Vote for your favorites in Best of Chicago through noon Feb. 15.: chicagoreader.com/best
Category: Food & Drink
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Best reason to catch a ride to the northwest suburbs with a hot-dog fanatic
I’m a gourmand when it comes to hot dogs and their crustier cousin, the corn dog. When I went to a Chicago Dogs baseball game on $1 hot dog night last summer, I took the special promotion as a challenge and consumed an irresponsible number of wieners. But I also recognize a special tubular meat […]
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Best Girl Scout cookie spin-off
“It is important for us to have craveable and approachable treats executed at a high level that will make you a little bit happier than when you walked into the door,” says pastry chef Aya Fukai, 38, understating the sublime experience of savoring her scrumptious Samoa cakes—one of her most popular creations. Made with a […]
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Best Thai food for the money
Talard Thai Asian Market (5353 N. Broadway) opened in fall 2019, and in summer 2020 it launched a cash-only hot bar in the back of the store. Like the similar hot bar at Immm Rice & Beyond, it approximates the cheap but reliable offerings of the classic Thai rice-curry shop, glorified in the West as […]
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Best hot chocolate mix to sprinkle on everything
Sometimes you just need some hot chocolate, and sometimes that’s at 2 AM when all you’ve got is an expired Swiss Miss packet hidden in the depths of your pantry. What a sad state of affairs. Avoid that tragedy by always having hot chocolate mix by Katherine Anne Confections, proudly made in Logan Square. In […]
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Best stand-alone tomato soup
Until now tomato soup served mostly as a kind of dip for grilled cheese. (RIP Bite Cafe and their grilled cheese, by the way. A moment of silence.) But that is not the case with Protein Bar & Kitchen’s tomato soup, which is a complete dish in its own right—not that it can’t be followed […]
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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
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Best of Chicago 2021 final ballot
Winners were announced in the March 3, 2022 special issue: Best of Chicago 2021 chicagoreader.com/best.
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Instagram takeovers
Social media pop-ups kept the Chicago food scene looking delicious.
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Radical hospitality
“The species in which peace and mutual support are the rule, prosper, while the unsociable species decay.” So wrote Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin, advocating for the concept of mutual aid, when communities care for their members rather than forcing them to eat each other to survive. It’s a concept that has sustained a sizeable portion […]
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The death (and resurrection?) of Crown Liquors
Folks living in the Logan-Avondale area vividly remember the crushing news of popular bar and liquor store Crown Liquors closing its doors in April last year. It was one of the early businesses to shutter due to the pandemic, which started the cycle of sadness we’ve been stuck in: watching our favorite bars, theaters, and […]
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Devon Market butter runs
I didn’t have a list the last time I went grocery shopping without a mask. It was Saturday, March 14, 2020, and I had booked it down the alley between my apartment and the Devon Market to stock up on “the essentials” before a rumoured two-week stay-at-home order began. My cart was half full before […]