What a loss to River North. Went last night for the last time. Everything was superb. Fed six adults salad, pizza, wings, drinks for $137. Everything was top notch. Closing December 1.

Due to time constraints (and lack of motivation), have been doing the bake at home meals for the last few years. Any stand out favorites/sleepers that people recommend?

Welcome to r/ChicagoFood's weekly shoutout thread!

This thread is the place to shout out places that you tried from recommendations from this sub this past week that fit the bill.

They can be places that get recommended here, such as:

• frequently recommended restaurants
• that random, niche spot that some random comment dropped
• a chicken sando from our very own chicken sando guru

The goal of this thread is to celebrate and encourage the recommendations and contributions of your suggestions, and, also, maybe encourage YOU to try that place that was recommended a few times here.

As always, all subreddit rules apply and any comments/posts that violate our rules or Reddit's will be removed.

This thread is sorted by "new" so that the most recent comments appear first. The new weekly thread is posted every Sunday morning at 2:00 AM Central.

I went for the tasting menu at Schwa and had a fun time. 7.5/10 overall.

Food - 7.5. As with many experimental restaurants, this was hit-or-miss. But the food was never boring. There were several courses that I enjoyed immensely (raviolo, à la mode, quail, cheese, float) but also a couple that were complete misses for me (ramen, fluff, tea). Opinion was divided across our table, though, so your perception of the food will depend on your palate and what appeals to you personally. Although I didn't love everything I ate, I still really appreciated the chefs' creativity and fearlessness when it came to bold flavors, interesting textures, and unusual combinations. The portions were on the smaller side, so if you have a big appetite, you might walk away hungry. I left decently full, but I would've liked larger plates to be able to explore the dishes better - there were so many interesting components, but many were in such small quantities that I couldn't mix and match and assemble multiple bites with them. Finally, many of the dishes are eaten with your hands rather than utensils, so if that bothers you, plan accordingly.

Drinks - N/A. The restaurant is BYOB. We went overboard with drinks so our table ended up overcrowded with bottles, but that's our fault. They offered us a complimentary round of shots (whiskey or tea) at the end of the meal, which was a pleasant surprise.

Service - 7.5. You're on your own for the most part as the servers are also the chefs busy preparing your meal. As such, the pacing was a little inconsistent, sometimes rather fast and occasionally a bit slow, but not too noticeable if you're with good company. The introductions to each course were impressively descriptive, and the chefs were happy to answer questions and offer suggestions on the best way to approach each dish. (Lastly, although I'm not factoring it into my rating since these interactions took place outside of our dining experience, I think this still deserves acknowledgement and appreciation: the restaurant was very helpful and quick to respond when I reached out about scheduling, dietary restrictions, and recommendations for beverage pairings.)

Ambiance - 6. This is a no-frills, unpretentious dining experience. It's dark and can get quite loud between the upbeat music and conversation of nearby guests. I wouldn't recommend visiting as a solo diner or a party that prefers formality, but it was a great atmosphere for a casual social outing. I'd say the vibe leans much more towards a bustling bar than pompous fine dining.

Note: The bill includes a 20% service charge (covering gratuity) which is disclosed upfront when making the reservation. You don't receive any sort of bill at the restaurant.

Would I go again? Yes, I want to support restaurants that aren't afraid to innovate. I'd come back with friends if they introduced enough new dishes.

Float (left) - rum, ginger beer, tepache & uni (right) - coconut, pineapple, calamansi

Raviolo - quail egg, truffle, ricotta

Crab - hoja santa, gumbo file, root beer

Cornbread (top) - sabayon, leche de tigre, roe & sablefish (both bottom dishes) - corn, rhubarb, corn husk

Smoked Kaluga [caviar] - rutabaga, raspberry, mustards

Quail - ssamjang, apple, chamomile

À la mode - foie gras, apple jack, cinnamon

Wagyu - matsutake, strawberry, battera

Ramen - kataifi, strawberry tare, tea

Cheese - black walnut, choco, aged parmigiano

Tea (left) - squash, reposado, melon & fritter (right) - arrop i tallaetes, pie spice, honeydew

Fluff - huckleberry, tonka, white chocolate

Tasting menu (November 2024)

Restaurant interior prior to service

Seems like many places are doing Thanksgiving pre-orders. I've already ordered a turkey. Now I need sides. Does anyone have recommendations?

Extraordinary! Can't recommend it enough.

The soup was so good. Is there anything more local that comes remotely close?

