CHICAGO
The Best Restaurants in Chicago, From Secret Counters to Starred Icons
By Jamie Dutton | June 16, 2025
Union
AUTHOR BIO: With a job that has her in airports regularly, Jamie Dutton finds herself across the center of the U.S. regularly. She’s partial to BPTs and a Bell's Lager.
Ask Google for the best restaurants near me in Chicago and you’ll get a list so long you might as well settle for a hot dog at the 7‑Eleven on Ashland.
That’s because Chicago is difficult to distill into one list—it’s too much: too many neighborhoods, too many chefs doing interesting things, too many ways to define great. But after eating my way from Lincoln Park tasting menus to strip mall mole in Albany Park, here’s where I’d send someone who actually wants to eat well in Chicago right now.
This isn’t a list of steakhouse legends or Instagram bait. These are the places that feel alive—run by chefs who still care, kitchens pushing past genre, dining rooms that don’t make you feel like you should’ve worn a blazer even if you're in jeans and a hoodie.
If you're looking for Chicago's best new restaurants, the best date night places, or just something other than another damn slice of deep dish, here you go.
1. Smyth
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A farmhouse fantasy hidden behind a West Loop door, Smyth now holds three Michelin stars—Chicago’s first since Alinea. John Shields and Karen Urie Shields serve you a series of delicate, mind-bending things, like the milk brioche pictured above topped with barbecued eel and uni sourced from Maine. It’s the rare fine dining place that somehow still feels like someone’s cooking just for you.
2. Maxwells Trading
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This West Loop sleeper doesn’t have a sign outside, but there’s serious talent here: Japanese eggpant with confit tomatoes, pea ravioli in brown butter and mirin, and a half chicken with andoullie sausage and navy beans. The executive chef is Chris G. Jung, paired up here with chef partner Erling Wu-Bower, a dynamic kitchen duo that tells you just about everything you need to know.
3. Cariño
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Cariño earned a Michelin star in 2024, putting Uptown on the map for Latin-American tasting menus. Chef Norman Fenton is behind plates that flip between bold sauces, little tacos, and risotto-like globes nodding to Mexican traditions. It’s playful, colorful, and feels fresh, not felt-it-all-before Michelin formality.
4. Perilla
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Perilla Korean American Steakhouse is what happens when someone has the idea of taking Korean barbecue, marrying it to an American steakhouse, and then throwing out all the rules. Tables come set with ssam and kimchi butter, and you can order a bone-in ribeye that’s been dry-aged, marinated, and grilled until the smoke gods are satisfied. It’s loud, it’s downtown inside the L7 Hotel by Lotte, and it’s the best argument I’ve seen in a while for turning meat into performance art.
5. Asador Bastian
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Doug Psaltis and Hsing Chen treat fire like an ingredient—Basque cut steaks and fish charred over coals with real reverence. Dishes like bone-marrow mash and piquillo-pepper sides land hard in a dim, intimate River North setting. It’s steakhouse post-modern, with no thick linen to hide behind.
6. Alinea
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The city’s only other three-Michelin-star spot, from famed chef Grant Achatz, is still the king of food theater, even as it leans (thankfully) less on molecular gastronomy. Yes, the balloons and smoke tricks are there, but so is flavor—like the cured veal cheek pictured above with puffed wild rice and a pineapple taffy that lodges firmly in your brain. This isn’t just spectacle. It’s spectacle that reminds you that even the most creative of dishes should also taste good.
7. Lao Peng You
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Two brothers, one noodle empire—and it feels like a secret blast of real-deal Lao flavor. Hand-pulled noodles, pleated dumplings, dark chili oil, dirt-cheap prices. You sit on cramped stools and wonder how this roast could taste this honest this cheap.
8. Union
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This isn’t just pizza—it’s Meadowlark Hospitality’s love letter to beer and food in Logan Square. Housed next to Lardon, this cozy, wood-clad bar rotates 24 draft taps featuring Chicago legends like Hopewell and Half Acre, alongside guest spots from St. Louis and Madison. The kitchen backs it up with fanci-fied comfort food—fried olives, lamb meatballs, and one of the city’s best burgers—that earn Union a Michelin Bib Gourmand without even trying too hard.
9. Khmai Cambodian Fine Dining
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Cambodian food hasn’t had a stage in Chicago like this before, and now it does—in Rogers Park, no less. Chef Mona Sang serves amok with flaky fish and coconut curry so smooth you’ll take home the leftover sauce even though that’s the only thing left in the bowl. The space is small, family-run, and proof that “fine dining” doesn’t have to mean tuxedoed service or four-digit wine lists.
10. Daisies
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Chef Joe Frillman and pastry wizard Leigh Omilinsky have turned this Logan Square spot into an all-day shrine to Midwestern abundance—house-made pastas, peak-season vegetables, and desserts that make you question every sad cookie you’ve ever had. It’s casual enough for laptops and strollers by day, but come dinnertime, it runs like a restaurant that knows exactly what it’s doing.
11. Nine Bar
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This Chinatown basement bar comes from the Moon Palace Express family—Lily Wang on drinks and Joe Briglio on snacks. Dim light, tight space, spice-forward bites. It’s the spot where a whiskey sour turns into an invitation to stay.
12. Daisy’s Po’ Boy and Tavern
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If the po’ boy you ordered doesn’t drip onto your shirt, you’re doing it wrong. Erick Williams (of Virtue fame) opened Daisy’s in Pullman as a tribute to his mother, and the result is fried shrimp, roast beef debris, and gumbo that could hold its own in New Orleans. Bonus: they serve strong drinks and know how to treat regulars.
