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Amy Cavanaugh: Welcome to Dish From Chicago Magazine. I’m Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago magazine’s dining editor,

John Kessler : And I’m John Kessler, Chicago magazine’s dining critic.

Amy: Today we’re talking about one of our signature projects, which is an issue devoted to Chicago’s 50 best restaurants. Two years ago, John and I shared duties to come up with the magazine’s first effort since the pandemic. This year, John flew solo, and while I may not agree with each and every one of his choices, he and I saw very much eye to eye on which restaurants deserve top billing. You can purchase our standalone issue on newsstands now, and also see the restaurants ranked online at Chicagomag.com. 

Amy: So John, you went to a lot of restaurants in a very short period of time to research this project. You spent about four months in total eating all across the city, all price points, all cuisines, all neighborhoods. What were some of your takeaways?

John : Hey Amy, yeah, I definitely put in my frequent flyer miles on dining. Went to quite a few more restaurants than could actually make the list, so that was very interesting. And I had two major takeaways. One was that there are some restaurants that just have a sense of doing it all right: the food, the service, the pacing, that feeling you get when you are getting a really good overall experience, and that is what the people running the restaurant are focused on. A couple that come to mind are an old one and a new one: Gibson’s, just the original steakhouse. I feel — you know the steakhouse that begat the huge restaurant group — I feel you go there and it is always fun. It is always just purrs. And then another is Zarella, the new pizzeria from the Boka Group in River North, and they do just a great job of giving you the whole picture: a really good meal, a really satisfying experience, provided you can, you know, make it through the gauntlet of people trying to get in. So that’s my first takeaway. The second one is I revisited a lot of restaurants, and it was very interesting to see how they aged. Restaurants age very differently. Oriole, still great, and I got a sense that they hit refresh. The food is quite different from the menu, and from the menu had sort of like a kind of a structure to it, and some classic dishes that people went back for for many years, and I feel like they’ve said goodbye to that, you know, wonderful pasta with yeast and truffles, and a few other things. Sad to say goodbye, but it made room for a very fresh feeling menu. Some just start to feel very timeless, and one of those would be Virtue. And then some feel like they could use a little bit of refreshing. I want to see them grow and change a little bit more than they are, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still great, and Monteverde comes to mind for me in that way. And then sadly some restaurants I really used to love just start to feel tired and like they’re going through the paces, and these are restaurants that did not make the list this year.

Amy: Yeah, I really, you know, think that this is such an interesting takeaway. When you dine at places in such rapid succession, you really start to see what makes places special, what stands out, what makes them unique, and I also think this idea of, you know, restaurants have a life cycle, they evolve, they change, is something that I don’t think a lot of diners notice or think about. And I think, you know, I feel like I’m saying constantly to people that restaurants have changed so dramatically since the pandemic, you know, the whole staff might be entirely different, the mode of service might be different, you know, the price point, what they focus on, things have changed so much. And you know, sometimes I’ll be talking to people, and they’re like, “Oh, my favorite restaurant is, you know, this place.” I’m like, Well, when’s the last time you went? And it’ll be before the pandemic, and it’s like, well, it’s probably not the same restaurant that you loved back then, and you should go back. And so I think that, you know, in our jobs here, it is so, so easy to focus on new, new, new, you know, that is so much of what this job is, is you know, checking out new places to tell readers about them, which is why I think it’s so important that we take a step back from time to time and really look at the entire scene as a whole and go back to some of these places that you know, we really do need to check back in on, and you know, Gibson’s is one. I dined at Gibson’s a few months ago. I hadn’t been in years, and I’m still thinking about how fun that dinner was. You know, they’re just.. it’s really an incredible experience, right? And so, you know, yeah, it’s such a standout.

John : And it’s.. it’s one of those meals that kind of like etches in your brain. I mean, I’ve just been there and had a few dishes at the bar, and I can still picture everything, you know. I can still, you know, just remember the temperature of the shrimp cocktail and the martini, and I can, you know, picture the bread basket. And yeah, it is funny how some places just know how to use what they have, the feeling of the place, the mode of service, just to create something singular.

