Chicago restaurants

My vote for the best Chicago steakhouse is Joe's . I only went there once on a visit, but the service and food were top notch.

Alinea ?

Alinea. Getting a reservation on short notice may be tricky. It's a great restaurant with lots of food suprises.

Use your Amex platinum card, call them, they can get you in.

There's a new spot called Sepia which a solid - but not on the level of Alinea.

Funny this is a venture of the original Joe's Stone Crab on south beach and lettuce entertain you restaurants here locally. Very very popular. I like the atmosphere at Shaw's more, but that is more of a seafood focus.

We also have a David Burke steakhouse here which is good.

Best steakhouse without a doubt is Gibsons.

Also a fantastic restaurant is the Grand Luxe Cafe

Alinea and Moto are both pretty similar in food prep and style, though I think Moto is cheaper and Alinea is fancier/more famous.

A good buddy of mine went to culinary school in Chicago, lives there and is in the food industry- he swears Alinea was the best meal he's ever eaten.

For pizza I swear by Giordano's or Pizzeria Uno/Due downtown. Giordano's being my absolute favorite.

Steakhouse - they're all pretty good.

For fast munchies, try an Italian beef from portillo's, chicago style hot dogs from any number of places, but hit up the wiener circle for sure. Also try the billy goat tavern - it's hard to find but is famous for that saturday night live sketch - Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger.

for steak I usually go to Tavern on Rush - I think that the food is as good as gibson's, but it is more comfortable, tables aren't as close together.

No offense, but Gibson's is lucky to be a 2 star steakhouse at best. It's marketed and located well but the steak is sadly less than one would find at Mortons or Ruths. Don't try to fight it I know. I've eaten at Gibsons easily over 100 hundred times. The pros: the potatoes, bisque and sliders at lunch are worth the effort as well as the cheesy, tourist area that is Gibons. Prostitutes and white trash hookers are aplenty in this area as Gibsons is known for traveling salespeople and old men hang out in the bar with cougars all night. There is a reason it's called the Viagra Triangle. People need to quit bragging about this place and it only shows they have zero taste in food and atmosphere. The local reviewers will never badmouth Gibsons as it's somewhat of a landmark and they do something like 18 million a year. Kind of like the Armani of steak if you will. Grand Lux is essentially the cheesecake factory maybe slightly better. I've eaten lunch there regularly and it's fair to good and you could feed a family of four with their servings.
I will concur that Joe's provides the best all around steak and seafood experience in the traditional sense. Their steak preparation is light years better than Gibsons. I've eaten at Joes at least 300 times if not more so I feel I have experience to give a recommendation. Every food item is always prepared superbly. I've yet to taste one thing substandard. It's all class and no cheesy bar scene like Gibsons.

Alinea is the best restaurant experience in Chicago and probably a top 10 to 20 in the World. Some will disagree but on a regular basis they excel. The top chef however has very advanced cancer which is just not right as he is so young and talented. If you go and visit Alinea which is hidden at the corner of Halstead and Willow next to the pizza capri you can talk directly to the co owner and he can fit you in much quicker. I've done so.

Moto is something else. It's fun but so over the top that it never comes close to Alinea elegance.

So what I can take from this is that even though you think this steakhouse is terrible, you're dumb enough to eat there more than 100 times. And that also, you're willing to pass judgement on somebody b/c they find a restaurant to be their favorite, but you disagree?

What I can take from this is that you are a pompous asshole, not willing to listen to anybody else's opinions if they differ from your own, and most definitely not willing to say "i understand you feel this way, but i disagree." Instead, you choose to say things such as "No Offense" and then go on to say that liking this place "only shows they have zero taste in food and atmosphere."

I've never been to the restaurants that you are saying are best, but if i were to go one day, which i probably will not since a prick like you has suggested them, i would not come back at you with a huge line of bullshit about how you have no taste just b/c i disagree with it, because i, my friend, am not a moronic pinhead such as yourself.

They closed the Berghoff right?

400+ steak meals between just these two places? Soph - you like it, the beef?

Ja. Schade.