The best restaurants in River North

Brendan Sodikoff's vaguely French steakhouse is a departure—or perhaps an evolution—for the restaurateur. While his other spots (Gilt Bar, Au Cheval) have their charms, the appeal of this spot—decked out with jazz-era decor and music—is practically universal. Diners need not be huge steak fans to get a good meal; in fact, as good as the steak frites is, both the fried and roasted chicken are even better. Elegant cocktails begin meals here; fabulous pies (lemon meringue, chocolate cream) end them.

Vegetarians, vegans and carnivores will all find excellent six-course tasting menus showing off beautifully presented, innovative spins on Indian fare. It’s worth trying different versions even if you don’t have dietary restrictions just to appreciate the depths of chef Sujan Sarkar’s creativity and the perfect wine pairings. Add on some supplemental courses for the full experience or just get a taste of the restaurant by ordering some a la carte dishes and a cocktail at the bar.

One of the best omakase experiences in the city, The Omakase Room at Sushi-San is well worth the splurge. Hidden above Lettuce Entertain You’s perpetually hopping restaurant is a far more serene 10-seat space where you’ll get to know your neighbors while watching master sushi chefs craft an 18-course meal focused on line-caught fish. Embrace the indulgence with sake and wine pairings or just ask the excellent staff to recommend a cocktail or Japanese whiskey.

Restaurants have always been a family affair for Oliver Poilevey, who worked as sous chef for his late father at Bucktown institution Le Bouchon. Now he’s partnered with his brother Nicolas to put his own spin on French cooking at Obelix, bringing Asian and Mexican flavors to classic dishes. Be sure to bring a big appetite and order the beef wellington with al pastor hollandaise along with a bold bordeaux. A menu of bite-sized desserts means you can have a sweet finisher so matter how full you are.

Sharing a front door with Frontera Grill, Topolobampo opened two years after Rick and Deann Bayless’ original spot to offer a sleeker and more adventurous alternative. The Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning restaurant offers a regularly changing tasting menu, with a dining experience that starts with snacks and drinks in the front lounge. It's hard to predict exactly what will be offered day to day—but because Bayless is involved, it never really feels like a gamble.

Added to Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list in 2022, Ciccio Mio brings classic Italian-American fare to a supper club environment packed with vintage-style art and furniture. Start in the cozy lounge with an amaro shaved ice or white negroni, then sit down in one of the rounded booths for a comforting meal of proscuitto pappardelle or spicy vodka rigatoni. Be sure to plan ahead because reservations book up quickly.

Take a culinary tour of Peru at Tanta, where the menu of shareable plates showcases how native Peruvian cooking has been inspired by Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, African and Italian influences. Start with Peru’s national dish—ceviche made with seasonal fish and sweet potatoes—and the country’s national cocktail, the pisco sour. You can also get a taste of Peruvian street food with a grilled octopus skewer before digging into a plate of wok-fried beef tenderloin. For a real escape, get a seat on the restaurant’s 1,550-square foot rooftop.

Housed inside a historic century-old townhouse in River North, this intimate Spanish steakhouse is all class and luxury. Chef-owners Doug Psaltis and Hsing Chen, who also run Andros Taverna, treat guests to a Basque-inspired menu full of delicacies like caviar churros, jamón ibérico and dry-aged steak tartare with truffles. The star of the show are the Txuleton steaks—well-marbled, bone-in cuts that are roasted over coals and available by the pound. Chen provides a satisfying conclusion to the experience with indulgent desserts, such as a golden chocolate hazelnut cake and burnt Basque cheesecake.

The first Mexican chef to receive a Michelin star, Carlos Gaytán uses French cooking techniques to prepare dishes from his hometown of Huitzuco, from which the restaurant takes its name. Favorites include the chicken tinga-stuffed corn masa bites. Pair your meal with a pitcher of Mexique sangria made with brandy, burgundy and hibiscus flowers or come for brunch and try a Bloody Mary spiced with ancho and guajillo peppers.

The celebrated West Loop restaurant offers the same Mediterranean-inspired food and extensive wine list in a larger space in River North. The sunny spot is great for date nights or larger groups who can share plates of chorizo-stuffed medjool dates, handmade pasta and whole-roasted fish. Take advantage of half-price bottles of wine on Tuesdays or come for a weekend brunch to dig into spiced shakshuka while sipping bottomless mimosas.

