Chicago is home to some of the best food in the United States and even the world. So, when we were in Chicago, we set out to try as many iconic Chicago foods as possible. With limited time, we didn’t get to try them all, but we had some amazing food and ate at some cool restaurants. Here are some must eat foods in Chicago:
Deep Dish Pizza
This one is a no brainer, of all of Chicago’s iconic foods, Deep Dish Pizza is probably the most famous. If you’re a native of Chicago, you will probably go for the Tavern Style pizza, which looks good too, instead but if you’re a tourist you are probably going to try Deep Dish Pizza. Deep Dish Pizza is cheesy, thick, greasy and glutinous. If you eat it too much, you’ll probably have a heart attack, but for a tourist or once a year it’s worth the few extra pounds you’ll pack on. An interesting fact about the deep dish is that the cheese is underneath and the sauce and toppings are on top. Try Deep Dish at Lou Malnati’s, the original Deep Dish, they are located throughout the city, but if not, I’ve heard Giordano’s is good too.
Italian Beef
You may not be a sandwich fan, but that doesn’t matter, Italian Beef sandwiches are a must. We had the Italian Beef at Mr. Beef, an iconic Chicago restaurant, and it was our favorite meal, and probably the best sandwich I’ve ever had. Italian Beef is a staple of Chicago foods because of the high population of Italian immigrants. The beef is marinated for a long time and extremely juicy and flavourful. The sandwich was on a fresh bun, topped with mounds of juicy beef and a variety of veggies. There are many foods to try in Chicago, but Italian Beef from Mr. Beef is a must.
Carnitas Tacos
Chicago has a huge population of Mexicans, and they brought a vast array of cuisine to the city. The most famous are the Carnitas tacos. Carnitas are Mexican pulled pork. The pork is juicy and flavorful. I’ve spent a month in Mexico and the tacos we had tasted authentic, but like all things American, they were much bigger. We ate at Carnitas Uruapan which was excellent, but it only serves takeout. Another place we were recommended by a few Mexican Uber drivers was Don Pedro’s. I’m sure you can’t go wrong at either place or anywhere in Pilsen.
Chicago Style Hot Dog
Of all my dishes included, this is probably the least delicious and more of a gimmick. But gimmick as it is, the Chicago Style Hot Dog is iconic and a symbol of the city. A juicy dog, mustard, celery salt, pickles, peppers and topped with fresh tomatoes. No ketchup allowed. I’m not a tomato fan, but the tomatoes and peppers tasted excellent on the hot dog. It was good but nothing spectacular; but you can’t go wrong for a quick and cheap snack. We ate at Portillo’s & Barnelli’s in River North which had a really cool theme and atmosphere, but you can get a Chicago Style Hot Dog virtually anywhere in the city.
Chicken Wings
Chicken wings? You’re probably wondering why I included this on the list of must eats in Chicago. America is known for their chicken wings so you know they must be good in Chicago. And we had chicken wings twice in Chicago, and both times they were some of the best wings I’ve ever had. Deep fried chicken (Harold’s Chicken) is known as a Chicago staple, but the wings had the fried chicken beat. We had wings with our Deep Dish at Lou Malnati’s and at Lottie’s Pub, both times the wings were excellent. Like all things American, the wings were BIG. They were crispy, saucy and tasted excellent. Lottie’s wings were excellent, and so was the burger, but Chicago has a good pub scene and I’m sure you can get good wings anywhere. Lou Malnati’s were excellent too, just watch how many you eat because the Deep Dish is filling.
There are a number of other iconic Chicago foods and dishes, but these are my top 5 must eats in the city. You can see our entire Chicago Food VLOG here. We also had ramen, Garret Popcorn, burgers, fried chicken and breakfast buffets, which were all good, but the 5 listed above were my favorites. Next time we are back we will have to try the steak, barbeque, Serbian food, food from a dinner like Lou Mitchell’s and the Puerto Rican Jibarito sandwich.
Note: I only had videos from the Carnitas and wings so had to screen the shot the videos for the images below.
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