The plates that define Chicago: what they are, and where to eat the canonical version.
The plates that define Chicago. what they are, where they came from, and where to eat the canonical version.
Chicago's defining pie, built upside down in a cast-iron pan: an inch of buttery cornmeal crust holds slabs of mozzarella, fennel-sausage and chunky tomato.
Where: Lou Malnati's (Lincoln Park), Pequod's Pizza, Pizano's Pizza & Pasta, Pizzeria Uno
Price: $22-32 for a small deep-dish (feeds two)
Thin-sliced roast beef on Gonnella French bread, ladled with peppery jus, finished with sweet peppers or giardiniera. Dipped wet is the canonical order.
Where: Mr. Beef on Orleans, Al's Beef (Taylor Street), Johnnie's Beef, Portillo's Hot Dogs
Price: $9-14
An all-beef Vienna frank on a poppy-seed bun, dragged through the garden: yellow mustard, neon-green relish, chopped onion, tomato, sport peppers, pickle, celery salt.
Where: Superdawg Drive-In, The Wieners Circle, Portillo's Hot Dogs, Gene & Jude's
Price: $4-7
Chicago's older everyday pizza: cracker-thin crust, edge-to-edge sausage and tomato, sliced into squares (party-cut) for sharing across a tavern table.
Where: Vito & Nick's Pizzeria, Pat's Pizza & Ristorante, Bonci Chicago
Price: $18-28 (14-inch tavern thin)
A Chicago invention: fried green-plantain slices used as bread, stuffed with garlicky steak or chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a thin slice of white American cheese.
Where: Papa's Cache Sabroso, La Bomba, Borinquen Lounge
Price: $13-18
Smoked kielbasa and butter-fried pierogi: the everyday food of Chicago's Polish neighbourhoods, served with sauerkraut, sour cream and rye bread on the side.
Where: Staropolska Restaurant
Price: $12-22 (combo plate)
Mexican-style grilled corn, cut off the cob into a cup, layered with mayo, cotija cheese, chilli powder and lime: Chicago's ballpark and street-cart staple.
Where: La Michoacana Premium, Big Star
Price: $5-8
Pork-rib trimmings smoked in aquarium-style smokers over oak and hickory, sliced into cartilage-knobbed cubes, sauced in a sweet vinegar-based barbecue mop.
Where: Lem's Bar-B-Q, Honey 1 BBQ, Uncle John's BBQ
Price: $15-25 (tip plate with link)
Grant Achatz's Lincoln Park tasting menu: 18 to 22 courses of edible-balloon, painted-tablecloth, hot-pepper-ice theatre that codified modernist American fine dining.
Where: Alinea
Price: $285-465 per person
The bone-in heritage pork chop that anchored Paul Kahan's The Publican: rosemary-brined, hard-roasted, sliced off the bone, served with mustard and braised greens.
Where: The Publican, avec
Price: $48-62 (for two)
Cheddar-cheese popcorn and caramel corn mixed in the same bag: an only-in-Chicago snack invented by Garrett Popcorn, now copied across the country.
Where: Garrett Popcorn Shops
Price: $8-32 (regular to gallon tin)
Lake Michigan yellow perch fillets, cornmeal-dredged, deep-fried, served with tartar, lemon and rye: a Friday-fish-fry standard at South Side taverns and German halls.
Where: Calumet Fisheries
Price: $18-26 (fillet plate)
The cone-shaped beef-and-lamb gyros that Chicago's Greektown standardised in the 1970s: thin shaved meat, pita, tomato, onion and tzatziki, served with fries.
Where: Greek Islands
Price: $11-16
Chicago's defining pie, built upside down in a cast-iron pan: an inch of buttery cornmeal crust holds slabs of mozzarella, fennel-sausage and chunky tomato.
History: Pizzeria Uno on Ohio Street served the first deep-dish in 1943 under owner Ike Sewell and original cook Rudy Malnati Sr., whose family later launched Lou Malnati's. The pan-baked, cheese-on-the-bottom architecture was a deliberate break from the East Coast slice, designed to function as a meal rather than a snack. By the 1960s a parallel tradition (stuffed pizza, with a second layer of dough above the cheese) appeared at Nancy's and Giordano's. Across the city, tavern-cut thin (square-sliced) has always outsold deep-dish two to one with locals, but deep-dish is what the postcard sells and what the visitor expects.
Where to try it: Lou Malnati's (Lincoln Park), Pequod's Pizza, Pizano's Pizza & Pasta, Pizzeria Uno
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
Thin-sliced roast beef on Gonnella French bread, ladled with peppery jus, finished with sweet peppers or giardiniera. Dipped wet is the canonical order.
