Five Things: Tasty Tidbits
In their book, Made in Chicago (out March 21), food writers Monica Eng and David Hammond go deep on the origins of 30 hometown dishes. Here’s what we learned.
Custom Placements: Dining Lead
Cebu’s Sizzling Gambas
Simple to make and super shareable, the spicy-sweet shrimp at Cebu, a Filipino restaurant in Wicker Park, has a good-time vibe that wouldn’t be out of place at a buzzing Madrid tapas bar. And that’s no coincidence: Co-owner Marlon Tan explains that the sizzling shrimp is a play on gambas al ajillo, one of the … Read more
The Best BYOBs in Town and a Good Place to Celebrate
What are the best BYOBs in town? Let’s start with Bayan Ko (1810 W. Montrose Ave., Ravenswood), where the Filipino-Cuban menu (get the Cubano fried rice and thank me later) goes nicely with a bottle of dry rosé. I’d bring an off-dry Riesling to match the delicious fare at In-On Thai (4641 N. Broadway, Uptown). … Read more
Chef Christian Hunter Brings a Fresh Perspective to Fine Dining at Atelier
The restaurant, now open in the former Elizabeth space, shines a light on local ingredients.
Big Fish
In recent years, an influx of money from Asia has transformed Chinatown, replacing beloved if long-in-the-tooth Cantonese places with bright restaurants in line with international tastes. Dim sum parlors have been supplanted by Taiwanese teahouses, Korean barbecues, Sichuan spice-o-ramas, and hot pot spots. So many hot pot spots. My favorite of this new guard is … Read more
The 10 Hottest Restaurants in Chicago Right Now: March 2023
The city’s most buzzed-about restaurants this month.
Sunny Starts
Fancy egg sandwiches, featuring everything from longanisa to braised kale, are having a moment. Try these five.
Junebug Café’s Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
As they planned their Louisiana-inspired Junebug Café (which now has locations in Portage Park, Near North Side, and West Town), Jacqueline and Chris Murphy had no shortage of source material: Jacqueline was well versed in the region’s flavors through her French Creole grandmother, June, while Chris’s parents own Oak Park’s Cajun-influenced Poor Phil’s Bar and … Read more
It’s All Gravy
Poutine — the French Canadian fast food consisting of fries, cheese curds, and enough steaming gravy to turn the assemblage into a gooey-crisp object of supreme face-stuffability — had its trendy moment here. In Canada, however, its trajectory has been from street stalls and food courts into sit-down restaurants that take the idea and run with it. In Montreal, … Read more