Amy: Absolutely, and this is what makes restaurants so special. So to put together this list, you and I talked so many times, we debated the inclusion of every single spot on here where it was ranked, and I see so many of my favorite places well represented here, but then there are some spots that I think are really kind of unexpected, and they were surprising choices for me when you first, you know, brought them up. And I think that they might be places that a lot of our listeners might not know offhand. I do know that you love this particular restaurant. I have not been yet, but tell us about Torizen.

John : Yeah, and I do love Torizen, and always feel like a broken record when I preface something by saying this, but I lived in Japan for a couple of years, and Torizen is the Japanese restaurant that to me feels most like being back in Japan. It has two different experiences there. At lunchtime, you get what’s called a teishoku, which would be kind of a set meal, perhaps in a bento box, or perhaps not, but a set meal with, you know, miso soup and rice and pickles, and one, two, or three main dishes. It goes up every day on their Instagram account. You can see what the specials are. There always are a lot of specials. At night, it is an izakaya, and it’s a real izakaya, like you would find in Japan. I know that the word is being used a lot here to indicate small plates restaurants with Japanese-coded food, but there it is small dishes, a lot of signatures, but also a lot of seasonal items that come in. You know, certain kinds of seasonal fish for sashimi, definitely seasonal vegetables. And what you can do there is do that Japanese thing where you can get a real mix of, you know, different preparations, something’s fried, something’s raw, something’s simmered, something’s steamed, and you put it together with drinks and have a great time.

Amy: It sounds really great. You also included Go 4 Food, which I have been to, but it’s been well over a decade. Why should people go there now?

John : So it took me a long time to go there, and I have a good friend who said, I really want to take you to this restaurant called Go 4 Food in Chinatown. And I looked it up and it is spelled Go-the numeral four-and then food, and which, yeah, which, you know, I mean, I hate to be a, you know, a syntax or lexography snob, but I’m like, okay, yeah, all right, Go 4 food, but it is a great Cantonese seafood restaurant. The owner, Wendy Chung, opened it with the intention of creating a great small space for fresh fish dishes that everyone can share. There’re beautiful Pacific oysters, huge ones, you know, with black bean sauce or ginger garlic. There are steamed razor clams, which are very hard to find here, whole steamed fish, and there are also some Cantonese non-fish items, like tea smoke duck, that are very good. Some of those fun, like funky Chinese, Southern Chinese specialties, like walnut shrimp, which are, you know, fried shrimp coated in mayonnaise with walnuts. And I went recently, and I just had a really, really delightful meal with a group of about six people, and walked away feeling, you know, pretty pumped by that place.

Amy: All right, I’m gonna have to go back soon. And then this one is a restaurant that I had not even heard of until you surfaced it, Lao Hu Tong.

John : Yes.

Amy: Tell me about that one. 

John : So, that is a Chinese dumpling restaurant. It’s in Schaumburg, and so if you do not live in those suburbs, yes, I’m proposing — I am tacitly telling you it is worth the drive to go there to eat dumplings and noodles. It is one of those restaurants that specializes in xiaolongbao, the Chinese soup dumplings that people are obsessed with. And I have eaten a fair number of xiaolongbao in my life, and I’ve enjoyed them. I’ve, like, you know, burned my tongue biting the tops off of them. I’ve never had such a good one in Chicago. They are, the wrappers are thin, but they don’t tear. They’re very, really nicely made, and all the other dumplings I tried there were great too. There were some pork and kimchi dumplings that were just dynamite. There are some great fresh noodle dishes, and then vegetables like vinegary wood ear mushrooms and dry-fried green beans that are really just a cut above anything you will find elsewhere in Chicago. 

Amy: All right, those, those are really great, and definitely sound like they should be added to all of our dining lists. What are a few of the restaurants that you were particularly happy to recognize? 

