Dasies: The best pasta in Chicago, including fancy pierogi.

Cherry Circle Room: Dark, clubby, great wine, great oysters.

Immm Rice & Beyond: The best staff recommendations. Talk to your server extensively.

Pequods: I don’t love deep dish, but I love Pequods.

Monteverde: Pray that they have the duck egg raviolo on the menu when you go.

Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings: The best dumplings in Chicago. Easily.

Hopleaf: Mussels and beer on a cold Chicago night.

HaiSous: Get the whole fried fluke and end with the egg custard coffee.

Billy Sunday: The best combination of classic and newfangled drinks.

Kumiko: They’ll take care of you with Japanese-style cocktails and small bites.

Eataly: It gets ignored as a tourist trap, but the sourcing is incredible. Excellent meat, wine, pasta, etc.

GT Fish & Oyster: The best seafood in Chicago.

Watershed: A hidden, rarely packed bar beneath POPS for Champagne downtown.

The Gundis Kurdish Kitchen: The best breakfast in Chicago, with Kurdish coffee that will make you cry.

Smoque: Best BBQ in Chicago (though surprisingly the ribs at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro are pretty great).

Nico Osteria: Fantastic Italian seafood and wine downtown.

Moody’s Pub: The best patio to sit and enjoy a burger and some fries in the summer.

La Pharmacie: Surprisingly experimental cocktails across a range of flavors.

Kie-Gol-Lanee: Traditional Oaxacan cuisine that’s a hand’s down favorite of anyone who goes.

Bumbu Roux: Indonesian cuisine by way of Louisiana. 

Dear Margaret: Midwestern ingredients used in French-Canadian-inspired dishes.

Sun Wah BBQ: The Beijing Duck Dinner is famous for a reason.

Gaijin: Okonomiyaki, kakigori, and highballs. What more do you need?

Spacca Napoli: Crowd-pleasing Neapolitan-style pizza and great service.

Smyth: The finest fine dining restaurant in the city.

The Loyalist: And maybe the best casual restaurant and bar in the city is right under it.

Virtue: Life-changing sweet potato pie.

MingHin: Dimsum for days, including great rice noodle rolls and fantastic egg tarts.

Nha Hang Viet Nam: Get the frog legs and ca kho to, or caramelized catfish cooked in a clay pot.

Parachute: The bing bread alone.

Chicago Magic Lounge: Get a Smoke & Mirrors cocktail and enjoy the show.

Birreria Zaragoza: Famous for a reason. The goat head tacos are amazing, but the tongue

Dusek’s: Have a great meal, watch a concert, and then have a drink in the basement.

Scofflaw: A cocktail menu that changes with the seasons so you always want to go back and see what’s new.

Moody Tongue Brewery: The beers are interesting and tasty, not just interesting.

Qulinarnia: A family-owned Polish restaurant in the burbs that’s worth the trek.

State Line Pizza: You have to cross over to the Indiana border for the best Chicago tavern-cut pizza.

Hema’s Kitchen: Spicy lamb vindaloo to heat you up, mango kulfi to cool down.

Nonnina: The same owners as the excellent Piccolo Sogno; get the Francesca mezcal negroni and duck ragu pappardelle.

Firecakes: The Tahitian Vanilla Iced is my favorite donut in the city.

Chicago Cut: Expensive, but the steaks and service are phenomenal. Plus you might run into Obama.

Gather: The perfect neighborhood restaurant.

Publican Quality Meats: Publican itself is great, too, but stop here for a meaty picnic to enjoy in a park.

Duck Duck Goat: For my money, Chef Stephanie Izard’s best restaurant.

Giant: Incredibly rich food, but that’s why it’s good.

Lone Wolf: A great tavern when you are in the West Loop.

Moneygun: Another great tavern when you are in the West Loop.