Iconic Illinois Eats: Where to Eat the Greatest Foods in the Land of Lincoln
Here are the most-quintessential plates in the Prairie State — and the best spots to score them.
Prairie Plates
When it comes to iconic food, Illinois is more than gut-bomb pizza and salad-topped hot dogs. Thanks to a diverse population, it’s also a culinary odyssey waiting to be discovered, rife with Polish, Latino, Italian and Pakistani-inspired fare. So dig in and discover the iconic dishes of Illinois.
Illustration by Hello Neighbor Designs
Bacon-Wrapped Chorizo-Stuffed Dates
Though Chicago features a world-class dining scene with thousands of restaurants, the scene is always changing. Menus turn over daily, and hundreds of new dishes are invented. One constant, and maybe one of the most-identifiable dishes other than deep-dish pizza and hot dogs, is Avec’s bacon-wrapped date. It’s a Mediterranean play on the classic Devil’s on Horseback, with the pork factor upped by stuffing chorizo into the sweet, caramelized fruit. Instead of eating it dry on a toothpick in classic form, the dates swims in a spicy, tangy piquillo-pepper tomato sauce that makes diners swoon.
Photo courtesy of Sandy Noto
Go to: Avec
The Original Maid-Rite Sandwich
Though Maid-Rite was originally founded in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1926 by Fred Angell, generations of Illinoisans on their way to the quad cities or the historic Abe Lincoln sites in Springfield have made a special stop at a Maid-Rite. Most want the signature “original” Maid-Rite, a pillowy bun filled with zesty hot ground beef. Some people compare it to a sloppy joe, but Sloppy Joes are usually doused in a cloying tomato-based sauce that masks any meaty flavor, whereas the Maid-Rite’s rich beefiness is front and center, balanced by a tangy pickle or two.
Photo courtesy of Adam Reynolds
Go to: Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop
Deep-Dish Pizza
Go to: Pizano's Pizza and Pasta
Apple Fritter
When you think of apple fritters, you probably think about those tiny, glazed, dried hunks of pastry that, if you’re lucky, have maybe one apple chunk inside each. The Old Fashioned Donuts version, which is deep-fried, separates into moist gossamer threads when you tear it apart and has a whole apple’s worth of diced cinnamon-coated cubes nestled in its interior. It’s also Texas-sized and can feed a family if necessary.
Photo courtesy of Jason Little Photography
Go to: Old Fashioned Doughnuts
Hackney’s Original French-Fried Onions
Hackney’s Original French Fried Onions are sort of like a Bloomin’ Onion that’s been smashed into a tiny shoebox. Rather than a kind of tempura fry, the Hackney’s onion loaf has a mahogany-colored bready batter and features super-thin sliced Spanish onions, which make the whole thing deeply savory and craveworthy.
Photo courtesy of Jason Little Photography
Go to: Hackney's
Grand Champion Baby Back Ribs
Go to: 17th Street Bar & Grill
Hot Dog
Go to: Gene & Jude's
Pizza Pot Pie
If French onion soup, spaghetti Bolognese and a sausage-stuffed pot pie formed a trio, the pizza pot pie here would be their offspring. Winey mushrooms and fennel-kissed sausage mingle underneath a dome of bubbly cheese inside a thick, bready crust filled with deeply savory tomato sauce. In a city of deep dish, this is the deepest.
Photo courtesy of Jason Little Photography
Go to: Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co.
Cemita Atomica
Technically the cemita is a Mexican sandwich not seen outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. But Cemitas Puebla owner Tony Anteliz, who longed to eat them in Chicago between visits to his ancestral home, decided to re-create the sandwich in Illinois. His work is now a local legend, thanks to its crusty sesame-seeded bun baked in-house and stuffed with a pig’s worth of fried, breaded Milanese-style pork, guajillo-chile-slathered roast pork and a slice of ham. The meats are topped with a mozzarella-like Mexican cheese, chipotle-pineapple sauce, avocado and, when in season, a spicy-citrusy herb called papalo, grown in Anteliz’s family’s yard.
Photo courtesy of Jason Little Photography
Go to: Cemitas Puebla
The Horseshoe
The Horseshoe is a drunk-food dare dating to 1920, when Chef Joe Schweska of the Leland Hotel threw two thick-cut slices of bread on a sizzle plate (aka the anvil), topped it with a thick slice of horseshoe-shaped ham and french fries (the nails) and doused the whole thing in a white sharp-cheddar sauce inspired by Welsh rarebit. Today, any respectable restaurant in Springfield, Ill., serves a version, though they tend to include nuclear yellow cheese, frozen fries and any variety of meats — think corned beef, ground beef, Italian sausage, bacon or steak. There’s even a breakfast version where hash browns stand in for fries. D’Arcy’s Supreme, topped with ground beef, spicy cheese sauce, tomatoes, bacon and scallions, aka Irish nachos, is our winner.
Photo courtesy of Adam Reynolds
Go to: D’Arcy’s Pint
Garrett Mix
Go to: Garrett Popcorn
Maxwell-Style Polish Sausage
Go to: Edzo's Burger Shop
Garlic Rolls and Crab
Go to: Bob Chinn’s Crabhouse
The Cozy Dog
Go to: Cozy Dog Drive In
Smoked Salmon
Go to: Calumet Fisheries
Bistec/Steak Jibarito
Though found at pretty much every Puerto Rican joint in Chicago, the Jibarito — a sandwich featuring lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and meat stuffed in between two fried, salted green plantains (instead of bread) — isn’t really found in Puerto Rico itself. That’s because it was invented in the Windy City by Juan Figueroa of the now-defunct Borinquen, in Humboldt Park. Though the original home of the Jibarito is now closed, the best example is a garlicky, crisp number sold at The Jibarito Stop in Pilsen.
Photo courtesy of Jason Little Photography
Go to: The Jibarito Stop
Roast Beef Sandwich
There is always a line at Johnnie’s. But you wait in it. When the line moves along and you find yourself at the door of Johnnie’s, you do not open the door and hang out in the doorjamb. You keep that door closed until there’s enough room for you in the lobby, or risk being shamed. You also rehearse your order, because the hardscrabble dudes behind the counter don’t suffer the indecisive. You endure these rituals to earn the best thin-shaved roast beef topped with spicy and sweet pepper giardiniera (no, they do not offer cheese; this isn’t Philly), all stuffed into an airy white roll dipped in gravy in all of Illinois. Which is to say, when you do go to Johnnie’s, make sure you also know the lingo and order a “beef, sweet, hot and dipped.”
Photo courtesy of Mike Gebert
Go to: Johnnie's Beef
Pierogis
Illinois boasts over 1 million people of Polish descent. As a result, there is no shortage of examples of Polish cuisine, including stuffed cabbages, city chicken, kielbasa and those carb-tastic dumplings, pierogi. So many pierogi can be frozen, underseasoned, gluey and chewy. Smak-Tak, however, serves standard-setting pierogi, the kind of stuff your babcia, or Polish grandmother, would create. They are light, well-salted dumplings overflowing with potato and cheese, glistening in butter and served with a swirl of sour cream.
Photo courtesy of Mike Gebert
Go to: Smak-Tak
Pork Tenderloin
Go to: The Igloo Diner
The Mr. G
Go to: J.P. Graziano Grocery & Sub Shop
The Rainbow Cone
Go to: Original Rainbow Cone
Fried Chicken
Go to: White Fence Farm
Guacamole del Dia
Go to: Bien Trucha
Italian Lemonade
Go to: Mario's Italian Lemonade
Chicken Boti
Go to: Khan BBQ