History: The Italian beef sandwich was invented in Chicago in the 1930s among Italian-American workers in the Taylor Street neighbourhood, who stretched cheap roast beef by slicing it paper-thin and serving it on jus-soaked bread. The Ferrari, Pacelli and Cingari families each claim a piece of the origin story. Al's Beef opened in 1938 on Taylor Street; Mr. Beef on Orleans, in River North, became the cabbie favourite a generation later. The 2022 FX series The Bear made the sandwich an international object, but inside the city it has always been a 4pm-after-work staple. Hot (with spicy giardiniera) or sweet (with bell peppers) is the first decision; dry, wet or dipped is the second.
Where to try it: Mr. Beef on Orleans, Al's Beef (Taylor Street), Johnnie's Beef, Portillo's Hot Dogs
Watch out for: Gluten
An all-beef Vienna frank on a poppy-seed bun, dragged through the garden: yellow mustard, neon-green relish, chopped onion, tomato, sport peppers, pickle, celery salt.
History: Vienna Beef has been making the canonical frankfurter in Chicago since 1893, when Austro-Hungarian immigrants Emil Reichel and Sam Ladany debuted theirs at the World's Columbian Exposition. The fully dressed Chicago dog crystallised during the Depression, when Maxwell Street vendors gave you a hot meal of a frank, salad and pickle for a nickel. Ketchup has been banned by unwritten city law for at least sixty years, a rule that locals enforce with both gentle eye-rolling and absolute seriousness; the prohibition was reaffirmed by the late Mayor Richard M. Daley in public on more than one occasion. The poppy-seed bun is from S. Rosen's, the city's other 100-year-old bakery.
Where to try it: Superdawg Drive-In, The Wieners Circle, Portillo's Hot Dogs, Gene & Jude's
Watch out for: Gluten
Chicago's older everyday pizza: cracker-thin crust, edge-to-edge sausage and tomato, sliced into squares (party-cut) for sharing across a tavern table.
History: Chicago's tavern-style thin predates deep-dish by a generation. The cracker-crust, square-cut pizza emerged in the 1930s in neighbourhood taverns on the South and West sides, designed to be eaten standing up with one hand and a beer in the other. The hallmarks are uniform: a docked, rolled-out crust no thicker than three millimetres; a thin layer of tangy tomato sauce; a low-moisture cheese blend; and edge-to-edge fennel-sausage crumble. Vito & Nick's, in Ashburn since 1949, is the canonical reference, with Pat's Pizza in Lincoln Park and Marie's in Garfield Ridge as the contemporary picks. Locals order it party-cut.
Where to try it: Vito & Nick's Pizzeria, Pat's Pizza & Ristorante, Bonci Chicago
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
A Chicago invention: fried green-plantain slices used as bread, stuffed with garlicky steak or chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a thin slice of white American cheese.
History: The jibarito was invented in 1996 by Juan 'Pete' Figueroa at Borinquen Restaurant in Humboldt Park, the Puerto Rican spine of Chicago. Figueroa adapted a recipe described in the San Juan newspaper El Vocero, swapping bread for twice-fried, flattened green plantain. The sandwich spread fast through the Paseo Boricua corridor on Division Street, then onto Latin-American menus across the city. Borinquen closed in 2018; Borinquen Lounge on California Avenue carries the family recipe, and a dozen other Humboldt Park kitchens serve their own. The seasoning (a Puerto Rican mojo of garlic, oregano, olive oil and lime) is what separates a good jibarito from a passable one.
Where to try it: Papa's Cache Sabroso, La Bomba, Borinquen Lounge
Watch out for: Dairy
Smoked kielbasa and butter-fried pierogi: the everyday food of Chicago's Polish neighbourhoods, served with sauerkraut, sour cream and rye bread on the side.
History: Chicago has had the largest Polish population of any city outside Warsaw since the 1900s, anchored along Milwaukee Avenue from West Town up through Avondale, Jefferson Park and Portage Park. Smoked kielbasa and pierogi are the everyday foods of the neighbourhood: pork-and-veal sausage, garlic-and-marjoram seasoned, smoked at small Polish butchers like Bobak's, Andy's, Joe's and Wally's Market. Pierogi run in two camps: ruskie (potato and farmer's cheese) and savoury meat. Staropolska in Belmont Cragin, Smak-Tak in Jefferson Park and Pierogi Heaven downtown carry the standard. Easter morning at Pulaski Park is when the whole community queues for fresh-baked babka.
Where to try it: Staropolska Restaurant
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
Mexican-style grilled corn, cut off the cob into a cup, layered with mayo, cotija cheese, chilli powder and lime: Chicago's ballpark and street-cart staple.
History: Elote (corn on the cob) and esquites (the same flavours in a cup) crossed from central Mexico into Chicago via Pilsen and Little Village paleterias and pushcarts in the 1980s. The cup format took off because it was easier to eat on the move: corn cut from a grilled cob, butter, mayo, cotija, chilli powder and lime juice, scooped with a spoon. By the 2010s the elote cart became as much a part of the Chicago summer streetscape as the hot dog wagon. Wrigley Field added a stand in 2018 and the AT&T Plaza outside the United Center followed. La Michoacana Premium and the carts along 26th and 18th Streets are the canonical references; the Wrigley cup is the visitor's gateway.
