitos, and a dozen kinds of tortillas, spinach and black bean jalapeño among them, cover the savory side. Nothing costs much, so you'll leave with far more than you planned.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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Pierrot Gourmet is a French bakery-cafe attached to the Peninsula Hotel, which means it's the one place in that building where nobody asks you to dress up. Grab a seat among the brunching tourists if you like, but the to-go line is where the flaky chocolate croissants, hefty cinnamon rolls, and tarts shaped like chrysanthemums are moving. The Infatuation includes it on its Chicago bakeries list.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Coffee Shops

This is the bakery that quietly supplies the bread for The Publican and its sibling meat counter, with a small storefront attached for the rest of us. Pastries start at 7am, the loaves land around 9, and the sourdough comes with a crust that puts up a fight. There's nowhere to sit, so you buy more than you meant to and eat a croissant in the car like a person with a plan.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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Sarima is a small bakery that shares a room with a burger chain, which is the kind of living arrangement that sounds like a sitcom premise. The pastries mix Filipino and Indian flavors, so the donuts come filled with calamansi and shrikhand cream, and the cookies borrow from kaju katli. There are a few tables, but most people treat it as a grab-and-go morning stop before work.

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

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1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Breakfast Spots

Susu is a steakhouse on West Randolph that borrows from Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Asian kitchens, so the usual creamed spinach has some company. It also runs a weekend bakery out of the back entrance, where pre-ordered croissants, shakshuka danish, and tahini canele get picked up like contraband. The breakfast sandwich comes loaded with house-made wagyu sujuk, which is a lot of ambition for a pita.

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1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

1. The Infatuation The 29 Best Bakeries In Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Brunch Restaurants

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes In Chicago

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