Best Thing I Ever Ate restaurants in Chicago

Au Cheval, Girl and the Goat and Portillo's & Barnelli's Chicago are the most critically recognised Chicago restaurants featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate. We track 9 in total, ordered by how many professional critics write about them.

Updated August 2026

Every Best Thing I Ever Ate restaurant we track in Chicago

All acclaimed Chicago restaurants →Best Thing I Ever Ate in every city →Browse all sources →

How this list works

Every restaurant here carries a recorded mention from Best Thing I Ever Ate and sits among the most critically acclaimed restaurants we index in Chicago. Ordering is by total professional critic mentions, not user reviews or star averages.

A city with fewer than 5 recorded Best Thing I Ever Ate restaurants gets no page, so this is a list we can stand behind rather than a page built to exist.

Read the full methodology →