Ad Categories: Dining & Drinking

  Chop Shop 2033 W. North Ave. 773 537-4440 American $35 to $45 Dining Guide listing Website   Joshua Marrelli A restaurant that doubles as a craft beer bar, triples as a gourmet butcher shop, and quadruples as a party and music space? This evokes images of couples canoodling over oysters and pints of Lagunitas … Read more

  Baffo 44 E. Grand Ave. 312-521-8701 Italian $60 to $70 Chef: Eli Anderson Dining Guide listing Website   If Eataly, with its clogged aisles of giddy tourists, is Disneyland for food fans, then Baffo, the 65-seat white-tableclothed pasteria downstairs, is the refined counterpart that Euro Disney was meant to be. You’re in for laid-back … Read more

  A10 1462 E. 53rd St. 773-288-1010 Italian/French $30 to $40 Chef-owner: Matthias Merges Dining Guide listing Website   Matthias Merges (Yusho, Billy Sunday), Charlie Trotter’s right-hand man for 14 years, opened A10 on November 5, the same day his mentor died. In doing so, he simultaneously paid tribute to Trotter and stepped outside the … Read more

  Stella Barra Pizzeria 1954 N. Halsted St. 773-634-4101 Pizza $20 to $30 Dining Guide listing Website   Jeff Mahin Jeff Mahin, the Lettuce Entertain You chef who practically perfected the doughnut at Do-Rite, works similar magic on crust at this sleek artisanal pizza parlor, a sibling of the two in Southern California. He and … Read more

  Beatrix Aloft, 519 N. Clark St. 312-284-1377 American $35 to $45 Chef-partners: John Chiakulas, Rita Dever, Susan Weaver Dining Guide listing Website   The current line on Lettuce Entertain You is that the restaurant group has recaptured the hip reputation it once enjoyed. Most attribute the renaissance to the offspring of its chairman, Rich … Read more

Five more to watch for

How many of this year’s best new restaurants have you been to? Use this checklist to count, then share your results on Twitter or Facebook. Or, print this PDF and take the list with you.