Top 5 Picks For Chicago Restaurant Week
Valentine’s Day might be over, but you now have another excuse to make plans to eat out: the 5th Annual Chicago Restaurant Week. Beginning tomorrow, and running until the 26th, more than 130 local restaurants will be offering a set, prix-fixe, three-course menu for $22 at lunch, and $33 or $44 at dinner.
Participating eateries are as diverse as Chicago’s food scene. Choose from burger joints, taquerias, bistros, chop houses, and a range of classic, modern, ethnic and traditional cuisines. I think these five are particularly noteworthy, and definitely worth stopping in at some point over the next 10 days.
LUNCH ($22, three courses)
1. Benny’s Chop House, 444 N. Wabash, (312) 626-2444
(Offered entire month of February)
Potato-leek soup OR warm spinach salad
Butternut squash tortelloni OR snapper OR 6-ounce USDA Prime filet, duck fat fries
Trio plate: milk chocolate s’mores, passionfruit créme brûlée, banana cream pie
2. Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, 60 E. Grand Ave., (312) 379-5637
STONE CRAB LUNCH
Your choice: cup of Manhattan clam chowder OR stone crab bisque
Four medium stone crab claws, hashed brown potatoes, Joe’s coleslaw & key lime pie
FILET MIGNON LUNCH
Your choice: cup of Manhattan clam chowder OR stone crab bisque
6 oz. filet mignon, Jennie’s mashed potatoes, Joe’s grilled tomato
Banana cream pie with foster sauce
DINNER ($33, three courses)
3. Leopold, 1450 W. Chicago Ave. (312) 348-1028
Mixed greens OR beet salad
mussels & frites OR braised short rib
Belgian waffle OR orange and vanilla bean panna cotta
4. Ceres’ Table, 4882 N. Clark St., (773) 878-4882
Choose your own three-course meal – app, entree, dessert – from the entire menu.
5. Chicago q, 1160 N. Dearborn, (312) 642-1160
APPETIZER – Choice of:
– BBQ shrimp with lemon-infused grits
– BBQ Flight
(Kobe brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken)
– Hominy, smoked corn
and black bean salad
ENTREE (comes with cornbread, coleslaw or fries)
Choice of:
– Sliced Kobe brisket
– Full slab of St. Louis OR baby back ribs
DESSERT – choice of:
– carrot cake
– seasonal cobbler/pie
– milk and cookie
BONUS:
Free Rides for Lunch
From 2/20-2/24, a new car service called Uber will feature a restaurant a day and give FREE rides there and back during lunchtime. There’s no catch; all rides that originate or end at these locations will be free.
- Monday – David Burke’s Primehouse
- Tuesday – GT Fish & Oyster
- Wednesday – Cafe Spiaggia
- Thursday – Sunda
- Friday – 25 Degrees
