The Best Japanese Eats Are in the Suburbs
When he’s craving curry rice and tonkatsu, our dining critic heads north.
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Best Farm-to-Table Café Where You Can Pet Baby Goats
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
Best New Reason to Invite Your Bubbe to Lunch
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
Best Bougie Café That’s Also Baby Friendly
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
Best Place to Brunch on a Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday …
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
Best New Banh Mi
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
Best Affordable Tasting Menu
It’s impossible not to root for Cristian Orozco, the owner, executive chef, and head rooftop gardener for Five O Four Kitchen. Every night, he offers a create-your-own five-course tasting menu for $85. Whatever you select, you’ll receive a culinary memoir in five acts. Bowls of Worcestershire-spiked ceviche and huitlacoche ravioli are nods to his childhood … Read more
Ep. 6: Where We Eat and Drink in the Burbs
Gas up the car, we’re headed to the suburbs for today’s episode. Plus, we get the lowdown on Cafe Yaya, the new all-day spot in Lincoln Park from the team behind Galit.
A (Really) Great Giardiniera Retest
Our critic sat down with the makers of Caruso Provisions giard — the lowest ranked one in our taste test — to talk history, process, and why those jars were off.
A New Standby
Though still a bit uneven, Cafe Yaya, an all-day spot from the Galit team, keeps this critic coming back.