Was in Chicago recently and was trying to get their chicken sandwich! But they cancelled the reservation because of “unforeseen consequences” and now they just serve dinner. Anybody know anything? Can’t find any updates anywhere

Hope everyone's doing well, driving 4+ hours with my buddy to Chicago around the west loop area for him to get a tattoo done. I estimate I'll have around 5-6 hours to kill while he gets that done, so I'm aiming to do a small food tour of sorts.

I have my eyes on getting a bar seat at Au Cheval, any other really good spots I should try a dish at?

Hello everyone,

I have seen this restaurant has become a bit popular with locals, however, I feel it is our duty as consumers to know when something is wrong.

The owners of this restaurant used to operate two others in a small vacation town near Charleston called Edisto on Edisto Island. One of the restaurants bore the same name as the establishment now here in Chicago. While another, considered more upscale, was called Ella and Ollies.

Why does this matter, you ask?

I'll tell you why.

Without saying a word to their employees at both restaurants, the owners packed up and left to Chicsgo and opened this new location. They stopped paying rent on their former locations, they stopped paying bills, and ultimately they stopped paying their employees. Checks bounced and many were left without pay but continued working until they couldn't anymore and the City shut down the restaurants.

I will be linking the Edisto local newspaper with the article as well as providing an image of the article as well.

https://indd.adobe.com/view/02b45ec2-da2b-4ea1-a894-8e1df108756e?fbclid=IwY2xjawGcxPlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVhiA9kQd_n_q-WVYeDEEAwYVgr3pvggwL9c0tq6qRj1axnKXYa6FghsFA_aem_6jgm2n1w09QZvVsJL46TnA

Been seeing a lot of restaurants selling their own merch lately. Like Pizza Lobo, Lao Peng You, etc. Does anyone ever buy it? I don’t mind supporting a spot but the merch always looks whatever.

Finally tried the sticky date cake at Trivoli (also at Armitage). It is definitely a sweet dessert but the creaminess from the ice cream, the crunch from the short bread crumble and some salt overall make it a more balanced dessert than I was expecting. Would definitely say it meets the hype

My family and I are visiting during Thanksgiving week. We want to find dinner on thanksgiving. We don’t care about cuisine but we would like to stay $35/plate or under. We would like to stay in the Hyde Park/Kenwood areas. We don’t care if it’s dine in, delivery or pickup.

Can anybody give suggestions?

Anyone know where I can source these in the Chicago land area?

The red finger peppers, not the habaneros. I can only find them at Agora. Has anyone seen them anywhere else?

Red hot ranch, jibaritos y mas, jp graziano, any other recs in west loop?

i know this isn't a chicago restaurant, but it's as chicago as it gets. i went to andale market in andersonville a few weeks ago for their shelfies competition and saw these dudes selling a giardiniera mayo. the samples were fire so i bought a jar... holy shit- finished it in like 2 days. i literally bought 6 more on their site haha. i think these guys are just getting started, but giardonnaise is incredible. i hope they do well. has anyone else tried?

https://preview.redd.it/ulvpbubdowzd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=373cea49b7fe5a0799644980d2cb4248db147a51

I'm a student planning a solo day trip to Chicago since I'm not going back to Cali for Thanksgiving break 😢

As a big foodie with a smaller appetite, I only have room for so much food. Would it be weird to go into semi upscale restaurants and order just a starter? I don't want to waste food, but I do want to try a lot of restaurants in Chicago.

Edit: thank you all for your responses and the recommendations!

ok i have to expand on this: i dont have access to a card to reserve seats for events :( i only carry cash so i cant do any event things to eat with people that way. family will be in europe, so ill be 100% alone.. i dont really want to be alone.. but i dont want to eat something dumb like... mcdonalds or something. are there any places were (even if i have to pay, i dont mind) that you dont NEED a credit/debit card to go eat/enjoy that i can have some sort of thanksgiving dinner at? a plus if i can eat with people/meet people...idk.. i just dont want to be alone and do nothing that day. :(

Visited Chicago Last weekend and I have to say, I LOVE your city and can’t wait to go back. We had an amazing time filled with amazing food…for the most part.

This was the only picture I got of an overall underwhelming lunch at Monteverde last week. Unacceptably slow service, inattentive waitstaff, and generally just average food and in the case of the bolognese, below average.

Positives: The prosciutto shown was some of the best I’ve ever tasted and the panna cotta was to die for.

Maybe it was an off day, but with how many amazing restaurants your city has to offer, I doubt I’ll make it back anytime soon.

Hello all, Can you help me find the warmest and most delicious cinnamon babka in town? Thanks

Having a hard time finding ricotta pie anywhere in Chicago. Do they not make it here? Is it an east coast thing?