The Best Places in Ukrainian Village & around

The kitchen runs down the center of the room at this Ukrainian Village tasting menu spot, so you watch the whole production up close. The team sources almost everything from within a four-hour drive and tends to run a single ingredient through several preparations in one meal. On nice nights the backyard fire pit opens, with sour cherry trees visible overhead and, predictably, sour cherries on the menu. It holds a Michelin star and a James Beard Award.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Winner · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Jacob Potashnick
3. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

Kasama takes its name from the Tagalog word for "together," which tells you something about the whole project. It's a tasting menu restaurant in Wicker Park where a husband-and-wife team reimagines Filipino cuisine with fine dining precision, two Michelin stars, and a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes. Traditional preparations get elegant, inventive treatment, and the pastry work is serious enough to hold its own.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide 2 Stars
3. James Beard Awards 2023 · Winner · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Tim Flores and Genie Kwon

1. The 50 #80 · North America's 50 Best Bars
2. Esquire Market Price Martini · The Best Martinis in America
3. Esquire Martini Service · The Best Martinis in America

A single chef's counter runs the length of a cool, dark room in Wicker Park, putting every diner front-row for the kitchen. Valhalla is a tasting menu spot where the food roams freely, pulling from Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian traditions in the same meal. The cocktail and wine pairings are taken as seriously as the food, which is saying something. The Banchets named the sommelier of the year for 2025.

1. The Banchets Winner · Sommelier of the Year · Jelena Prodan
2. The Banchets Nominee · Chef of the Year · Stephen Gillanders
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Smash Jibarito is a counter-service burger spot on Division Street where the bun is a flattened, fried plantain, which turns lunch into a mild argument about whether this counts as a sandwich. It's the Puerto Rican jibarito run through a smashburger press, with thin, crisp-edged patties and a tangy house sauce that nods toward In-N-Out. It's a casual, order-and-grab operation, so wear whatever you were already wearing.

1. The Infatuation The Best Burgers In America

1. The Banchets Nominee · Rising Chef · John Dahlstrom
2. Time Out #20 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago

1. Huckberry The 50 Best Dive Bars in America

1. Huckberry The 50 Best Dive Bars in America

Taxidermy on the walls, an Art Deco bar, and big comfy booths: Sportsman's Club is a neighborhood tavern that looks like it's been on Western Ave forever but drinks like something that arrived much more recently. The rotating menu leans spirit-forward and serious, even if the vibe emphatically does not. It's the kind of place that made this particular Chicago formula feel worth copying.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery
2. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
3. Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central

1. The Banchets Nominee · Bar of the Year

1. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central

1. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central

Tucked into an alley in Ukrainian Village, this outdoor pizza spot from chef Noah Sandoval runs on pan pizzas, sandwiches, and salads eaten at garden tables strung with hanging plants. When the weather turns, takeaway is the move. The Michelin Guide has taken notice, which feels appropriate for a place that manages to be genuinely casual without coasting on it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Large steel fermentation vats line the back wall of this cozy Wicker Park brewpub, making the beer program hard to ignore. The kitchen holds its own with filet sliders layered with blue cheese and caramelized onions, a grilled fish sandwich with house-made remoulade, and a warm carrot cake with candied pecans that earns its spot on the menu. Tastings help you navigate the draft list before committing, which is a small mercy.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Breakfast Spots
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Brunch Restaurants

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants 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.

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Chicago

1. Time Out The 40 best coffee shops in Chicago

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Steakhouses
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Burgers

1. The Infatuation #6 · The Ice Cream Power Rankings

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Lunch Options

Tortello is a pastifico on Division with a storefront window that doubles as a live show, staff cutting and kneading dough for anyone who slows down on the sidewalk. The flour comes from Italy, and a master sfoglina was brought in to train the team, which tells you how seriously they take noodles. It's casual and moderately priced, with fresh pasta by the pound to go and a patio that fills up the minute the weather allows.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Italian Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program