Well, since you ask, here are just a very few to get you started 
Killer Q:
Lems -- http://www.planet99.com/chicago/...rants/
1699.html
Ribs n Bibs -- http://www.yelp.com/biz/
GnsmeI01...1VNY10T4dp_xRwg
Soul/fish:
Dicola’s -- http://metromix.chicagotribune.c...x-
visiting_heds
Soul/Home Cooking
(the legendary) Army & Lou's -- http://www.fodors.com/
miniguides...perty_id=293512
Sweet Maple Café -- http://centerstagechicago.com/re...maple-
cafe.html
Persian:
Reza’s -- http://centerstagechicago.com/re...ants/
rezas.html
Greek, Lebanese and Mediterranean:
Andie’s -- http://centerstagechicago.com/re...nts/
andies.html
Snazzy/Celeb chef:
Frontera Grill and Topolobampo -- http://www.fronterakitchens.com/
...estaurants.html
Opera -- http://
metromix.chicagotribune.c...,0,753294.venue
Hippy/Vegan:
Heartland Café -- http://chicago.citysearch.com/
pr...tland_cafe.html
Cajun:
Heaven on Seven -- http://centerstagechicago.com/re...n-on-
seven.html
Dixie Kitchen -- http://centerstagechicago.com/re...n-
hydepark.html
Indian --
Any block of Devon from California to McCormick
Which is to say, if you are looking for, oh, good Chinese or Greek, there are whole Chinese, Greek, Italian, Swedish, etc neighborhoods, each of which has many fine eateries from cheap to "How much did you say?"
There are Big Garish places on North Avenue. Fine dining places in the old market district along Randolph, hipster joints along Milwaukee and intimate Italian places like "La Scarola" on Grand.
So for you encyclopedia freaks, “Check Please” is a Chicago-based show that features Real Citizens Just Like You going out to each other’s favorite joints and rating them.
Here is a list of restaurants they’ve reviewed, listed by cuisine:
http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?
eru...owCuisineList=1
And fuck the fucking Yankees!
Chicago is in the Midwest, where, at least as far as food is concerned, "better" is synonymous with "more".
A: "Did you check out that new Chinese buffet? What an awesome place! Piles and piles of everything!"
B: "Is it any good?"
A: *Two beats* "Didn't you hear me? They have piles and piles of everything!"
With this in mind, you will want to go and sample as many types of Chicago-style deep-dish pizza as you can stand without blowing out your sphincter. If you are offended by calling these concoctions "pizzas", try thinking of them as huge pig-part-laden casseroles in their own eatable shells. Edwardo's is pretty good, though it's been a while since I've been in Chicago to sample the wares, and you might find Uno's to be perfectly acceptable.
Was this the picture that launched a thousand falafels?
Was this the picture that launched a thousand falafels?
http://thumbsnap.com/v/KBhm7Zcd.jpg
But what about pizza? Isnt there something about deep dish cheesy stuff...Being a New Yorker I like my pizza thin, so I dont know how I can handle one of those bowls of cheese...but Im willing to give it a go.
Oh and someone told me to go to a comedy club that is where the second city folks work out their material...but I forget the name. I need to remember who told me and remember...as if Im really going anywhere...ha!
If there is a starbucks in the hotel Ill be just fine....especially now that they have those horrible little salads of corn and or pasta...eekkk!
See y'all there!
Morrys Deli. 5500 S Cornell Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Best Reuben in town (try the special reuben as well) Branch inside Midway airport.
Mama Desta's Red Sea
3218 North Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois 60657-1602
Good Ethiopian
Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant,
5844 N Broadway
Best Ethiopian
Sawa's Old Warsaw Restaurant,
Broadview IL 60155
Best Polish
New Warsaw
6250 W 63rd St
Chicago, IL 60638
Great Polish
Bobak Sausage Company;
5275 S Archer Ave,
Chicago, IL
Good Polish
Ann Sather's
various location's:
http://annsather.com/
restaurants...locations.shtml
Best at:
5207 N. Clark
Chicago, IL 60640
Great Swedish
Be sure to drop by Women & Children First Bookstore down the block
and
Kopi A Travelers Cafe
5317 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60640
Great Cafe and Travel Store
Intelligentsia Coffee
3123 North Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60657
and
53 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604
and
53 East Randolph Street
55 East Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60601
great coffee
And finally:
Jr's hot dogs
Various locations
'cause you can't comment on Chicago Dogs if you haven't had one, and if you haven't had Jr's you haven't had a Chicago dog!
ploeg:
Uno's? Apostasy!
