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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 our new feature, The Best Things to Eat Right Now, which covers our top bites of 2025. Plus, we’ll also share the best things we’ve eaten lately, which includes a tasty new cake. 

Amy: For our new feature, The Best Things to Eat Right Now, I polled all of our dining writers to ask them the dishes that really stood out to them this year. And we got pitches for everything. We got soups, we got breakfast, we got sandwiches, we got burgers, we got entrees, we got vegetarian dishes, we got tons of things. And so we’ve put together a list of 25 dishes that we think you should try right now. And John and I are going to talk through our own favorites from this list, right?

John: And I’m curious, Amy, was there any one dish that was suggested multiple times by different writers?

Amy: There was not one dish. But I always think it’s interesting which restaurants show up most frequently with the highest number of pitches, and the two this year were Nadu, the Indian restaurant in Lincoln Park. 

John: Oh yeah. 

Amy: And Noriko Hand Roll Bar, which is from the team behind Perilla. So those were the two places that had the most pitches. There were a number of places that had two or three, but those were, like, four or five different pitches for different dishes. So I think that’s pretty telling, that, you know, those were some spots that really stood out this year.

John: Yeah, that really somehow connected to people and just gave them that kind of that yum moment.

Amy: Yeah, well, John, why don’t we start by going through your list. I know that one of your favorites is the duck presse at The Alston. 

John: Yes. I think the funny thing about this, which makes me a little angry, is that Jenner Tomaska, the chef, said that people were ordering so many of them, they actually had to raise the price to bring the number down. I believe it is now $225 per duck. Yeah, that’s a pretty, you know, expensive little quack. But it sure is good. It’s just a beautifully cooked duck that you see it come to the table, it goes to the oven, comes back. It is just barely rare. They cut the breasts off, and they take all the bones and the gizzards and everything. And they put it in this contraption, this old fashioned duck press that’s kind of like a hand-cranked vice, squeeze out all that, you know, bloody goodness. Put in a pan, flambée it, put in some stock, finish it with butter. You get this great old fashioned sauce. And then it just comes over these beautiful, beautiful slices of rare duck. So that’s my birthday next year. So y’all come.

Amy: That sounds incredible. I still have yet to try it, but that, it’s on the list.

John: All right. Well, you know, you’ll get an invite to the birthday party. How about that? 

Amy: What’s your next dish? 

John: So the next one I singled out was the kale caesar at Zarella. And I know, like kale caesar. Big whoop. There have been a lot of kale caesars. And you do get that nice fiber, and you do feel like, well, eating this is good for me, and it’ll, you know, it’ll help me down the road. But actually, this is a really great kale caesar. The kale is pretty finely shredded. The dressing is nice and bright. The anchovy flavor in it is punchy. There are lots of lemony, garlicky bread crumbs, and it’s just a big heap of yum.

Amy: Yeah, I’ve had this one, and totally agree. It is like such a fresh take on this dish.

John: Yeah, it really is. Pizza is great too, but man, that salad, pizza, glass of red wine, that is a great, nice evening out. 

Amy: Nice. Tell us about your next pick. 

John: So next up, I have the lion’s head meatball soup at Nine Garden, which is a newish restaurant in Chinatown. It’s not right in Chinatown Square Mall or on Wentworth Street, but in this kind of modern strip mall on the edge of Chinatown. They make this soup, it comes in a hot pot, so when the lid comes off, it’s very fragrant, and it’s just this ginormous crab and pork meatball that is the tenderest, biggest meatball you’ve ever had. There must be about, I don’t know, 50% of it must consist of pork fat. I think that’s the only way you can get it to be so huge and so soft, but it is just, there are, you know, there’s some Chinese vegetables and jujubes and other fun things floating around in the soup. Have you tried it?

Amy: I have, yes, it is such a fun dish. That whole place, in general, Nine Garden, is just really a great, great spot in Chinatown. Big fan.

John: It is the food is so like, on point and fresh and interesting. And though I had some, you know, service issues in the beginning, I’ve heard that that’s, you know, other people have not. So yay.

Amy: Yeah, I really had some wonderful service when I was there. So that’s a strong rec for me as well. Okay, great. All right, and what’s up next?

