Jefferson Square

As much fun as it is to walk around Chinatown Square, Chicago’s new Asian food hotness lies just across the river in the East Pilsen mall Jefferson Square. At street level, Qiao Lin Hotpot provides the city’s most over-the-top hot pot experience, and Holu proffers prime and wagyu steak on tabletop grills (that’s their spread of seafood starters at left). Upstairs, the vast Chinese grocery store 88 Marketplace has Chicago’s most exciting new food court. Two highlights: the fresh, handcrafted dim sum at Ying and the sushi bar 312 Fish Market, where the richest cuts of tuna and salmon belly cost a fraction of what they do elsewhere. 2105 S. Jefferson St., East Pilsen