Strong second on Ribs 'N Bibs.
Also in the same area, Medici on E. 57th for burgers; and Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen on E. 53rd, for a nice variety of Lebanese food. And traditional Southern-style with a light touch at Captain's Hard Time (yes, they do serve fried catfish) on E. 79th, just east of King Drive; I guess that's the Park Manor neighborhood.
Chicago style hot dogs are deeelish! How long did you have to search to find that disgusting photo?
A sure bet: Wiener's Circle in Lincoln Park (2622 N. Clark St.)
Amazing casings: Hot Doug's on the Northwest Side (3324 N. California Ave.)
Best Ethiopian: Ethiopian Diamond on the North Side/Edgewater (6120 N. Broadway)
Middle Eastern delights in Albany Park on the Northwest Side: Semiramis (Lebanese fare at 4639 N Kedzie Ave.) and Noon-O-Kabob (Persian food at 4661 N Kedzie Ave.)
Two favorites in Chinatown, both in the Chinatown Square mallish area off of Archer: Lao Sze Chuan and Joy Yee
Hankering for barbecue? In Logan Square on the Northwest Side, Fat Willy's Rib Shack (2416 W. Schubert Ave.); in the Old Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, Smoque, 3800 N. Pulaski Rd.
Two favorite Thai places, which are close to each other in or near the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side: Sticky Rice, 4018 N. Western Ave., and Spoon Thai, 4608 N. Western Ave.
Two places for decent deep-dish pizza (each with a few locations): Lou Malnati's and Bacino's
And the wild card selection: Buddhist Korean food at Amitabul on the Northwest Side (6207 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
"Check, Please!" is an okay place to search, but if you have some time on your hands, check in with those-in-the-know:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/index.php
If there's Middle Eastern food, I'm happy. (Hi, Melina! I'll call you when I get in. 
)
Edwardo's is the original deep dish spinach pizza. Other favorites -
Frances' Deli (Clark and Wrightwood) - blintzes
North Shore #2 (s. of Clark and Damen in the Swedish hood mentioned above) - Upta Gawa, a breakfast concoction of bean sprouts, eggs, mystery meat and gravy.
Little Bucharest - used to be on N. Ashland.
Any dope can tell you where to eat in Chicago, there are plenty of world class restaurants like Fontana grill or what not let me give you the best places to eat cheap, some of the best food in town if you don't mind some grease(all real food has some). and remember if the cops and truckers a dubble parked the food is good.
from a native.
if your are going to try the pizza go for Lou Malnatis, or the Connies in the old slaughter house district. Edwardos isn't as good as it use to be the old owner sold off the name to a conglomerate they franchised the place...same thing with Uno's...Duo's is still original though.
are you goiing to be downtown, if so try Elephant and castle, or Billy Goats(the Cheebugi place, the make a damm good burger). Cactus bar has good food and wifi eating at the cactus bar taught me why you should never trade commodities on a friday after lunch . Im not sure if its still open (was when I left chicago, heard rumors of it closeing)...but burgoffs is very good. If you are looking for nonchicago style pizza you can't go wrong with bacci
try a chicago dog once, they are worth it....if you like salad on a bun...otherwise hit Gold coast dogs and get one of the Pizza Puffs...bring a deliberator but nothing beats a deep fried calzone
You wnat sandwiches, go north to the Evanston border and vist Captain Nemos. GO on a saterday and the captain will be there handing out free samples of his homemade soupe (well his wifes) best split pea I have ever had. Finally yuo must try Riccobinies. they make a stake sandwich that is truly amazing, it is very good and very unique.
