Photos: Jeff Marini Pan-Latin 1904 W. North Ave. Bucktown Website It’s impossible not to fall for Amaru’s brawny, brainy food: bacon-wrapped plantains stuffed with chorizo; whole branzino in a brown butter mojo; a chicharrón the size (and shape!) of Chile. Chef-owner Rodolfo Cuadros — formerly of Carnivale, a restaurant roughly as intimate as a theme park — has clearly … Read more
Aloo gobi pizza Photos: Jeff Marini Indian 3059 W. Diversey Ave. Logan Square Website If there's one dish you've heard about at Superkhana, the best and most irreverent of a new crop of modern Indian restaurants, it’s probably the Butter Chicken Supreme. A calzone nearly the size of a football, it releases a rich, creamy … Read more
Duo of torchon and seared foie gras, citrus-foie gras pain perdu, huckleberry gastrique Photo: Jeff Marini French 64 Green Bay Rd. Winnetka Website Chef Michael Lachowicz has turned this address into a Francophile’s choose-your-own-adventure. Aboyer is a bustling modern brasserie, while George Trois offers a genteel prix fixe experience. But it’s Silencieux that hews closest … Read more
Photo: Jeff Marini French 1576 N. Milwaukee Ave. Wicker Park Website Paul Kahan’s coastal French seafood restaurant works just fine when you’re feeling fancy. You can sit in the quieter back section and indulge in trout amandine, smoked trout rillettes, and a plateau de fruits de mer stacked high with oysters, clams, scallops, and lobster. … Read more
Mariya Russell Photos: Jeff Marini Japanese 630 W. Lake St. West Loop Website Getting to this intimate omakase den, which opened in May 2019 underneath Julia Momose’s cocktail temple Kumiko, requires a trip past the first-floor kitchen, down a set of stairs, and through pocket doors to a sleek eight-seat counter. It’s a tantalizing buildup … Read more
