Ad Categories: Dining & Drinking

Monteverde gets all the big things and all the little things right. It’s buzzy but not braying, easy on the eyes but not design-y, always busy but never a madhouse. We love the way the servers are comfily dressed and totally knowledgeable, and we love the ways around the always-filled reservation book, like by going … Read more

Chicago is known for restaurants that offer ultrapremium dining experiences, no expenses spared. Everyone has their No. 1 pick — places like Alinea, Smyth, or Ever that promise meals you’ll never forget. For us, it’s Oriole. An evening here brims with warmth, fun, surprises, aesthetic marvels, and moments of toe-curling deliciousness. It’s also a journey, figuratively and … Read more

For a hot second we were peeved with chef Zachary Engel and manager Andrés Clavero, Galit’s co-owners, when they transitioned the menu from à la carte to an all-in prix fixe experience. Yet we soon saw it made perfect sense because what is a proper Levantine meal if not a feast? It begins with a rousing … Read more

Everyone needs to have a restaurant in their back pocket where anyone they might bring with them will feel comfortable, where reservations don’t require you repeatedly refreshing your browser at midnight a week in advance, and where the food is unfailingly delicious. Avec is ours. It may have just turned 21, but the restaurant, now … Read more

When this modern Filipino spot opened in 2020, its business model seemed cool but odd. For breakfast and lunch, it would offer fast-casual counter service with pastries, coffee, a few plates, and sandwiches. Dinners would be a seated fine-dining tasting menu. Who knew how influential Kasama would become? Today it’s worth braving the perpetual daytime … Read more

If the name of this restaurant sounds earnest, you’re absolutely right. Chef-owner Erick Williams and his chef de cuisine, Damarr Brown, couldn’t be more purposeful about this Southern heritage restaurant — its menu steeped in tradition while going in new directions, its service built on a culture of hospitality and kindness, and its mission of paying tribute … Read more

Thai Dang (pictured below, far right) is a brilliant culinary translator, a Rosetta Stone of a chef. His Vietnamese cooking manages to be at once absolutely true to its origins and wholly at home in an American bistro setting. With just a few tweaks to presentation, menu description, and ingredients, he finds the universal in … Read more

While the dining room at Shaw’s Crab House is a bit staid, it’s hard to think of a more appealing perch than a barstool at the adjacent Oyster Bar. Energetic and always packed, the room is humming with people drinking martinis or glasses of Chablis and slurping freshly shucked oysters (Shaw’s offers a dozen varieties, … Read more