Celebrated as the 'hog butcher of the world' by the poet Carl Sandburg during the city’s early-twentieth-century heyday as the nation’s meatpacking powerhouse, Chicago staked its claim early as a place where food is paramount. Large portions were – and still frequently are – the order of the day. This is reflected in several dozen venerable steakhouses for which the city is renowned, from packed yet homey Chicago Chop House to the mansion elegance of Lawry’s to Morton’s of Chicago, famous for serving the largest steak in town, some 64 ounces.

Street treats

Simpler cravings are met by an array of local fast-food specialties. King of all is the hot dog, introduced at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, and more ornate than the variety already being served up on New York’s Coney Island. This beek frankfurter-in-a-bun – then called the 'hot dog sandwich' – was an instant hit with the fair’s millions of visitors as a cheap, filling meal, and quickly caught on in homes as well as at baseball parks around the country. The sausage was served in a fashion that would come to be known as 'Chicago style', with toppings that are still standard today. The steamed, poppyseed bun is filled with a boiled or steamed (though not grilled) wiener, but note that ketchup is never used. Indeed, many of chicago’s classic hot-dog houses, such as Portillo’s Hot Dogs, The Wiener’s Circle, or Superdawg refuse to sully their beloved frankfurter with the red stuff.

The city’s historic obsession with red meat is further evident with the Italian beef sandwich, which became popular during the Depression. When beef was scarce, cooks in the West Side’s Little Italy sliced the meat super-thin and serve dit on chewy rolls loaded with thin gravy. Today, the sandwich is served at walk-up stands and restaurants in Little Italy and throughout the city, with toppings ranging from sweet and hot peppers to cheddar or mozzarella cheese.

Chicago-style pizza

Invented in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno’s original location at 29 E Ohio St, deep dish or 'Chicago-style' pizza is the city’s most legendary foodstuff. Unlike the crust of a typical Neapolitan-inspired pizza, which is thin and flat, Chicago-style pizza crust is more like the Sicilian variety, thicker and pulled up high on the sides of a deep dish pan, resulting in a substantial, truly pie-like crust that’s topped with a thick layer of mozzarella, then sausage or other meat and vegetable toppings and, finally, a layer of tomato chunks (also unlike typical pizza, which starts with a tomato sauce base before adding cheese). Not surprisingly, the final product is massive enough to require a knife and fork.

Uno’s may have introduced this deep-dish style (and the chain has indeed grown to 200 locations across the country), but the question that inspires passionate arguments among local pizza aficionados even today is, 'Who does it best?' Ask a dozen Chicagoans and you may get a dozen different answers; perennial contenders include Lou Malnati’s, Gino’s, and Giordano’s.

Ethnic cuisines

Arriving during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European immigrants quickly made their impact on Chicago life. As these pockets of Polish, German, Swedish, Greek, and Ukranian settlers spread thoughout the city, so did their cooking traditions, resulting in a city rich with a variety of ethnic cuisines.
Wander the various neighborhoods and you’ll come across shops selling everything from Polish sausages to pierogi (doughy, half-moon-shaped dumplings stuffed with meat, mushrooms, or sauerkraut). Greektown is the obvious place to head for a hearty moussaka or Greek pastries, while Andersonville is the home of fine Swedish cuisine and baked goods – be sure to try pickled herring, and lutefisk (cod soaked in lye, a highly unlikely delicacy); if you can’t make it out there, try out one of the many branches of Ann Sather, a Chicago chain that serves Swedish dishes among other foods.

With one of the fastest-growing Mexican populations in the US, Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood boasts some mind-blowing Mexican fare – some of the best you’ll find outside of Mexico. A trip to the Maxwell Street Market, an open-air banquet of affordable and authentic Mexican delicacies, should not be missed.
While visitors and Chicagoans alike frequent the dim sum restaurants of Chinatown, the more adventuroius make the pilgrimage north to Rogers Park’s Little Bombay, where Chicago’s sizeable South Asian population is thriving along Devon Avenue. Here, you’ll find a plethora of exotic Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani restaurants, ranging from cheap curry houses to world-class four-star dining.

Gourmet aspirations

Over the last two decades, Chicago’s dining scene has worked hard to transcend its meat-and-potatoes roots; the results have been some of the finest, and most diverse, eateries in the country. The god of Chicago’s epicurean innovation was Charlie Trotter, whose namesake restaurant, which opened in the late 1980s, pioneered the concept of elegant fusion dining, with an innovative tasting menu served in a formal and serene Lincoln Park townhouse.

A crop of celebrity chefs swiftly followed in Trotter’s footsteps. The indefatigable Rick Bayless, recognizable from his TV show and numerous cookbooks, singlehandedly subverted the notion that Mexican food is all chips and enchiladas with his superb Frontera Grill – which has assumed the mantel of best Mexican restaurant in the US. In the process it changed the common perception in Chicago that haute cuisine begins and ends in the kitchens of France; a taste of one of the restaurant’s chile braises or moles should let you know why.

In recent years, with its fervent embrace of every global culinary trend, Chicago has become a prominent center of the progressive food movement. In 2005, Alinea, with provocative chef/owner Grant Achatz at the helm, achieved national acclaim with a futuristic form of fine dining that tantalizes, engages, and sometimes perplexes the senses. The first course of an epic tasting menu of 6, 12, or 28 creations could be anything from flavored gas that you pump into your mouth with an atomizer, to fruit that becomes paper, or a grape wrapped in peanut butter served atop a device that resembles a steel torture implement.

If none of these novelties appeal, you can always head to the next steakhouse.

The updated second edition of The Rough Guide to Chicago is available now.