Try the Montreal-style smoked pastrami from our 100 Best list: The smoked meat of Montreal: thick, hand-cut slices, edges lined with black pepper, the meat gorgeously marbled and fall-apart tender.
Try the braised rabbit from our 100 Best list: Peas and rabbit. Is that some kind of twisted joke, serving rabbit with the very things it loves to eat (before it’s roasted)?
Try the caldo gallego from our 100 Best list: With white beans, potato, spinach, ham and chorizo, it’s every bit as smoky, porky and satisfying as the restaurant’s Cubano.
Try the Irish bread pudding from our 100 Best list: These slices of moist bread pudding are griddled, giving the pudding crispy, caramelized edges—and giving you a reason go take a nap.
The bar now has a Bonnie and Clyde–meets-baroque look, and the clientele has gone from old men to young South Loopers. The new owners kicked lagers off the beer list to make room for 100+ microbrews. Read more.
Run by the DANK German cultural organization, the Skyline’s third-Friday Stammtisch open house brings in Deutsche grandmas who pull dancers from the crowd; jazz attracts a younger set on fifth Fridays Read more.
This 67-year-old family-run bar attracts Ukrainian Village and Humboldt Park cool kids and old-timers for free pool and affordable beers from Half Acre to Hamm’s. Read more.
How can a bar sitting on prime Mag Mile property be unsung? It’s a mystery, but we don’t mind, because for an after-work cocktail there’s perhaps no better perch than one of this bar’s window seats. Read more.
Sassy karaoke MC Bill Nowlin fills the stark room with his smooth singing voice, and if he likes your pipes, you earn a ring from his bell. Read more.
This Euro-chic café bills itself as an organic carry-out, but the word healthy is nowhere to be found. Warm, whole-grain pretzels may indeed be good for you, and no doubt the organic salads are, too. Read more.
This brunch buffet has unlimited sparkling wine. We will repeat that: unlimited sparkling wine.
A classic Loop bar with a spruced-up beer list, a great chicken-potpie (until 4pm) and, often, a TOC editor at the bar. -FS Read more.
This Tuscan take on beef is refreshing: Steak comes plated on a pile of arugula and crusted in your choice of Parmesan, Gorgonzola or roasted garlic.