John: So next comes with a little bit of sad wah wah music, but I really loved the pork secreto in nam prick sauce at Proxi, the West Loop restaurant that has kind of a global menu that had turned I think they called it coastal Asian, under the direction of Chef Jennifer Kim, and she takes that wonderful cut of pork shoulder called secreto from an Iberian pig and puts it in this beautiful Thai sauce. But if you want to try it, run, because the restaurant closes at the end of the year.

Amy: Yeah, this was a huge bummer, honestly. Proxi, the dinner I had there was one of my favorite dinners of the year, and I did not get to try this pork secreto, but I felt like everything I had was just so delicious, and I was really excited about, like, the direction the restaurant was going. So this one is definitely a bummer.

John: I know it’s really sad. I was really happy to rediscover the restaurant. I just felt like there’s so much new to try on the menu, and it’s so interesting. And you know, honestly, there were about four dishes I could have named, but that was, that was my favorite of what we had. But that’s all great, so let’s hope that Chef Kim lands somewhere great next so we can keep eating her food. 

Amy: Absolutely. All right, what’s your last pick? 

John: My last pick is just a killer vegetarian dish at Mahari, which is sort of a, I guess you’d call it like an African diaspora restaurant in Hyde Park. The kitchen there takes its cues and its inspiration from all sorts of places that African people have either originated from or landed. So it’s East African, West African, Caribbean, Southern American. And there is a wonderful dish of stuffed plantain. It’s basically a whole plantain that’s been hollowed out and cooked and filled with like a kind of a ground mushroom filling that is seasoned with Nigerian suya spice. And there’s just other good things on the plate. It’s just a wholly satisfying dish. And I always look for that in, you know, a vegetarian dish that just seems like it hits all the right buttons and it leaves you like not wanting anything else. And this one does that.

Amy: Yeah, I have had this one on your recommendation, and it is delicious.

John: Oh, great. Glad to hear. Yeah.

John: Okay, so that’s me, Amy. Why don’t you go tell me about your first one?

Amy: Yeah, so my first dish is from Gus’ Sip & Dip, which listeners of this podcast will know that I spent a lot of time there. So between drinking the $12 cocktails I have to eat and there’s no dish I’ve had more this year than the ham dip. The dish has shifted a little bit since we went to press with this issue. It still has the beautiful smoked brown sugar glazed ham, and it’s still served on a Spanish pan de cristal bread. There’s now a cheese element to it, and there’s like a different dip to it, but it is still delicious, and it is really, it’s my favorite of the dips. I like the wagyu dip as well, but this ham is my favorite, and it’s really good. You know, have one between cocktails to lengthen your visit at Gus’, but really, really tasty.

John: Yeah, to lengthen your visit. That’s like a great euphemism. All right, all right. Well, I’m looking forward to a nice, lengthy visit. What do you have coming up next?

Amy: Next I have the sichuan ricotta from S.K.Y. I went to check out the new version of this restaurant a couple months ago. This is Stephen Gillanders’s restaurant. It was in Pilsen for a very long time, and then moved to the Belden-Stratford in Lincoln Park, and I really had a fantastic meal here. I like the I like the new space, but I think the food, honestly, like, was better than ever. Like, this was really my favorite S.K.Y. meal. I’ve had so lot of standouts. This was, I could have gone with more, multiple dishes here as well, but I went with the sichuan ricotta, which is a creamy ricotta dip. It’s topped with like a mapo ragu, and has cilantro leaves on it. And then it comes with flaky garlic butter flat bread, so you rip off a piece of bread, scoop the dip onto it. Really spicy, really good.

John: Wow, that sounds great. I had that too. Loved it. I also loved their tuna lumpia that were just like little crisp shells filled with tuna. Did you get that? 

Amy: I did. Those were delicious. 

John: All right, good. Pick what’s up next.

Amy: Next is the tamales oaxaqueños from Cantina Rosa. This is another cocktail bar, so this probably speaks to how I spend my time. But this is Erick Williams’s, of Virtue and other Hyde Park spots, Mexican cocktail bar. Fun drinks, also a really fun snack menu from his chef, longtime chef, Jesus Martinez. I felt, I thought the standout was the tamale, which is spicy, really savory, filled with chicken and topped with tomatilla salsa and crema — just like a really satisfying. So you probably can’t have a full dinner there, but I think that, you know, if you head in for a drink, I like the frozen guava colada, you should definitely have a tamale as well.

