After playing with the latest tech and equipment, and sampling a smorgasbord on the Show floor, here’s where you can sit, relax and enjoy a meal at some of the city’s favorite spots.
The 2025 National Restaurant Show is about to kick off, running from May 17-20 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. But whether you’re an exhibitor or attendee, you need more sustenance than the food and drink samples handed out at the booths.
Luckily, Chicago is one of the top dining cities in the U.S., with an impressive array of restaurants serving every type of cuisine. Here are a few new picks to get you started.
Tre Dita
One of the toughest reservations in town is this Lakeshore East restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel, created by Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Evan Funke (Mother Wolf, Funke) with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Funke has been called the “pasta whisperer.” Reservations are reportedly released a week in advance on OpenTable at midnight, but walk ins are welcome at the bar. www.treditarestaurant.com
Café Yaya
Chef Zach Engel and partner Andres Clavero of Galit opened this all-day dining destination in Lincoln Park in March. It’s counter service, with breakfast offerings of bourekas, challah and treats from long-time Galit pastry chef Mary Eder-McClure, coffees from Sparrow Coffee Roastery and teas from Rare Tea Cellar. Later, the menu, led by Scott Stroemer, is designed to evoke sidewalk bistros of Paris and Tel Aviv, with by-the-glass wine offerings. There’s duck confit with black beluga lentils; a coulette of wagyu grilled over coal and veal sweetbreads grilled a la Manion. The Yaya Fries are accompanied with kombu and green garlic labneh ranch. www.cafeyaya.com
Fire
Grant Achatz of Alinea fame has reimagined his more casual restaurant, Roister, into the new Fire. It’s located in the same space as Roister in the trendy Fulton Market District, but the menu focuses on food cooked over open flames instead of shareable platters of fried chicken and vegetables. This is live fire in the hands of one of the most revered experiential chefs in the U.S., who studied ancient cooking methods and incorporated styles and flavors from around the world, infusing them with modern techniques. Guests can expect the unexpected, with ingredients like prawns, maitake mushrooms, halibut, beef, sweet potatoes and even dessert transformed by flavorful flames. www.firebythealineagroup.com
Beity
Chicago’s first and only Lebanese tasting menu restaurant, Beity, is headed by chef-owner Ryan Fakih who trained at Alinea and Nomad. The multi-course menu fuses French technique with Lebanese flavors, beginning with an assortment of mezze, followed by dishes that may include goat cheese dumplings, turbot, braised lamb and an Arabian chocolate dessert. Prix fixe tasting dinners range from $120-$135. For a gentler price tag, Beity, which translates to “my home.” recently began serving weekend brunch and offering an a la carte menu of small plates, all with a neo-Lebanese accent. www.beitychicago.com
Etc.
The name “Etc. refers to “Experience, taste, cocktails,” and the restaurant is Chef Lamar Moore’s love letter to his Mississippi grandmother. The menu is an elevated take on Southern food that showcases the depth and breadth of the cuisine. The shareable small and large plates include specialties such as devilled eggs with caviar, smoked Mississippi catfish dip, braised oxtails with heirloom purple grits, house-made biscuits with pimento cheese and banana pudding. Culinary-inspired crafted cocktails and a well-edited wine list add to the experience. Located in the Loop near Willis Tower. www.etc-chicago.com
Il Carciofo
Joe Flamm’s Italian-Croatian restaurant Rose Mary is always packed, and perhaps to accommodate the overflow, the chef recently opened Il Carciofo. It’s tough to score a reservation here too, but there is bar seating at this nearby spot. The menu focuses on Italian cuisine from Rome, including the namesake carciofo—Jewish-style artichokes that are a specialty of the city. There’s an on-premise pasta lab turning out ravioli stuffed with rabbit, spaghettoni cacio e pepe, gnocchetti and more, plus Roman-style square pizzas. Meaty entrees featuring beef, veal and pork are on offer for heartier eaters. www.ilcarciofochicago.com
Zarella Pizzeria & Tavern
If you’ve had your share of Chicago deep-dish pizza and want to see what the Boka Restaurant Group is up to now, head over to Zarella Pizzeria & Tavern. Two of the group’s longtime chef-partners, Chris Pandel and Lee Wolen, transformed the former GT Fish & Oyster into an artisan pizza destination serving thin-crust tavern-style pies—Chicago’s other claim to pizza fame. While you’re waiting for the pizza to come out of the oven, you can nibble on fried zucchini with basil aioli, roasted carrot dip, calamari, marinated eggplant and a host of other starters. www.zarellachicago.com
SeoulSpice
This eight-unit fast-casual chain based in Washington, D.C. opened its first location in Chicago this spring with two more to come this summer. The Korean-influenced spot was founded by Eric Shin, who is also the principal percussionist for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. At SeoulSpice, everything is prepared in house, even the kimchi. No bottled sauces. All locations are company owned and there are no plans to franchise. www.seoulspice.com
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