Run by siblings Joyce and Matthew Chiu, this 35-year-old bakery — Chinatown’s oldest and now the anchor of a growing chain — offers several kinds of egg tarts, but the bestseller is their Portuguese-style version. Inspired by Portugal’s pastel de nata, a dessert that’s popular in Macau, it consists of a flaky pastry shell loaded with an eggy filling … Read more
You can find Italian ice at any number of places around the city, but Mario’s distinct style, which includes actual bits of lemon rind, delivers a special puckery note. You’ll find standby flavors like cherry or strawberry, but go for the specials, which change regularly and are listed on hand-painted signs. Those specials are often … Read more
Is it possible to dine at Portillo’s without adding on a slice of its fluffy, decadent chocolate cake for dessert? For more than 2 million customers, the answer is no — that’s how many slices of its signature dessert the local fast-food chain sells each year (and no, that doesn’t count the folks who just spring for … Read more
It’s a treat that could have been invented for Instagram: five colorful kinds of ice cream (orange sherbet, pistachio, strawberry, chocolate, and cherry- and walnut-filled Palmer House) layered atop a cake cone in a joy-inducing, vertiginous tower. Only thing is, the Rainbow Cone has been around for about 95 years. Indeed, little has changed inside … Read more
Eugene S. Qahhaar’s Calumet Heights restaurant, which he opened in 1973, mostly offered hot dogs and burgers until he decided to add a breaded whitefish sandwich to the menu to shake things up. A fitting addition to a spot called Dock’s (the name is actually an homage to Qahhaar’s father, Dock Meadows), the dish took … Read more
When this South Side doughnut shop opened in 1972, the apple fritter wasn’t even on the menu. But over the last decade, the now-beloved treat has become synonymous with the neighborhood institution (that’s owner Buritt Bulloch left). The fritters are made fresh every morning using leftover dough scraps, resulting in a mammoth confection — each one clocks … Read more
You’re going to have to forgive Kaufman’s its high-gloss update and shelves of gourmet packaged goods. Look deep into the menu and you’ll find a through-line to a much older vision of what Eastern European Jewish immigrants wanted — endless choice. How much fat do you want on your corned beef? What about the pickles? Half sours … Read more
Let New Orleans have its Mardi Gras parade. We celebrate Fat Tuesday here by actually getting fat — eating as many pączki as we can. If you’re planning to pig out on this Polish filled doughnut, first learn to pronounce the name: “punch-key.” Then try one at the nearly 100-year-old Dinkel’s, which sells them on the six … Read more
