Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. Among these are its nationally renowned
deep-dish pizza; this style is said to have originated at Pizzeria Uno. The Chicago-style thin crust is also popular in the city. A number of well-known chefs have had restaurants in Chicago, including
Charlie Trotter,
Rick Tramonto,
Grant Achatz, and
Rick Bayless. In 2003,
Robb Report named Chicago the country's "most exceptional dining destination" and in 2008,
Maxim awarded Chicago the title of "Tastiest City."
Local specialties The most popular Chicago-style foods are: • The
Chicago-style hot dog, traditionally a steamed or boiled, natural-casing all-beef wiener on a poppy-seed bun, topped with yellow
mustard, chopped
onion, sliced
tomato,
neon-green sweet-pickle relish,
sport peppers, a
dill pickle spear, and a sprinkling of
celery salt—but never
ketchup. •
Chicago-style pizza includes deep-dish pizza with a tall outer crust and large amounts of cheese, with chunky tomato sauce on top of the cheese instead of underneath it. Similar to this is stuffed pizza, with even more cheese, topped with a second, thinner crust. Also very popular in Chicago is a type of thin-crust pizza called "tavern style", which has a very thin, crispy crust and is cut into squares instead of wedges. • The
Italian beef, a sandwich featuring thinly sliced roast beef simmered in a broth (known locally as "gravy") containing
Italian-style seasonings and served on an Italian roll soaked in the meat juices. Most beef stands offer a "cheesy beef" option, which is typically the addition of a slice of provolone or mozzarella. A "combo" is a beef sandwich with the addition of grilled
Italian sausage. Italian beef sandwiches are traditionally topped with
sweet peppers or spicy
giardiniera. Other Chicago-style dishes include: • A
francheezie is a variation of the Chicago-style hot dog. The hot dog is wrapped in bacon and deep-fried, and either stuffed or topped with cheese. •
Maxwell Street Polish, named after
Maxwell Street where it was first sold. It is a
Polish sausage made with beef and pork, and with garlic and other spices, served on a bun with grilled onions. • The
jibarito is a specialty sandwich that originated in the heart of Chicago's
Puerto Rican community. Invented by Borinquen Restaurant in the
Humboldt Park neighborhood, a jibarito is made with meat or chicken, and condiments, placed between two pieces of fried and flattened
plantain instead of bread. •
Chicken Vesuvio, an Italian-American dish made from chicken on the bone and wedges of potato, celery, and carrots; sauteed with garlic, oregano, white wine, and olive oil, then baked until the chicken's skin becomes crisp. •
Shrimp DeJonghe, a casserole of whole peeled shrimp blanketed in soft, garlicky, sherry-laced bread crumbs. • The
mother-in-law is a tamale on a hot dog bun, topped with
chili. • Chicago also has its own unique style of
tamale, machine-extruded from
cornmeal and wrapped in paper, and typically sold at hot dog stands. •
Gyros is popular in Chicago. While some restaurants still make their own gyros cones, Chicago is the hometown of mass-produced gyros. • Flaming
saganaki was popularized by restaurants in the
Greektown neighborhood. A square piece of
kasseri,
kefalotyri, or a similar cheese is fried in a small, two-handled pan, topped with a splash of
brandy, and served
flambé-style, traditionally with a cry of "
Opa!" from the waiter. • A
pizza puff is a deep-fried dough pocket filled with cheese, tomato sauce, and other pizza ingredients such as sausage. Indigenous to Chicago, pizza puffs can be found at some hot dog restaurants. • A
pepper and egg sandwich combines scrambled eggs and grilled bell peppers, served on French bread. Originally eaten during
Lent by Italian immigrants in Chicago, it now can be found in some casual dining restaurants. • The big baby, a style of a
double cheeseburger with the cheese in between the hamburger patties, ketchup, mustard, and pickle slices underneath them, and grilled onions on top; said to have originated at Nicky's The Real McCoy in the
Gage Park neighborhood. • The breaded-steak sandwich, a specialty particularly found in the
Bridgeport neighborhood, which consists of a flattened inexpensive cut of beef that has been breaded, fried
Milanesa-style and served on an Italian bread roll with
marinara sauce, topped with optional
mozzarella cheese with a choice of
green peppers or
giardiniera. • The Freddy, a sandwich consisting of an Italian sausage patty topped with green peppers, mozzarella and marinara served on a bun. It is typically found in sandwich shops and pizzerias on the
South Side and its adjacent suburbs. •
Pork chop sandwiches, served bone-in with mustard and grilled onions, are popular on the South Side. • The gym shoe (sometimes spelled Jim Shoe or Jim Shoo), a
submarine sandwich made with a combination of
corned beef, gyros, and either roast beef or Italian beef. •
Chicago-style barbecue, particularly
rib tips and
hot links. This is
barbecue that has been cooked in an aquarium smoker, a rectangular indoor smoker with glass sides and a large compartment for a wood fire under the grill.
Barbecued ribs are also very popular in Chicago. •
Mild sauce, a condiment made with barbecue sauce, ketchup, and hot sauce, and sometimes other ingredients such as honey or sugar. Mild sauce is used as a topping on fried chicken and other foods, and was popularized at fast food restaurants in Chicago's African-American community including
Harold's Chicken Shack, Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken, and Coleman's Barbecue. •
Giardiniera – spicy, chopped, pickled vegetables in oil – is popular as a condiment in the Chicago area. For example, it is commonly used as a topping on Italian beef sandwiches. Giardienera was brought to the city by immigrants from Sicily, where it is served as a side dish. Chicago-style giardiniera has vegetables that are chopped very finely, and uses oil and not vinegar as a base. • Popcorn from
Garrett Popcorn Shops, including their "Garrett Mix" flavor that is a combination of cheddar cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn. • Atomic cake, featuring banana, yellow, and chocolate cake layers alternating with banana, strawberry, and fudge fillings. • Chicago Brick ice cream, a
Neapolitan-style three-flavor ice-cream with orange sherbet, vanilla, and caramel flavors.