Where to try it: La Michoacana Premium, Big Star
Watch out for: Dairy, Egg
Pork-rib trimmings smoked in aquarium-style smokers over oak and hickory, sliced into cartilage-knobbed cubes, sauced in a sweet vinegar-based barbecue mop.
History: Chicago's barbecue tradition runs through the Great Migration: African-American cooks from Mississippi and Tennessee brought wood-smoking up to the South and West sides between the 1910s and the 1960s. The Chicago particular is the aquarium smoker, a glass-and-steel cabinet packed with oak and hickory, designed for the city's lots and ordinances. Rib tips (the cartilage-rich trim from St. Louis-cut spare ribs) became the everyman cut: cheaper than ribs, deeper-flavoured, served in cubes with hot links, white bread and a tangy-sweet sauce. Lem's Bar-B-Q on 75th Street, open since 1954, is the cathedral. Honey 1 in West Town and Uncle John's on the South Side are the second tier.
Where to try it: Lem's Bar-B-Q, Honey 1 BBQ, Uncle John's BBQ
Watch out for: Gluten (white bread)
The bone-in heritage pork chop that anchored Paul Kahan's The Publican: rosemary-brined, hard-roasted, sliced off the bone, served with mustard and braised greens.
History: Paul Kahan and Donnie Madia opened The Publican on Fulton Market in October 2008, four blocks from the old Union Stockyards, with a menu built around pork. The bone-in heritage chop (from Becker Lane Farm in Iowa and Slagel Family Farm in Illinois) became the room's signature: brined in rosemary and sage, hard-roasted, sliced thick off the bone, served family-style with mustard and braised greens. The dish reframed Midwest fine dining around its agricultural backbone. Kahan's One Off Hospitality group spun off Avec, Big Star and Publican Quality Bread from the same block.
Where to try it: The Publican, avec
Cheddar-cheese popcorn and caramel corn mixed in the same bag: an only-in-Chicago snack invented by Garrett Popcorn, now copied across the country.
History: Garrett Popcorn Shops opened on Madison Street in the Loop in 1949. The famous mix (cheddar cheese and CaramelCrisp in one bag) was introduced in the 1970s and has been the takeaway-bag souvenir of choice from O'Hare and Midway ever since. The cheese is sharp Wisconsin cheddar; the caramel is hand-cooked in copper kettles with butter and sugar. The queues at the Michigan Avenue flagship outside the original Garrett shop became enough of a fixture that the tourist board started photographing them. The store name was changed from 'Chicago Mix' to 'Garrett Mix' in 2014 after a trademark settlement, but locals still call the snack the original name.
Where to try it: Garrett Popcorn Shops
Watch out for: Dairy
Lake Michigan yellow perch fillets, cornmeal-dredged, deep-fried, served with tartar, lemon and rye: a Friday-fish-fry standard at South Side taverns and German halls.
History: Lake Michigan yellow perch was the cheap workingman's fish in Chicago through the 19th and 20th centuries: pulled from the lake by Polish and Croatian commercial fishermen, fried at Friday-night fish fries in Bridgeport, Pullman and Roseland taverns. Commercial perch fishing in Lake Michigan collapsed in the late 1990s under invasive-mussel pressure on the food chain; the fillets on Chicago menus today are mostly Canadian-caught from Lake Erie and the Saskatchewan lakes. Calumet Fisheries on 95th Street, smoking chubs since 1948, is the smokehouse reference; Edgebrook's Superdawg and South Side taverns still serve Friday perch with rye, tartar, lemon and a beer.
Where to try it: Calumet Fisheries
Watch out for: Fish, Gluten
The cone-shaped beef-and-lamb gyros that Chicago's Greektown standardised in the 1970s: thin shaved meat, pita, tomato, onion and tzatziki, served with fries.
History: Greek immigrants arrived in Chicago in volume in the 1900s, settling around Halsted and Harrison on the Near West Side, the Greektown of legend. In 1973 the Apostolou brothers and the Garlanis family at Parkview Restaurant in Skokie began turning out the cone-shaped, vertically-roasted gyros loaf of beef and lamb, reportedly America's first commercial frozen gyros cone. Kronos Foods, founded the same year in Chicago, scaled it nationally. The Halsted Street strip (Greek Islands and Artopolis) has been Greektown's food row since the original district was bulldozed for the UIC campus in 1965.
Where to try it: Greek Islands
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
Peak food season in Chicago is year-round.
Local dining hours: lunch around 12:30, dinner from 19:30.
service is typically included; small extra is welcome but not expected.
If you only have one meal, eat Chicago deep-dish pizza. It is the dish most associated with Chicago.