Linky goodness
www.elephantcastle.com
www.billygoattavern.com
www.loumalnatis.com
www.goldcoastdogs.net
www.dontdrinkandtrade.com
www.baccipizza.com
http://chicagobestitalianbeefsou....com/
index.html
www.ricobenesfamoussteaks.com
Oh as a note on chicago dogs...they aer useulay kosher and allways all beef (useualy vienna beef). no random pig parts in these dogs..they jsut taste better and as an added bounus the are the only hot dogs my wife can eat (shes MSG intolerant)
Jill get out of the city, head nother to wheeling Il and hit Pita in
....
http://www.pita-inn.com/
this place convinced a greasy spoon loving meatatarian taht Hummus is good stuff.
its definatly worth the trip....out side of that there is plenty of food from every where in the world in chicago, jsut have to be a little adventorus
moonglum,
FYI - Berghoff is now closed, and renamed something else (17West I believe) for dinner.
But I think they still do a Berghoff lunch cafe.
The Pita Inn is fantastic, been there many times (work near by). But I don’t know if I’d come all the way from downtown for it. Greek Town should yield similarly satisfying results without leaving downtown.
I would recommend trying the Chi-style hot dog myself. I like the ones from the old Maxwell Street stands right off of I-90.
The Maxwell street area has been transformed by the university into a fairly safe walkable, hangout area. MUCH different from how it was 5-6 years ago. And yes, you will still here it being referred to as 'Jew Town' by some natives.
Joy Yee's link: http://www.joyyee.com/
Make sure you get the fresh fruit freezes - I'm a sucker for the lychee & mango freeze and the kiwi & mango freeze. The portions are huge too and you can't go wrong with pork chop, shrimp and lemon grass chicken over rice, special beef noodle soup, and lemon grass chicken wings.
Moonstruck Chocolate Café - overpriced chocolate goods but they are good overpriced chocolate goods
http://
www.moonstruckchocolate.c...olateCafes.aspx
Chicago - Illinois
Downtown
320 N. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60601
312.696.1201
M-Th 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Fri 8:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sat 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sun 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Russian Tea Time
http://www.russianteatime.com/
Sweet Jones: shame about Berghoff..at least tehy still do the lunch...taht was a main stay of my wekyl lunch rotation.
the rotation was Bacui pizza monday, gold coast pizza puff, Riccobinies, leftover riccobinies, and either elephant and castle or cactus bar on friday. gold coast was often relaced by billy goats. just a hint, lunch downtown is packed...very packed. eat at 11 to 11:30
oh and for overpriced chain sandwiches give potbellies a try its not bad.
I gotta push Greek Islands as well its semi pricy and more upscale, but the chef owner is a nice guy and the food is good.
I thought it was the Mets...no?
arent they playing out there?
Not that Im going...but just saying...
You insult the Chicago dog, and then have the nerve to ask for suggestions on where to eat???????
In addition to the many fine recommendations above, I would add:
Manny's Deli near Jefferson Street. Great corned beef. They even have a stand at Midway Airport.
Al's Italian Beef on Taylor Street.
If you are a-feared of the terrifying Chicago-dog, then perhaps you might try someplace adventurous like an Olive Garden, or perhaps a Red Lobster.
Sheesh.
It's like going to Pittsburgh and not wanting fries and coleslaw on your sandwich.
I can understand being skittish about the local delicacies while traveling in Africa or South Asia, or even Minnesota (Lutefisk! Yum!) but Chicago? Puh-leeze!
/lecture
Forgot to mention Eli's Cheesecake. The restaurant in the Magnificent Mile has closed down but if you are ever stuck in O'Hare airport, they have a small stand in terminal 1 (United Airlines) for your Chicago style cheesecake. (You can also get a sampler pack in the freezer section of the local grocery chains like Osco.)
http://www.elicheesecake.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesecake
Sorry, moonglum, but I'm not going to have a car. 
How many of these fooderies are walking distance from the hotel?
Jill: Im not going to koss, which hotel...what area of town.
a lot of the diliver I would recomend riccobinies deivery though, the truks have ovens n them so hte food is allways hot when you get it.
chicago has great mass transit as well. lok at the links, they all have maps, just look for the closest L stop.
Most of the places I mentioned earlier are close to El stations (and I apologize for not giving links, but Googling the names should offer up a few reviews of the places if not their Websites). But I would caution visitors to check the CTA site for anything affecting service (http://www.transitchicago.com/), and be warned that there are a handful of stations on the Brown Line (which goes to the North and Northwest sides) that are closed to construction. Good news: There are other stations nearby that are open, so the walk shouldn't be too bad.