Restaurant scene Chicago features many restaurants that highlight the city's various ethnic neighborhoods, including
Chinatown on the South Side, Swedish/Nordic
Andersonville on North
Clark Street,
Greektown on
Halsted Street, and
Little Italy on Taylor Street and the
Heart of Italy. The
South Asian community along
Devon Avenue hosts many
Pakistani and
Indian eateries. The predominantly Mexican neighborhoods of
Pilsen and
Little Village are home to numerous eateries ranging from small
taquerías to full scale restaurants. Several restaurants featuring Middle Eastern fare can be found along
Lawrence Avenue, while
Polish cuisine is well represented along
Milwaukee Avenue on the Northwest side and
Archer Avenue on the Southwest side. A large concentration of
Vietnamese restaurants can be found in the
Argyle Street neighborhood in
Uptown. Along with ethnic fare and fast food, Chicago is home to many
steakhouses, as well as a number of upscale dining establishments serving a wide array of cuisine. Some notable destinations include
Frontera Grill, a gourmet
Mexican restaurant owned by chef and
Mexico: One Plate at a Time host,
Rick Bayless;
Graham Elliot's eponymous restaurant,
Graham Elliot;
Jean Joho's Everest, a
new-French restaurant located on the top floor of the
Chicago Stock Exchange building downtown, and
Tru from chefs
Rick Tramonto and
Gale Gand. Chicago has become known for its ventures in
molecular gastronomy, with chefs
Grant Achatz of
Alinea,
Homaro Cantu of
Moto, and
Michael Carlson of
Schwa.
Black restaurants Many African American migrants who were entrepreneurs would open restaurants, female entrepreneurs especially. Food-related businesses had a low threshold for entry because many African Americans were raised in environments where food was a central part of life. The
Chicago Tribune in 2019 identified five "iconic black restaurants" run by five families as having some of the best food in the city. They were
Harold's Chicken Shack (founded 1950),
Lem's Bar-B-Q (founded 1954), Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken (founded 1963), Taurus Flavors (founded 1966) and Old Fashioned Donuts (founded 1972). The city is also home to many fried-
shrimp shacks.
Conferences and events Taste of Chicago is a large annual food festival held in early July in
Grant Park in downtown Chicago. It features booths from dozens of Chicago-area restaurants, as well as live music. Beginning in 2015, Chicago Black Restaurant Week is an annual celebration of various Black cuisines where more than 20 different restaurants come together in February during Black History Month to share their foods. In 2001, the Culinary Historians of Chicago held a "Grits and Greens" conference at Harold Washington College. The conference was focused on highlighting the contribution of African-American women in shaping the culinary culture of Chicago's black community. Over the course of two days, the event brought together an array of people, including authors, chefs, and professors. The programming of the event featured a variety of activities, such as a gala held at Roosevelt University and tours of the southwest neighborhoods of Chicago.
Brewing Chicago has a long
brewing history that dates back to the early days of the city. While its era of mass-scale commercial breweries largely came to an end with
Prohibition, the city today has a large number of
microbreweries and
brewpubs. According to 2018 report by the Brewers Association, Chicago had the most breweries of any metropolitan area in the country, with 167 total. Included among these are craft brewers like
Half Acre,
Off Color,
Pipeworks and
Revolution Brewing. The largest brewery in Chicago is
Goose Island, founded in 1988 and now owned by
Anheuser-Busch InBev. Annual events include Illinois Craft Beer Week, the Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers (known as FOBAB), the Chicago Beer Festival, and the Chicago Beer Classic. In the mid- to late-20th century, the most popular beer in Chicago was
Old Style, a mass-produced lager that at the time was brewed by
G. Heileman in
La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Old Style brand is now owned by the
Pabst Brewing Company which supervises its production under contract by
MillerCoors.
Distilled spirits Jeppson's Malört is a brand of
bäsk, a Swedish-style liqueur flavored with
wormwood. Known for its bitter taste, it can be found in some Chicago-area taverns and liquor stores, but is seldom seen elsewhere in the country. The Carl Jeppson Company was founded in Chicago in the 1930s. Malört was made in Chicago until the mid-'70s, when the Mar-Salle distillery that produced it for the Carl Jeppson Company closed. It was made in
Kentucky briefly, after which it was produced in
Florida for many years. In 2018, Jeppson's Malört was acquired by Chicago-based CH Distillery, and in 2019 production was moved back to Chicago.
Koval, Chicago's first distillery to operate within city limits since Prohibition, began operation in 2008. Located in the
Andersonville neighborhood on the city's North Side, Koval offers a wide range of spirits and was featured on the Chicago ("World's Greenest Beer") episode during the second season of the
Esquire Network show
Brew Dogs in 2014.
Cohasset Punch is a brand of
rum-based drink first created by Chicago bartenders Lewis Williams and Tom Newman in the 1890s. Officially classified as a
liqueur, Cohasset Punch can also be considered a bottled
cocktail or
punch. It has been referred to as "the definitive Chicago cocktail", and a 1902
trade journal remarked that "what the
mint julep is to
the South, Cohasset Punch is to Chicago." Cohasset Punch was produced until the late-1980s, and was relaunched under new ownership in 2024. ==Music==