LeMunche

Pizza. Giordanos if you like sauce and cheese. Beggars if you like cheese and toppings. pizza.

A dipped Al's beef sandwich with provolone and hot peppers

ILuvParis

As a Chicagoan, I would mimic something someone above saidk

No!
Nol
and God, no.

rjque

Furious Spoon (ramen) in Wicker Park is one of my new favorites and I regularly eat there in shorts and a t-shirt (well, a polo). Also in the same neighborhood: Big Star Taco.

chgoeditor

Mmmm...Big Star. Though hard to say at/under $20 if you enjoy an adult beverage with your meal. (Actually, that's true at any of these spots.)

CMK10

Appreciate these suggestions. I have an upcoming trip to Chicago and either of these will make for a nice lunch on my way downtown from ORD ^

rjque

That's certainly true! Though I think you can do two tacos and an adult beverage and sneak in under $20 at Big Star.

Furious Spoon just added delicious takoyaki to the menu. That, a ramen and a beer will come in at around $20.

linglingfool

Their mezcal margarita is the best in the city, IMO, and never gives me a hangover.

Also, had dinner around the corner at Cumin over the weekend -- can't get enough of the boneless tandoori goat.

carsnoceans

Is Furious Spoon anything like Slurping Turtle? Slurping Turtle is an absolute disgrace to anything food.

Although, heard good things abt Big Star. I prefer to get my Mexican food from Pilsen. Not quite as classy and lacks the atmosphere but food is ridiculous.

rjque

No, it's much better than Slurping Turtle. I think Slurping Turtle is fine for the type of American Japanese food that is generally on offer in Chicago, though it's pretty expensive for what it is. Furious Spoon more closely resembles the type of ramen you might get on the streets of Tokyo.

chgoeditor

The boyfriend and I have done an extensive ramen survey in the last six months, though we haven't yet made it to Furious Spoon or the new spot that opened last week on Diversey. My ranking would be:

Top tier:
Wasabi
Ramen Takeya
Slurping Turtle
Santouka

Mid-tier:
Strings
Ramen San

Bottom of the bunch:
Acadia
Yusho
High Five

Yusho topped the Serious Eats Chicago ramen bracket, but I think that's more of a function of social media than the actual quality of their ramen. Though I love their ramen battles with guest chefs (last night's featured the Tom Van Lente of Big Star and Jonathan Zaragoza of Birrieria Zagaroza). Both Acadia and Yusho's ramens were the blandest things imaginable...how does a chef not spot that? High Five might be worth a return trip if it didn't involve a 2+ hour wait (particularly when you're waiting surrounded by the smokey awesomeness of Green Street Smoked Meats). They also lost points because they don't serve tonkotsu. Ramen San is good but not worth the cost.

chgoeditor

Big Star's just steps from the Damen blue line stop. (Not sure about Furious Spoon's proximity.) If not Big Star, then consider Dove's Luncheonette, which is right there, too.

toomanybooks

A few others:

Piece is a pretty good pizza/brewpub-type place.

If you have a car and are a beer lover, an outing to Three Floyds in Munster, IN (maybe an hour's drive) is not to be missed. People travel here from overseas. Many times rated #1 or #2 brewery in the world. Their Zombie Dust is considered by many (including me) to be probably the #1 American Pale Ale in the world; simply perfection IMO. They have quite good food. Don't go late on the weekend or you will never get in. And they are a bit a-holish, but what can you do?

Calumet Fisheries at 95th (at the bridge jumped in the movie "Blues Brothers") has really good onsite-smoked fish/shrimp. Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" did a piece on it (can find online).

chgoeditor

Went to the newly opened Jinya Ramen Bar on Diversey on Wednesday during what was their soft opening. I give it a "meh" rating and put it on the bottom of the mid-tier. It wasn't bad, per se, just didn't wow us. But given that it's within walking distance, I suspect we'll go there from time to time.

it's a franchise operation with about a dozen locations in the US, and I do wonder if they're making their ramen broth fresh in the stores or heating up some mass produced ramen. If it's the latter, I'd say it's not worth going out of your way for. If it's the former, then the broth has at least the potential for improvement.

Sweet Willie

agreed, Pilsen & elsewhere. I just can't see the tacos at Big Star being superior.When Mitsuwa has a takoyaki vendor show up I'm in heaven. Looks like I'll have to get to Furious Spoon sometime, love takoyaki.

carsnoceans

Since we are talking about Pilsen... Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan. Really no frills (NL looks classy compared to this place). But damn good cabecabeza, lengua and chivo tacos.

Is fat rice any good? I tend to shy away from places winning Yelp popularity polls.