John : So I went back after many years to Kie-Gol-Lanee. I’d been to the one up on Sheridan, and then I visited the new one in Logan Square, and I’d liked it before. I’d like it a lot, but on this revisit, it really occurred to me that it is a just a charming, heartfelt restaurant that gives you a real sense of place. It is Oaxacan cooking, not in terms of, you know, just saying sexy Oaxacan moles, and things like, you know, and certain fun, you know, pre-Columbian dishes with insects and things like that, but it’s just very homey food. The moles are used as sauces that accompany, say, a nice piece of cod and zucchini that are, you know, wrapped up and steamed in a banana leaf until the fish is very moist and the zucchini is all smooshy, and it’s just great. It’s food that is homey and special, yet gives you a sense of place.

Amy: That’s lovely. Yeah, I have been to the one on Sheridan, but yeah, I’d really like to go check out the new one as well. You also, I know, really loved Omarcito’s for this.

John : Yeah, I was so happy to go back there. Omar Cadena runs this really fun Latin American restaurant from basically a food truck that is in the middle of a courtyard in a building on the far side of Logan Square, early part of Hermosa, and it is just a little courtyard filled with life. He is a warm, welcoming person. Everyone on the staff is great, and he is part Ecuadorian, part Cuban, but he makes the best jibaritos I’ve ever had. They’re not the, you know, you can get good or more traditional Puerto Rican ingredients in them. You can get the steak and cheese, but he makes a jibarito with fried catfish and this absolutely delicious. Ecuadorian salsa criolla, which has tomatoes and onions and just a bucket full of fresh lime juice, and it’s really, really delicious. That was one of those things where I got it to go, and I actually had to stop the car and park, and just spend some love time with it. 

Amy: Yeah, I know that Titus Ruscitti names that catfish jibarito as his No. 1 fried fish sandwich in the city, which I got I gotta go try it.

John : You really do. Yeah. Now that you’ve moved to Logan Square, it’s, you know, it won’t be too far for you.

Amy: I, yeah, I think this episode’s got about like two days before I move. So, Omarcito’s, I will see you very soon. Want to do one more? 

John : Sure. Brindille, Carrie Nahabedian’s restaurant in River North, just real classic French food. I mean, she is a goddess. She is one of the great chefs from an earlier age, but still there behind the stove. And when you try her food, you can just see how confident and mature her palate is. If there are garnishes on something, you will find that every single flavor is there for a reason. Her cousin Michael runs the front of the room. He’s just a lovely person, and it’s just, you know, it’s a great old French restaurant. I don’t mean like old, old, I mean like timeless French restaurant. So go.

Amy: All right. Well, let’s get into the top picks. Let’s count down from the top 10, so at No. 10 we have Monteverde, which actually earned the top spot in our 2024 ranking. Tell me your thoughts on Monteverde’s ranking.

John : Yeah, still love it. Bailey Sullivan has taken over from Sarah Grueneberg to run the kitchen. It still feels a lot like Sarah’s menu, and you know it’s a hard thing to change because it’s such a great menu, and there’s so many dishes there that I think, you know, repeat customers would have conniptions if they went off the menu. Really liked it, did not enjoy our service on the last visit, so got a ding for that, and I thought there were a couple dishes were weak. But overall just a, an absolutely delicious, wonderful restaurant. One of my favorites, now and forever.

Amy: All right, at No. 9, one of my personal favorites, El Che Steakhouse. It feels like you’re finally on the El Che train.

John : I am finally on the El Che train. Yes, I’ve had been a couple times before, I’d liked it well enough, but now this last time I’d been, I can now see why you, and so many people, list it as one of your top restaurants in Chicago, and it’s one of mine now. It’s a great experience. If you feel like having Argentine-style steak, you can get those wonderful tira de asado short ribs that are kind of grilled, so that they’re juicy and a little springy and pull off the bone. Wine cellar is great and reasonably priced. You can find a nice older vintage South American wine that you’ve never had before for under 100 bucks. Seafood is great. I still need to try that, you know, that big seafood grill that everyone goes nuts over. So, maybe you know, I gotta need, maybe you and I should do that one day.

Amy: I think we should. It’s so good. At No. 8, Las Carnitas Uruapan.