The second restaurant from the team of the Rancics and the Melman kids was this steakhouse, which turns out perfectly cooked steaks, a towering seafood platter and potatoes with black truffles. The desserts are the secret star, with a flaming baked Alaska and chocolate cake, though you should just pretend it's your birthday and snag one of the over-the-top sundaes.

James Beard Award-winning executive chef Carrie Nahabedian has been serving up an ever-changing menu of French-influenced fare at Brindille for more than a decade. Order oysters, steak and foie gras a la carte or opt for a tasting menu with pairings from co-owner Michael Nahabedian. Be sure to save room for a cheese plate or dessert from pastry chef Craig Harzewski, accompanied by tea or a glass of sweet wine.

There’s nothing wrong with splurging on lobster or king crab and wanting to enjoy it in this institution’s formal dining room. We just prefer to get down and dirty in the adjacent oyster bar, where we slurp fresh oysters, crack open crab claws and dunk lobster tail in copious amounts of butter. Classic cocktails are well-executed, though we'll almost always opt for a well-chosen draft beer alongside seafood.

This Boka property from chef-partner Giuseppe Tentori takes the cake for the city's sexiest steakhouse. The enormous interior is decked out in fur-lined chairs, modern chandeliers and dark, moody jewel tones. You'll spot all the usual suspects on the dinner menu (a seafood tower, wedge salad, Brussels sprouts), but when it comes to meat, GT Prime ups the ante. The kitchen offers pleasures such as bison tenderloin, dry-aged porterhouses and A4 Kagoshima wagyu.

Most chefs behind culinary empires branch to other cities, leaving the original back home to suffer. Rick Bayless kept close to the kitchen and chose to expand in other ways (packaged food line, cookbooks, TV shows). Lucky us. For over three decades, this has been the spot for regional Mexican fare made with local ingredients, a place to chow down on ceviches, enchiladas with mole, wood-grilled steak tucked into organic heirloom corn tortillas and, of course, insanely good margaritas.

The first restaurant in Brendan Sodikoff's Hogsalt empire, Gilt Bar remains a tried-and-true spot for a great meal. The menu offers a host of approachable dishes—many of which you'll also find at the group's other concepts—including favorites like the tenderloin steak tartare, truffle bucatini, coal-fired ribeye and chocolate cream pie. After dinner, head downstairs to the Library for a nightcap.

Chef and humanitarian José Andrés brought his contemporary Spanish tapas concept to Chicago in 2021. Inspired by the traditional dishes of Andrés's childhood, the menu includes tapas, paellas, sangrias and Spanish wines—all served in a casual dining room decorated with bold red tones and honeycomb patterns.

Miami-based PLANTA Queen hopes to get more diners to eat plant-based by providing a lively destination for flavorful vegan fare. The restaurant offers spins on Asian favorites like watermelon nigiri, Thai lettuce wraps and crispy vegetable gyoza alongside cocktails incorporating sake, lychee and Japanese whiskey. For an indulgent meal, come for an endless mimosa brunch featuring banana waffles and scallion pancakes.

Chef partner CJ Jacobson presents a California-style spin on Mediterranean small plates with an emphasis on spreads, dips and mezze such as charred eggplant spread, house-made stracciatella and lamb and beef kefta kebabs. Stop in for happy hour from 4-6pm Monday through Thursday to enjoy $6 craft beer and $10 house margaritas. If you’re just looking for a quick weekday lunch, visit the Rotisserie Ema food bar.

If it gets any more old-school than this circa-1941 steakhouse, we haven’t seen it. The wood-lined dining room features Naugahyde bar stools and a mahogany bar that have hosted celebrities ranging from Frank Sinatra to Will Ferrell. Some of the servers have spent more than 40 years at the restaurant so they can guide you through the menu of Italian classics and signature dishes such as shrimp de jonghe and a garbage salad loaded with salami, provolone and jumbo shrimp.

Inspired by the cuisine and drinking culture of a region on the western coast of India, Bar Goa brings the tropical vibes to River North inside a space where eating and drinking go hand-in-hand. The concept comes from Rina and Manish Mallick, the co-owners of Randolph Street Indian restaurant ROOH, who launched Bar Goa as part of a hospitality group. Naturally, you can enjoy the butter chicken croquettes or the prawn fried rice without a drop of alcohol. But the dishes here are hearty for a reason—they're better for soaking up cocktails like the mezcal- and mango-based Born in Madhya or a beer and shot combo called the Chicagoan Handshake, which features a Colva Lager served with Malört. You can also check out Bar Goa at Time Out Market Chicago, the food and cultural hub in Fulton Market.

