After years of serving city crowds, co-owners Chad and Alicia Hauge and Mike Melazzo — industry vets with stints at Longman & Eagle, Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits, and Mott St. — noticed something: A lot of their regulars were making the trek in from the suburbs. So in 2018, they opened this bar in Glen Ellyn, where they … Read more
If you’re all for the city’s current bakery boom but not so keen on the lines, make tracks for La Grange, where husband-and-wife owners Erik and Maree Hecimovich (who have put in time at Publican Quality Bread, Grace, and Bad Butter) are turning out some of the most beautiful laminated pastries in the suburbs. Offerings … Read more
Where I live, on the Far South Side of Chicago, dining out used to mean pizza, fried chicken, or fast food, while drinking destinations were of the beer-only tavern variety. But when this French-accented Vietnamese and Thai restaurant opened in bordering Evergreen Park 10 years ago, it brought upscale dining and a classy martini bar … Read more
When he’s craving curry rice and tonkatsu, our dining critic heads north.
Farm-to-table is nothing new, but at the café at Elawa Farm, a nonprofit foundation, your food doesn’t have to travel far to get to your table. Opened last fall and housed in a restored David Adler–designed building, the restaurant serves breakfast and lunch made with ingredients from the property, including vegetables grown 100 feet away, … Read more
She’ll kvell — and so will you. Opened last summer by three New Trier alums who missed the kind of sit-down deli restaurant they grew up with, Mensch’s is a tribute to old-school Jewish diners. Jack DeMar, Kiki Eliopoulos, and Eric Kogan visited iconic New York City ones — Russ & Daughters, Barney Greengrass, Pastrami Queen — before crafting a menu … Read more
It isn’t easy eating out with a little one. When you walk into a nice restaurant with an overstuffed diaper bag, a stroller that resembles a small tank, and a ticking time bomb of a baby, the looks you get from other patrons are enough to dissuade you from ever setting foot in public again. … Read more
I had driven by the White Sheep at least a hundred times en route to the stores near Orland Square before I finally stopped in. Now? I don’t want to brunch anywhere else — especially because this is a rare restaurant that serves brunch not just on weekends but every day. My ideal weekday morning: I drop … Read more
Winnetka boasts palatial homes, boutique stores, and pricey coffee, but a bangin’ banh mi shop? Just steps from the Home Alone house, this Vietnamese-Chinese joint that Kevin Diep opened last year serves up uniformly exceptional sandwiches, though the grilled lemongrass pork number — deeply marinated and delightfully charred — is especially stellar. The crackly-tender bread comes fresh from Nhu … Read more