John : Yeah, I know some people might think this is a bit high for such a modest restaurant, but God, I love that place. There are three locations now, the original, which is small and is really a carry-out spot now, but like when you go there and you order some, go through the line and you order what you need, and they hand you little taste and meat over the counter, like you’re at Katz’s Deli in New York or something. So it’s really charming. There’s one in Gage Park, which I’d been to before, and always loved the newest one is in Little Village on a prominent street corner there. And with everything happening in this country, and you just seeing this proud Mexican restaurant opening up in the heart of the proudest Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, and bringing so much life to it, and so much good food, and so much warmth, and such a sense of home. It is one of the top 10 restaurants in Chicago.

Amy: It’s really a place that will make you love Chicago. 

John : It is a place that will make you love Chicago. So well said.

Amy: All right, at No. 7 we have Virtue, which is also a truly wonderful spot that will make you love this city. It is Erick Williams and Damarr Brown’s southern spot in Hyde Park. 

John : It is, and yeah, it is, as I said earlier, just feels very timeless now. I know most of the menu. I know it sounds a little different, saying I’d love to see some change in Monteverde, while at Virtue it’s a tighter menu, but it is just — Virtue is about tradition, and it is about what Southern food means to this country, what Southern food says about the genius of Black Americans, and what hospitality really is, and every dish I had there was just off the charts delicious, and the service is great. Takes a little while sometimes because they’re very busy, but it is so worth the wait. I love being in that dining room.

Amy: No. 6, we have Smyth.

John : Yes, the sole three-star restaurant, Michelin three-star restaurant in Chicago. Currently, I feel that, you know, although I can be as snarky about Michelin as anyone else, I do feel the fact that they got the third star helped fill their reservation books, helped them bring in a bigger staff, help them do what they do best, which is letting John Shields just let his, you know, culinary freak flag fly, and really reinvent what farm-to-table means. And going absolutely down to the essence of each product he uses. I find a meal there always 150% fascinating, 95% delicious, delightful. Cara Sandoval, the new general manager, I think has brought the service up considerably.

Amy: That’s really great to hear. I felt like on my last visit service was not quite where it needed to be for a restaurant so expensive, but I am confident that, you know, Cara is the right choice for that. 

John : It is, and it is so expensive – $420 before tax, tip, drinks and just, you know, general like tears you will shed at the cost, but worth it.

Amy: So, No. 5, we have Cellar Door Provisions, which I think is such an interesting one. They were not on our 2024 list.

John : They were not. It’s been around for a while. Ethan Pikas opened it up a little over 10 years ago as really kind of a bakery cafe with, you know, breakfast and lunch, pastries in the morning, and then a dinner once a week, a kind of a farm dinner they did. It has gone through a lot of iterations. It’s been renovated. It’s, you know, they’ve changed the layout inside of the restaurant, and I feel that Ethan works incredibly well with his new chef de cuisine, Alex Cochran, I think Alex has been there going on a year now, and the food just has so much presence. It’s so interesting. Everybody I know who really just loves to eat at restaurants where the menu changes and where they’re really paying attention to the product and thinking about it will say it’s a low-key favorite.

Amy: I went last year after, you know, you had re-reviewed it and really enjoyed it a lot, and I was talking to a chef recently who said it was their favorite restaurant. Full stop. So I’m glad that, like, it’s, you know, kind of talked about places changing and evolving. I feel like Cellar Door has evolved, like, to such great effect.

John : It really has, and it’s a good point. Yeah.

Amy: All right. No. 4 is one of my, my very favorites, and probably my own favorite tasting menu in town. No. 4 is Feld.

John : Yeah, Feld. I love it. Jake Potashnick opened it up, what is it, almost two years ago?

Amy: Yeah.

John : And got kind of just slammed here, there, upward, sideways, for you know, having the audacity to come out with this really earnest menu, not really a tasting menu, as much as just a parade of tiny dishes of things in season. He calls his approach relationship-to-table, which sounds like, you know, something that Cookie Monster would tell you on Sesame Street is the way you need to eat. It’s very earnest, but it’s also so sweet. I just love it. It is so much fun. He has changed the format a bit, so it isn’t quite such a ballet of so many people coming at you, but I think when I go to Feld, it is just.. I just feel like I’m on a high for about the first, you know, hour of the meal is just one delightful thing after another.