John: All right, that sounds great. Are they banana leaf tamales or cornhusk ones?

Amy: They are, I think banana leaf actually. 

John: Okay, all right, nice. And your last one. What do we got?

Amy: We have the turon danish from Del Sur. I know this is a place— I think we all have our own personal favorite pastry. So yeah, and everyone could have picked something different for this, but this one is mine. So this is Justin Lerias. He opened this Filipino and Midwestern influence bakery. There are so many good options, but this one just really spoke to me. So it’s a long laminated pastry, like she had, like a long john, and it’s filled with vanilla flan and banana jam, a caramelized banana jam. And it’s just, it’s really just beautifully done, like the flavors are just so restrained, but, you know, come together so so well, and his lamination is superb. So honestly, you will not go wrong with anything at Del Sur. But I would recommend trying the turon danish.

John: I agree that everything there is so good and the technique is so spot on. Like the laminated pastries are all, you know, very shattery, but also tender, and you don’t get that greasy kind of butter oozing out of it texture that you sometimes do with laminated pastry. So yay. I am, I am all up for that that pick.

Amy: We also asked our other writers what they loved about their favorite bites this year as well, and we’ll let you hear from them.

Carly Boers: This is Carly Boers, and as far as the bagels and cream cheese go from Middle Brow, a.k.a. Beachwater Bagels, I am not surprised, in the least. Everything that kitchen touches turns to gold. And this was no exception. They are so so good.

Chandra Ram: I’m Chandra Ram. I wrote about the lamb burger at Cafe Yaya. What I love about the lamb burger is that it’s this hearty, juicy burger that’s kind of just waiting for you on the menu. It really anchors the meal after you’ve been snacking on all the breads and veggies and dips. It’s like, Girl, I know you’ve been dipping radishes into labna, here’s a burger. You need this. 

Titus Ruscitti: Hi. This is Titus, and I got a hot tip for a cold night: Go over to Coup de Thai and get the crab curry. It’s one of the best curries you will find in Chicago of any variety. It will warm you up right on a very cold night.

Cate Huguelet: Cate Huguelet here. One of the reasons I love the hot dog pastry from Fat Peach Bakery is that it showcases this really beautiful and refined technique, but at the same time, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And in that way, I feel it’s kind of emblematic of the Bridgeport neighborhood, where the bakery is based and where I live.

Chandra: My name is Chandra Ram, and I wrote about the warm brie gougères at Creepies. I love gougères. I make them all the time. I don’t know how they make these so the cheese stays at the perfect temperature. It’s melty, but not oily. This is the perfect place to go to if you love gougères. Or if you hate them, I’ll go with you, and then I can eat all of them myself.

Lisa Futterman: This is Lisa Futterman. Imagine looking at a 300-pound blue fin tuna and seeing this perfect poke hand roll. Well, that’s what Billy Lim and Rhan Whang, the chefs at Noriko, do every day. The nori is crisp, the sauce is sweet, and it’s a perfect bite.

Peter Gianopulos: My name is Peter Gianopulos, and I want to praise one of the sleekest pastas I had all year, the pad thai from Parachute HiFi. I don’t think there’s a more sensory-activating experience, especially on some random weekday evening, than eating a Korean riff on pad thai in a Chicago listening bar and chasing it down with a cocktail inspired by airline cookies. Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark make their noodles from tteok, a super flavorful and absorbent and downright springy Korean rice cake.

Carly: This is Carly Boers and that skirt steak burrito from Mi Tocaya: I gotta say, it’s the cheese for me. It’s just like perfectly melted and golden brown, and I kind of need one right now.

Liz Grossman: This is Liz Grossman, and I truly loved everything on the tasting menu at Nadu, but the dahi bhalla was by far one of my favorite dishes. It’s a soft lentil dumpling. It was soaked in a sweet and sour yogurt that they serve it in. There are several different chutneys, a tamarind chutney and a mint cilantro version, pops of colorful pomegranate seeds, crispy potato strings on top. Every bite had layers of flavor and color and texture. It was absolutely a perfect dish. I cannot wait to have it again.

Titus: Hey, it’s Titus again. And there’s so many gems to be uncovered in restaurant menus throughout Chinatown. But the ones I can’t stop going back for lately are the mini lamb skewers at Central East Asian Cafe at five for $5 each. They’re probably the most bang for your buck you’re gonna find anywhere in the city these days.

