All Abroad

Chicago: Five places to eat

With over 100 nationalities represented in the city, there will always be a cuisine that you have never tried before. But don’t miss out the hometown classics.

A Chicago-style hotdog is a delicacy not to be missed. It should be a pure beef frankfurter on a steamed bun with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, peppers, pickle and a dab of celery salt. Plenty of good places serve them, but you’ll find it hard to beat the Vienna Beef Factory Store & Deli.

Chicago’s other culinary claim to fame is the deep-dish pizza. Two restaurants claim to have invented it, Gino’s and Pizzeria Uno. For us the Original Gino’s East of Chicago wins on both food quality and atmosphere.

Further up the scale, in every sense, is the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center. The food may be good rather than great, but that view makes up for everything.

The city is also home to one of America’s and the world’s great restaurants, Charlie Trotter’s. However it is described, ‘new American,’ ‘eclectic’ or ‘fusion’ cuisine, Trotter is the master. This is probably not the place for a romantic evening. Nothing should distract you from the food.

For those people whose idea of heaven is a well-prepared steak, Morton’s is the place to go. The formula of quality food and attentive service has spawned a chain, but this is the brown-wood original down on the Gold Coast.