Anyone who’s ever spent much time with me could tell you that I love iced coffee, and—somewhat ironically for a person who’s spent half their life in small music venues—I hate tightly packed indoor spaces (the pandemic just made me hate them more). So, naturally, I’ve been raving about Hexe Coffee Co.’s gigantic patio since […]
Category: Food & Drink
Best ‘don’t go here, go there instead’ Chicago food TikToks
The first time my girlfriend sent me a TikTok from @plateswithp, she said, “I don’t know why, but I trust everything she says.” I, too, became an immediate fan. Paige Serena started making food and lifestyle content on TikTok in 2022. Born in Chicago and raised in Milwaukee, she fell in love with Chicago’s food […]
Best chocolate cake to eat to feel like a woodland creature in a Disney movie
Chocolate cake is my favorite dessert of all time. I pick up a slice at Whole Foods at least once every two weeks, and it’s always my litmus test for any bakery. For me, every chocolate cake serves some kind of function. The Whole Foods slice is a biweekly affirmation that life is good, in […]
Best cocktail menu likely to lead to a theft-related credit card charge
John James Audubon was a complicated character. On one hand, the French-American artist and ornithologist wrote and hand painted the 435 gorgeous life-size prints that make up the original birder bible: The Birds of America. And yet, he was a despicable human: a racist, vehement anti-abolitionist, and enslaver (among other things), facts that have caught […]
Best experiment in utopian living disguised as a backyard farm
From afar, artist, educator, and organizer Jen Delos Reyes seems tireless. She splits her time between Ithaca, New York—where she works at Cornell as an associate professor in the art department and as the inaugural associate dean of diversity and equity for the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning—and Chicago, where she runs Side by […]
Best home bakery for outrageous custom cakes on a budget
Sylvia Patterson, mom of spooky-silly goth Twitch streamer DJ Patrixia, is an absolute vibe master, and it comes out in her imaginative confections. The self-taught baker owns Sweets by Dragonflies, which is amazingly affordable and has a quick turnaround, with vegan options. And while Patterson can reliably recreate anything you’d find at a grocery store […]
Best go-to, old-school, northwest-side Italian restaurant you need to know about
Comfortable, decades-old, family-owned restaurants—the kind in which everyone knows each other, going back generations—are becoming rarer in Chicago. Such places are gems, harkening back to a different, more working-class Chicago, when the moniker “City of Broad Shoulders” was more fitting and neighborhoods were defined by their parishes. La Villa Restaurant & Banquets is one of […]
Best person to restore your ruined vintage Japanese chef’s knife
“This is your knife. This is your tool. This is what you love. And if something happens to it, it can be heartbreaking. It’s nice to be able to bring that tool back to where you have that feeling of ‘this is mine.’” Jordan Ross is one-half of the Asian stoner food pop-up SuperHai, but […]
Best place to take yourself out on a date
Here’s a rule I live by: once a month, take yourself on a date. No phones allowed; bring a book. Last month, I ventured to Ghin Khao Eat Rice, and I can assure you it’s the perfect spot. (And I’ve done this 21 times!) First, it’s truly delicious and authentic, with nearly 200 Google reviews […]
Best taco restaurant for vegans on Clark Street
Chicago has a reputation as a foodie city to uphold. For vegans and vegetarians, it’s no different. As more vegan options pop up on menus, Penelope’s Vegan Taqueria decided to open up a second location, this time in Andersonville. Penelope’s has a long enough menu that most vegans would find it cumbersome to look through […]
Best tiny storefront bakery/bistro in Oak Park
You can find some of the best scones—flaky, buttery, crunchy, savory scones, not too sweet, not too chewy—in Oak Park, in a tiny storefront just a few blocks west of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio. There you will find Broken Tart, an unassuming Tardis-like coffee shop and bakery, almost invisible from the street. Once […]
Best use of green cabbage
I’m not trying to start a fight. I can name a dozen addictively delicious ways to eat green cabbage—in fact, I have a jar of homemade Sichuan-style brine-fermented cabbage in the fridge right now, which I love with my chili oil. I had to say “best” because this is Best of Chicago, but it’d be […]
Best new condiment obsession
Chili crisp is a versatile, addicting, savory, and utterly delicious chunky sauce that understandably became a hit culinary trend in 2022. It’s most commonly made with a base of crushed red peppers and neutral oil and then loaded with an assortment of added spices and fried garlic or shallot for crunch. Once I heard of […]
Best way to get a taste of midwestern state fairs 365 days a year
I’m a guy who loves the concept of state fairs, and more specifically the socially acceptable kind of eating that takes place at them. It would be irresponsible for me, a 37-year-old who begrudgingly reads nutritional-facts labels, to make room in my diet for deep-fried ice cream, or a hot dog deep-fried in corn-dog batter, […]
2022 Food & Drink poll winners
The people, places, and things voted Chicago’s best—and runners-up: socially distanced dining, outdoor dining, beer garden, food relief effort, local grocer, gourmet market, cheesemonger, butcher shop, meal kits, online cooking instruction, local food product, preserves, farmers market, local farmer, urban farm, home garden supply, Caribbean restaurant, Chinese restaurant, Chinese takeout or delivery, Greek restaurant, Indian restaurant, Italian beef sandwich, Italian restaurant, Korean restaurant, Mexican restaurant, Middle Eastern restaurant, Polish restaurant, Thai restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, soul food restaurant, seafood restaurant, vegetarian restaurant, vegan restaurant, steak house, fried chicken shack, pizza, pizza by the slice, pizza delivery, gluten-free pizza, sandwich, banh mi, burger, quesabirria or birria de res tacos, taqueria, barbecue, hot dog, falafel, pierogi, soup, ramen, sushi, food truck, new pop-up, pandemic pivot from a restaurant, overall restaurant, place worth a wait, bang for your buck, restaurant group, chef, up-and-coming chef, cannabis chef, new food trend, bread, sourdough, bagels, doughnuts, bakery, desserts, paleteria, ice cream, coffee roaster, barista, local spirit, local distillery, cocktail, carryout or delivery cocktails, liquor store, local beer, local brewery, beer shop, wine bar, wine list, wine shop, and more