Chandra: My name is Chandra Ram and I wrote about the breakfast sando at Sarima Cafe. It is unreal. There’s so much going on here. This amazing Filipino-style chicken bacon, the egg, crispy spice potato patty with, like, fantastic mashup of hash brown then aloo fry. This will knock you out, maybe even literally. So do not eat this sandwich on a day when you have to work or do anything but take a nap, because, honestly, you’ll probably get fired.

Peter: My name is Peter Gianopulos. I want to offer a 30-second rave about the cocoa nib soft serve from Hotel Chocolat. I am, you should know, a complete sucker for soft serve ice cream. Literally, one spoon in, I knew when I was finished I was gonna walk back to the counter and order a second cup. You’ve got a gelato-like texture, very rare in soft serves. Uber creamy, and there’s this really soft and nuanced chocolate-vanilla twist-up flavor, usually only see in black and white cookies in New York City. Secretly, I wanted the recipe, so I called Hotel Chocolat’s corporate office and spoke with David Demaison. He uses the best cream euros can buy. It’s milk from cows grazing on the island of Jersey, and that explains the silky mouth feel. Then he infuses that cream for 48 hours with roasted cocoa nibs. I know it’s cold out there, but my advice: Just try it. It’s a soft serve for all seasons. 

Lisa Shames: Hi. This is Lisa Shames, a Chicago-based food writer. I wrote about Momento‘s fish taco. Great food is great food, but there’s always an added interest when it’s found in somewhere unexpected, and that’s Momento, which is in the Loop. The fish taco itself and all the tacos really are made on house-crafted tortillas from heirloom corn. The restaurant is from owners that are from Mexico City, and that’s expressed on both sides of the space, in the more casual taqueria and in the sit-down restaurant. Give it, give it a go.

Cate: This is Cate Huguelet. Normally, I’m a pretty diehard tavern-style fan. At the risk of sounding cool but rude, the Raphael slice at Cowabunga Pizza Pies is freaking delicious.

Amy: If you want to see the full list, head to chicagomag.com

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

John: So as you know, I got back from a long trip away to a warm place, and came here to a cold place and nothing in the fridge. So we got delivery from Mahanakhon Noodle Bar. I think I pronounced that right. It’s this Thai restaurant in Lincoln Park, and they have all kinds of delicious and interesting Thai noodle soups. I got the sukhothai version that was in a sweet and sour base with ground pork and roast pork and lots of vegetables and stuff in it. But what I loved most about it was the way it was packaged. You get it, it comes to your door in this big bowl that’s like, the size of a panettone or something. And you’re like, oh, what’s going on here? And it’s all sealed up. And then you realize you break a little, you click a little tab on the side, you take off the lid, and then all the dry ingredients are on top, and the soup’s underneath. So you pull out this tray with the dry ingredients, the soup, it helps keep the soup nice and hot, and you just dump them in. And it was like, it was terrific.

Amy: So that is an innovation that is such a good idea.

John:  It really is. And I loved my soup. And then Arlene got a, you know, sort of a sort of a more basic one with roast pork and wontons and a pork bone broth that was mild and umami and yummy. And they both were great. All right. What about you?

Amy: Well, I recently went to Buttercup, the new spot in the South Loop. And, yeah, yeah, it was really great. I had some really wonderful cocktails. I particularly like the signature Buttercup with gin and Meletti and passion fruit, really good. And then I tried all the food, and all the food was really good. It’s a very tight menu, but I think the stand out that I would not miss is the pistachio cake. You know, pistachio is the trendy nut of the moment, and I’m a big fan. And it was just like a really beautiful olive oil cake topped with praline. Highly recommend. You know, go for cocktails. Have a bite or two and end with this cake.

John: Can I ask you a question about it? If you hold, if you hold the Buttercup cocktail under your chin, does it tell you whether or not you like butter? 

Amy: I totally forgot that was the thing. 

John: Well, or maybe if you hold the pistachio cake under your chin. It’ll tell you whether or not you like pistachio. But 

Amy: Yeah, this, this is a very green cake. 

John: Okay, yeah, so it could reflect green, all right. I look forward to trying both of them. Thanks for the recs.

Amy: Absolutely.