Amy: And No. 3 is our city’s best omakase, Kyoten.

John : Yeah, Otto Phan, he has Kyoten and Kyoten Next Door. The real top-seed omakase is Kyoten, where there are many courses, a good six, seven small plates to begin, which will be absolutely the most premium seasonal, right from Japan things you can try. And then next door, Kyoto Next Door is, I think, the best mid- I hate to call it mid-range, because it is like $159, but the best omakase at that in the city at that level, and it’s mostly nigiri, a couple small dishes, but also great.

Amy: All right, No. 2 is Oriole.

John : Yes, Oriole, as I mentioned earlier, it has really changed things up a bit. The new chef de cuisine, Colin McHugh, has introduced some very interesting dishes. I love the sense of traveling around the restaurant as you eat. You start off with some bites at the bar, you go stand in front of the kitchen, then you go to your table, and I just think, you know, full stop, that is the best experiential tasting menu in town.

Amy: Yeah, that moving around the room just keeps the meal feeling like so fresh, and like you never, you know, get set of just like here’s 15 dishes without the move. So I think it really helps a lot.

John : It really does. Yeah.

Amy: Um, all right, so our No. 1 restaurant, which we are in complete agreement on, and you know, I think we both kind of had this in mind as a possibility, and then we went recently together, and that sealed the deal. No. 1 is Maxwells Trading.

John : Yeah, boy, did we have some conversations about this, but it, it’s the right pick. It is absolutely the right pick. That is the restaurant that tastes most likes Chicago now. That tells you why Chicago is such a wonderful city to dine out in. You get such a sense of what the chefs, Erling Wu-Bower and Chris Jung think about food and what they’ve tasted and how they’ve explored this city and how it shows up in their cooking. It is like a missing link between Asian and Western dishes, so many of them really could read as Asian or read as Western, you know, and I think that’s very hard to do. It isn’t just a matter of the sauces or something, it’s also the technique. It’s really built into the food. It’s finding a language that feels very global yet very specific.

Amy: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think the technique is excellent. I think the service is great. I really am a huge fan of the beverage program as well. I’ve really worked my way through a lot of those martinis on the list. It’s like they’re all excellent. So, any of those also fun wines, it really checks all the boxes. It feels like, you know, I always kind of look around a room when I’m dining out, and Maxwells just really feels like it has the right energy. Everyone is happy to be there, and yeah, there’s no dining room I’d rather be in more right now than Maxwells.

John : Agreed. Everyone is happy to be there, big tables, people on dates, people eating at the bar, people ordering bottles of wine off that really lovely list, people exploring those wonderful cocktails, people just going to, you know, eat dips and that griddle bread, and you know, smooshy things, and people having full meals. It really just meets the customer where their appetite is.

Amy: John, what’s the best thing you ate lately?

John : So, something I ate for the 50 best list, which is I got the ropa vieja breakfast burrito at Bayan Ko Diner. What a big old delicious burrito that is. It’s got all that nice shredded seasoned Cuban beef, some ripe plantains, black beans, and very fluffy delicious scrambled eggs. It’s a huge burrito. I brought it home, and it made for about three meals, and I ate every bite of it. It’s great. How about you?

Amy: So, I recently went to a spot in Northbrook that I’d been to before, but hadn’t been in a while, called Charlie Beinlich’s. Opened in 1950, long-time tavern. It’s just like there’s a bar, and there’s like a little room of tables, cash only. Things like shrimp cocktail, very potent drinks, but you’re going for the burger. So I get the cheeseburger deluxe, they’ll put whatever you want on it, but I get it with griddled onions, comes with fries and slaw, it’s just a very satisfying burger, it’s a thick patty, it is, you know, just perfectly cooked and seasoned, and I love the onions and the American cheese. Just really good. And it’s great with a, you know, extremely strong Manhattan on the side.