The Great Suburban Migration
Top Chicago chefs have started opening restaurants outside the city. Here are three worth the drive.
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How to Eat (and Drink) Your Way Through the Suburbs
From doughnuts with global flair to refreshing lychee martinis, there’s no shortage of bold flavors beyond the city limits. Here are our new favorites.
Best Way to Teleport to Maui During a Chicago Winter
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Nate Domingo, born in the Philippines and raised in Maui, lost his job as a chef at a Kaanapali Beach resort and so followed his wife, Diana, to Illinois, where she pursued a graduate degree and he got a job at a Highland Park car wash. His coworkers there … Read more
Best Place for Pretending You’re in Moscow, Circa 1995
If you engage Russian-born Yana Khernburg in conversation, either inside her restaurant and bar or perhaps outside as she harangues passersby to come in, you might get a breathless monologue like the one I received one night: “I opened my barbershop here in 2020 right as the pandemic started but the shutdown rules allowed barbershops … Read more
Best Global Tour via Doughnuts
Stepping into this brightly colored place, you might think it’s just another neighborhood doughnut shop. But a look inside the display cases tells a different story. Alongside the classic glazed, red velvet, and old-fashioned flavors at this four-year-old spot (originally called Hello Donut), you’ll find a rotating selection of inventive international offerings. “We think food … Read more
Best New Breakfast Burrito
A few times each week, I jog from my house in Highland Park down to the lake and back up the ravine. It’s the bare minimum to stay just this side of dad bod. But these days, I have an additional reason to lace up my Asics, albeit one that is counterproductive to maintaining my … Read more
Best Bar for People Who Read the Whole Menu
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
Best Shortcut to Incredible Pastries
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
Best Spot for Slurping Pho and Sipping a Fancy Lychee Martini
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