Six New Restaurants to Try in Chicago
Photo by Sandy Noto
Chicago has long been among America’s (and arguably the world’s) great dining cities.
Along with nostalgic deep dish pizza, fully loaded hot dogs, and Italian beef sandwiches (yes, we’re also anxiously awaiting the upcoming season of The Bear), the Windy City has cultivated great Mexican and Eastern European food, plus enough experimental tasting menus that it could take weeks to hit them all—if you can get a reservation.
From a ramen shop with a chef who cultivated a viral following on Reddit to a Ukrainian restaurant that’s an ode to the chef’s grandmother, a few things struck us as we scouted for this year’s Best New Restaurants list: The options continue to be more varied and interesting.
We’re not tipping our hand on whether any of these restaurants will be crowned as among the best in the country this September, but with the culinary eye on Chicago this weekend for the James Beard Awards—taking place June 8 through June 10 at Lyric Opera of Chicago—here are six restaurants that stood out from our most recent visits to Chicago.
Akahoshi Ramen
2340 N California Ave Suite B, Chicago, IL 60647
Reservations for this Logan Square ramen shop open up five weeks in advance but sell out in minutes. Chef-owner Mike Satinover, also known as “Ramen_Lord,” chronicled his self-taught journey of achieving ramen authority on Reddit for over a decade and then IRL with pop-ups before opening his own ramen shop in late 2023. At Akahoshi, his fastidious expertise is on display. The menu contains four types of ramen, plus rotating specials, two rice side dishes, and additions like extra noodles or an ajitama egg. Sitting at the kitchen counter is a front row seat to the theatrics—Satinover blow-torches each slice of fatty pork, throws bean sprouts into a smoky wok, and watches over the cooking of homemade noodles, available in two varieties: thin and crinkly for the two types of soup-filled bowls (Akahoshi miso and shoyu) and soft, thick noodles for the brothless varieties (tantanmen based loosely on Dandan noodles, and aburasoba, a soupless variant). On a good night, you might get lucky enough to have Satinover present your bowl of ramen, which can feel like a divine offering from the Ramen Lord himself.
Anelya
3472 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
At Anelya in the Avondale hood, your first course rolls up to your table in the form of a zakusky cart, three tiers laden with appetizers like tiny trout-roe-adorned tarts, smoked herring, and ribbons of cold-cured pork fat. The Ukrainian-inspired restaurant from Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim—the James Beard Award–winning husband-wife duo behind the beloved (and soon-to-revamp and reopen) Parachute—is a tribute to Clark’s grandmother, the restaurant’s namesake. With a staff largely made up of native Ukrainians, the team dishes out varenyky with bacon-pecan praline, holubtsi (stuffed cabbage) with tomato sauce, kasha with brown butter, and of course, two types of borscht. Peep the entirely Eastern European wine list, stacked with bottles you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in Chicago. Don’t leave without a giant slice of Kyiv cake, layered with hazelnut meringue, chocolate gianduja, and vanilla sponge cake that looks almost like a slab of rock sliced right out of the Grand Canyon.
John’s Food and Wine
2114 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614
At John’s Food and Wine in Lincoln Park, you’ll order at the counter from a tight list of offerings spelled out on a black letter board before a host guides you to your table. While the service model might be fast-casual, the food (and, yes, wine) is sophisticated. Co-owner chefs Adam McFarland and Thomas Rogers worked together at New York’s iconic Gramercy Tavern, and at this neighborhood bistro-meets-wine bar, they serve up seasonal New American classics in a breezy, minimalist space. John’s is a very good pick for lunch, with options like a pulled pork sandwich with Thai chili vinaigrette or a smoked corned beef sandwich with apple mostarda and fontina. At dinner, sample housemade pastas like lamb cavatelli with favas and anchovy butter and don’t miss the seasonal lettuces, which are simply served with hazelnuts, yogurt, and nutty sheep’s milk cheese. No matter the time of day, you must end with a ramekin of butterscotch pudding with brown butter, rum, and hazelnuts that’s just boozy enough.
Nine Bar
216 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60616
Since opening in 2022 this neon drinking den tucked behind one of the oldest family-run restaurants in Chinatown quickly became one of Chicago’s top destinations. While Nine Bar is not exactly new, we liked it so much from our first trip that we had to visit again this year. When owners Lily Wang and Joe Briglio opened the bar, it was the first cocktail bar, let alone speakeasy in the neighborhood. Nods to the space’s former life as the Moon Palace dining room abound—think lucky cat statues greeting you on the shelves between liquor bottles and a giant silver iridescent fan behind the bar—but Nine Bar pushes past its origins with a menu that goes beyond Chinese classics. Even if you came from dinner, the tight but very good snack menu is worth exploring, with highlights like mapo hot fries, General Jones’ wings, and a McKatsu sandwich. Sip on drinks like the Paradise Lost with ube, pineapple, and coconut milk, the Cheating Death (their riff on an old-fashioned) with five-spice and umami bitters, or a non-alcoholic option like a matcha ginger swizzle.
Thattu
2601 W Fletcher St, Chicago, IL 60618
Margaret Pak and Vinod Kalathil’s goal has always been to share the flavors of Kerala with Chicago diners, first at their food hall stand and now at Thattu’s permanent home in Avondale. The colorful, warm dining room is laid-back (you order via QR code and collect your own cutlery and napkins), full of families and locals eating the foods of India’s southwestern coastal state of Kerala. At lunchtime, try the must-order chaat masala-dusted tater tots and Keralan fried chicken bites; at dinner, the move is to order bone-in pork chops with tangy peralan gravy, fish steamed in banana leaf, and grilled appam to sop up the lingering sauces. Between the homestyle dishes and the relaxed atmosphere, it feels as if you are eating in Pak and Kalathil’s own dining room at home.
Warlord
3198 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
Warlord is the kind of restaurant at which 30 people will wait in line outside in flurries and sub-optimal temperatures for a shot at a dinner seating. The Avondale restaurant is only open four nights a week (until 1AM), doesn’t take reservations, and has a menu that changes almost nightly. Dining here leaves a lot up to chance, but it’s worth a gander to experience the alternate universe that owners Trevor Fleming, Emily Kraszyk, and John Lupton have created. Once inside, you’re ushered into a dark space where the live-fire kitchen is the focal point—lacquered ducks and beef tenderloins are displayed on chains above the flames, loud music blasts from the speakers, and jars of preserved produce are everywhere. Because everyone sits at the same time during the first seating of the night, watching the kitchen is a spectacle, as wave after wave of dishes travel to diners. If the halved, bronzed fatty duck covered in aged shoyu and fennel pollen is a case in maximalism, the sole dessert of the evening—which when I went was a whipped délice and white chocolate dolloped on a black plate in concentric circles—is a study on simplicity. Warlord can do it all, and on their own terms.
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