At JoJo's Shake Bar in River North, there are almost as many desserts as there are savory menu items, making it a haven for your most unruly sugar cravings. On the same block as Ummo, Howl at the Moon and Theory, the multi-level brainchild of Castle Hospitality Group (Shore Club) offers nostalgic diner fare, over-the-top desserts and a curated roster of cocktails. You can also check out JoJo's at Time Out Market Chicago, the food and cultural hub in Fulton Market.

Restaurateur Billy Dec celebrates his Filipino roots at Sunda New Asian, which serves modern interpretations of lumpia and pancit along with sushi and signature dishes inspired by other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Korea. The drink menu offers an extensive selection of Asian beer and sake plus seasonal cocktails you can enjoy on the restaurant’s revamped patio. Sunda’s brunch features ube waffles with Japanese fried chicken, a traditional Filipino breakfast and a 32-ounce Sumo Mary with equally outsized toppings including a pork belly bao bun and a baked snow crab handroll.

The soft focaccia and fruity olive oil delivered to your table at this popular River North mainstay are good indicators of what’s to come. Start with some antipasto—an assortment of cured meats, aged cheeses and herb-cured olives—to whet your appetite. From there, pair a pasta dish (we vote gnocchetti) with a main (the bistecca alla fiorentina and the whole roasted fish are always divine).

One of the latest additions to the Chicago ramen scene is this chain with locations throughout the U.S. and Japan. You can expect to find several types of ramen represented on the menu, from the traditional tonkotsu and shio varieties to an unorthodox kimchi ramen. The house special is the Mega Ramen, a bowl filled with chashu pork, shrimp, bamboo shoots, wakame, marinated egg, nori, corn and scallions, and there’s also a variety of cold beverages from bubble tea shop TBaar. A second outpost is located in Oak Park.

Chef-owner Bill Varley and his wife Janice traveled across Italy to collect regional dishes to bring to the menu of Torchio Pasta Bar. The 100-year-old brick building provides a warm space for the traditional fare, which includes saffron arancini, roasted mushroom risotto and cacio e pepe. The pasta is made on the premises, though they also import gluten-free varieties from Italy so that no one’s left out. Start your meal at the copper bar with a classic cocktail or glass of Prosecco.

There’s not much nuance about this long-running River North staple, which also served as the inspiration for FX's hit show The Bear. The employees aren’t afraid to bark at you for indecisiveness, the walls are overwhelmed with celebrity photos and random ephemera (e.g., a cutesy ode to beef composed by a sixth grader hanging directly over a headshot of Keith Richards puffing a cig) and the Italian beefs are hefty and so unapologetically oily as to immediately render their paper wrappings transparent. Throw mannerliness to the wind and you’ll be rewarded with a sandwich of slightly fatty beef, expertly dunked in aromatic jus so that the bread’s edges retain a pleasing trace of crustiness.

True to its name, this riverside restaurant focuses on water views and, you guessed it, roasted meats. There's pork belly bites, lamb meatballs, golden gobbets of fried chicken and shellfish for the insatiable carnivores. You can order whole fish or chicken or a slab of roast beef, along with snacks and charcuterie.

The massive, lively restaurant in the heart of River North serves authentic Mexican cuisine paired with tequila- and mezcal-based cocktails. Couples and big groups have flocked to Mercadito for more than a decade for a seasonal menu of guacamole, ceviche, salsas and a huge selection of tacos including beer-battered mahi-mahi with chipotle aioli and lobster with jalepeño. Come for brunch to enjoy chilaquiles, huevos ahogados and carnitas hash.

The lively restaurant is a perfect place for big groups looking to share an affordable menu of wine by the liter along with Italian small plates including Neapolitan-style pizza, veal meatball sliders with giardiniera and handmade gnocchi with fresh basil and ricotta. Start your meal with a tasting of salumi and cheeses and leave room for profiterole with a glass of house-made limoncello. The kitchen is open until 11:30pm, so it’s also a great destination if you’re looking for a late night snack.