Try the miraculous chestnut soup with white Alba mushrooms and truffle essence and the impeccable Angus beef with goosefoot greens, cumin, shallot jus, and ingenious variations on heirloom carrots.
Chef Ryan Poli's captivating small plates ooze with unmistakeable allegiance to Espana: Pork belly bocadillos, housemade pappardelle, and the lamb sausage are all inspired bursts of flavor.
Note: Chef Phillip Foss breezes in and out of the totally exposed kitchen and invites diners to help with prep.
Irresistible bar snacks: deviled eggs and homemade corn nuts. For the main course, try the grilled rainbow trout with roasted barley, sourdough buckwheat croutons, and grilled Meyer lemons.
Mark Mendez’s menu is not a love letter to Spain. It’s a marriage proposal. Try the $3 chicken liver: two little caramelized-onion toast points sag under an obscene amount of impeccable liver.
Must-Try Dish: Duck liver pâté spread thick on toasted bread painted with Cognac butter and topped with brandied tangerine wedges.
The juicy fried housemade bologna sandwich is exquisite enough to hoist the underappreciated sausage into superstardom.
Goofily named cocktails threaten to steal the show, but chef Zoe Schor's clever menu holds its own with crispy black-eyed peas, supremely fresh salumi and cheeses, and daring Southern-fried quail.
Chef Armando Gonzalez freely invites foreign flavors to his small-plate fiesta, as in silky scallops with black rice, yuzu, and Chinese long beans, all dripping with habanero butter sauce.
Where else in Berwyn can you chase a perfect hazelnut pot de crème with Serbian prokupac in a breezy backyard patio abutting a functional greenhouse?
From the wood-grilled octopus with charred greens to the spit-roasted half duck, to the goopy blondie brownie dessert, chef Jason Paskewitz never bores us.
This River North joint overflows with minor treasures like a wonderful octopus salad and a duck-fat-fried chicken with crispy skin that melts right into the meat.
The milky fior di latte and the creamy mozzarella di bufala are both simple wonders with just salt, pepper, and oil.
Chef shaken "kitchen cocktails" and well-curated Belgian beers keep pace with—if not outshine—the neighbors.
