Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 09, 2009 at 11:07:42:
Memo to WGN's Greg Jarrett: A list of don't-miss restaurants
Phil Vettel | Tribune Food critic
July 9, 2009
To: Greg Jarrett, WGN-AM, 1st floor
From: Phil Vettel, Tribune restaurant critic, 5th floor
Re: Chicago restaurants you must visit
Greg:
Welcome to the building. I've been told you're a big foodie, just in from San Francisco (another great food town), and your early-morning radio gig should leave you plenty of time to explore all that Chicago's dining scene has to offer.
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, let me suggest a few restaurants that you absolutely must visit. These are the places that define Chicago, the ones that make it a world-class dining city.
Whether you're building up your own "been there, ate that" credentials, or treating an out-of-town guest to a true Chicago dining experience, these restaurants belong on your short list.
First, the big dogs. Since the James Beard Foundation Awards began in 1991, exactly three Chicago chefs have taken home the Outstanding Chef prize: Grant Achatz (2008), Charlie Trotter (1999) and Rick Bayless (1995). They are the big dogs of Chicago dining, and, budget permitting, you should experience all of them. Achatz is the highly experimental chef at Alinea, and a leader of the so-called molecular gastronomy movement (a term he despises, by the way); Trotter is the jazz-riff chef who never does the same dish twice; Bayless, at his side-by-side restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, revolutionized the way we look at Mexican cuisine. Frontera Grill is very affordable and Topolobampo is only slightly pricier.
Alinea and Charlie Trotter's -- better plan on spending at least $200-$250 per person.
Chicago has a well-deserved reputation for steaks, but people are always asking me to narrow down the field for them. I tend to recommend the locally owned steakhouses -- Gibsons and Gene & Georgetti are real "Chicago" places -- though some of the imports, such as Smith & Wollensky and Fleming's, do a fine job as well.
But as good as the meat and potatoes are in Chicago, we also have room for a Green Zebra, a vegetable-focused (as opposed to strict vegetarian) restaurant whose food is so imaginative and flat-out delicious that even confirmed carnivores like it.
Everybody should visit Pizzeria Uno at least once, to pay suitable homage to the birthplace of deep-dish pizza. I can't eat deep-dish as I used to (for me, two slices come with a side of self-loathing), and I actually prefer Lou Malnati's these days, but the corner of Ohio and Wabash is where you pay your respects.
Chicago has made other contributions to the food world. Head to Mr. Beef on Orleans Street for an Italian beef sandwich, and stop into Harry Caray's (which also is a fine steakhouse) for chicken Vesuvio, both Chicago inventions. And The Parthenon, on the stretch of Halsted Street known as Greektown, still maintains that flaming saganaki began here, not in Greece. Certainly no one serves it more theatrically.
Few entities are as responsible for Chicago's impressive dining scene as is O'Hare International Airport, which is why the seafood variety is so good here.
So you can visit venerable seafood houses such as Shaw's Crab House and sit down to oysters so fresh you'd swear we live by an ocean, not a lake.
The city's range of ethnic and regional cuisines is a source of pride as well. Here's your whirlwind tour. Heaven on Seven for Cajun, Santorini for Greek, Lao Sze Chuan or Emperor's Choice for Chinese (but Phoenix for dim sum), Udupi Palace for Indian (vegetarian too), Cafe Iberico or Emilio's for tapas, Keefer's for bistro French (it's really a steakhouse, but I like chef John Hogan's French dishes there), Table Fifty-Two for white-tablecloth Southern and Wishbone for down-home Southern. Arun's for Thai, Salpicon for Mexican, Reza's for Persian and Middle-Eastern cooking, and Mercat a la Planxa for Spanish. Sunda for pan-Asian dishes, and Viet Bistro for Vietnamese. Aigre Doux for its global menu.
Spiaggia for formal Italian. Piccolo Sogno for casual Italian. Anteprima for neighborhood Italian.
Everest for formal French. Cafe des Architectes for casual French. Le Bouchon for neighborhood French.
Among top American restaurants, make time for Boka, Crofton on Wells, Eve, Graham Elliot, Hot Chocolate, mk, North Pond, one sixtyblue, Province, Sepia and, out west, Vie. Eat at a Paul Kahan restaurant. Blackbird, Avec, The Publican. Pick one.
I think I mentioned more than 50 restaurants. And I bet 500 readers are screaming, "How could he leave out [blank]?" So I'll open up the e-mail floor to reader suggestions.
Where do you think Greg Jarrett needs to eat?