Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
River North
Deep-dish pizza from a family business whose first pizzeria opened in Lincolnwood in 1971. This is the River North dining room; there are nine more inside the city.
- 439 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60654
- loumalnatis.com
Restaurants
Chicago Restaurants You Should Try at Least Once
Deep dish, Italian beef, a Chicago-style hot dog and a few institutions.
10 placesUpdated
0 / 10 completedNot started
Save this checklist
Save all 10 places to MyCheck
Check them off as you visit.
Chicago's food identity is built on a handful of specific dishes — deep-dish pizza, the Italian beef sandwich, the Chicago-style hot dog — and on restaurants that have stayed in one place for decades.
This list mixes those institutions with a few of the city's better-known sit-down restaurants. Several take reservations well in advance, and one sells tickets rather than taking bookings.
Addresses and links on this list were checked against each place's own website on 2026-09-18.
Places on this checklist
Portillo's (River North)
River North
Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef and chocolate cake shakes. The chain started in 1963 as a Villa Park stand called The Dog House; this downtown location opened in 1994.
- 100 W Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60610
- locations.portillos.com
Al's #1 Italian Beef
Little Italy
The Taylor Street stand of an Italian beef shop that dates itself to 1938 — the sandwich ordered wet, dipped or dry, with sweet peppers or hot giardiniera.
- 1079 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60607
- alsbeef.com
Pequod's Pizza
Lincoln Park
Pan pizza with a ring of mozzarella laid against the pan so it caramelises into a dark, chewy rim. Burt Katz opened the first Pequod's in Morton Grove in 1971.
- 2207 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60614
- pequodspizza.com
Enjoying this list?
Save the entire Chicago checklist to MyCheck so you don't lose it.
Girl & the Goat
West Loop
Stephanie Izard's restaurant, open since 2010 and one of the first on the West Loop's Randolph Street restaurant row. Book well ahead.
- 809 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607
- girlandthegoat.com
Alinea
Lincoln Park
Grant Achatz's tasting-menu restaurant, one of a small handful of three-Michelin-star restaurants in the United States. Seats are sold in advance through Tock rather than booked by phone.
- 1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614
- alinearestaurant.com
Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse
Gold Coast
A Rush Street steakhouse open since May 1989, serving beef under its own USDA prime certification. The kind of room where the portions are the point.
- 1028 N Rush St, Chicago, IL 60611
- gibsonssteakhouse.com
3 places left.
Keep this checklist in MyCheck and track which ones you've visited.
The Purple Pig
Magnificent Mile
Mediterranean-inspired small plates on Michigan Avenue, just north of the river — a useful stop when you are already walking the Magnificent Mile.
- 444 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
- thepurplepigrestaurantgroup.com
Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen
Near West Side
A cafeteria-style Jewish deli open since 1942. You take a tray, the counterman hand-carves the corned beef in front of you, and you pay at the end of the line.
- 1141 S Jefferson St, Chicago, IL 60607
- mannysdeli.com
Superdawg Drive-In
Norwood Park
A drive-in at Milwaukee and Devon, open since May 1948, still served to your car — with two hot-dog figures standing on the roof.
- 6363 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60646
- superdawg.com
Start this checklist
0 / 10 completed
Save it to MyCheck and check places off as you go.
More checklists
Best Coffee Shops in Chicago
Eight Chicago cafés and roasters, ordered from the Loop outward so the list can be walked in sections.
Coffee8 places
Things to Do in Chicago for First-Time Visitors
Ten well-known Chicago landmarks and museums for a first visit, ordered so they can be done on foot and by train.
Things to Do10 places
