To be fair, the thread is about chains, not independent places.

But I must admit that I can place the following Chicagoland chains way above those listed earlier:

- Portillo's
- Walker Brothers (a subset of the Original Pancake House chain)

I'd even place Culver's, even though it's regional, above the other poster's list, but not above the Portillo's or Walker Brothers.

Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) was one of the first "chain but not quite a chain" restaurant groups. They get a lot of "vanity" venture capital from high-end Chicagoans who want to be able to say that they "own" a restaurant, but they are very good at the execution.

LEYE got Corner Bakery and Maggiano's to the point where they were able to spin them off to Brinker (Chili's, Romano's) in a stock deal a few years ago. Brinker has managed to promptly take Corner Bakery into the toilet, and hasn't done much good with Maggiano's either.