You shouldn't knock the Chicago Dog until you try it. The tomatoes have celery salt on them and are delicious - the salt and the tomato acid wake up your mouth. I eat the tomatoes before and save the pickle for after - so you're left with an all-beef kosher dog - juicy and garlicy, onions and mustard (grilled onions if you're real lucky) and the green relish.
It's waaaaaaay better than sauerkraut, And sauerkraut's not bad.
And for breakfast don't forget:
Lou Mitchell's Restaurant
565 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago
(312) 939-3111
Great Breakfast Downtown
Melina:
Chicago has more types of Pizza than Skyscrapers. For thin crust go to the south side, and get everything on it, for deep dish Giordano's is a safe bet.
And if you want to blow the budget, there's the Blue Grotto. (I think on Clark just a few blocks north of the river.) Delicious seafood restaurant.
Hatsuhana--wherever it's presently migrated to--decent Japanese.
(I'm out in Oak Park so don't get downtown that much.)
Berghoff's unfortunately has closed down--I don't even think the lunch deli is still running.
And I have to second the commentary above on the pictured Chicago hot dog--looks like the ghastly version that was inflicted on me at the Denver airport, with overly green relish, soggy lettuce, and no celery salt.
A decent Chicago-style hot dog is a gift to the taste buds--that combination of hot hot-dog plus tomato plus crunchy salad plus celery seed...yum!
I just got back from Chicago and lived on Chicago dogs and Italian Beef sandwiches for 3 days. Go to Portillo's
... corner of Ontario and Clark.
C.R.
Portillo's does good Italian Beef, too. Good call, C.R.!
I've always been partial to Olive Mountain in Evanston over Pita Inn and it's not to far from the L.
The sign of a good sandwich joint is a pepper & egg sandwich on Fridays.
Deep dish = overrated. Vito and Nick's does this cracker thin pizza that's awesome but it's way the hell out at 85th and Pulaski.
There's tons of great Mexican.
For a nice sit down dinner the Italian joints along Taylor St. are good if pricey. The neighborhood is modern Chicago in a microcosm. Mixing subsidized low rises, multi-million dollar condo projects and old time neighborhoods.
Old school liberal planning on a massive scale.
Damnit! Now I want a Portillo's Beef and fries and I'm out of the country.
:-(
You want mexican, head to little mexico, get the best mexican food this side of the border
apparent from the above - you can find anything, and the best, on Clark Street. Runs north/south thru the whole damn city. Just get on the 23 bus from wherever you're at.
how about cuban?
great suggestions from everyone! I am going to put on 20lbs i am sure.
Minor quibble: The Clark Street bus is the 22, and it runs only from just south of the Loop to the northern limits of the city. But it is a good bus for restaurants.
As for Cuban, I have never been to these two restaurants, but friends really like Cafe 28 (1800 W. Irving Park Rd.) and Cafe Laguardia (2111 W. Armitage Ave.).
paper pusher & michelle:
I second that, riding the #22 bus down Clark provides a vast panorama of Chicago (although I'm not conceding the innate superiority of the South Side).
One of my favorite activities when I have a day in Chicago is to walk down Clark from the Loop to Andersonville with a variety of stops on the way.
If you're driving inout of Midway take Archer55th to the west and stop at Weber's Bakery. The rye is friggin awesome.
The Chicago Reader is a free weekly that has a decent restaurant search engine. To make the results manageable, check the box that limits your results to those restaurants that were reccommended by "Raters". It's under the heading Reader Restaurant Ratings.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/cgi.../rrr/form.cgi?/
The Chicago Tribune just put up a feature on mini-burgers: http://tinyurl.com/yqobog
Chicagoist.com also has occasional food posts too:
Latest beer of the week: http://chicagoist.com/2007/08/
01...ists_bee_11.php
Ethel's Chocolate Lounge: http://chicagoist.com/2007/07/
26...board_rev_9.php
KnaveRupe: "It's like going to Pittsburgh and not wanting fries and coleslaw on your sandwich."
Went to Pittsburgh in early May and tried that. What a waste of time and money! Pittsburgh does have great pizza (in Squirrel Hill).
twin anchors near wrigley -- best ribs ever
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