Best Chicago Restaurants from Triple D

Nothing says Chicago like a classic dog, but Guy Fieri is here to tell you there is far more than hot dogs in this stellar food town. From German classics to Southern comfort food, the Windy City has it all. So hold onto your hat (literally) as Guy takes us on a tour of some of the most delectable restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Located on the corner of Canal and Roosevelt, just minutes from University of Chicago and the Field Museum, the 24-hour diner White Palace Grill has been serving up vintage diner delights since 1939. Guy says the only change has been new fans constantly coming in the door! Even with a 24/7 routine, owner George Liakopoulos insists on a menu that's 99-percent scratch made. You can get breakfast, lunch and dinner—country fried steak to chicken and waffles, hot dogs and burgers, meatloaf and fried catfish—any time of day. When Guy visited, head cook Jose Cervantes shared their recipe for classic liver and onions, made by coating a pounded-out beef liver in flour and pan-frying it; it's served with sauteeded onions and freshly-made mashed potatoes (they use red potatoes), all topped with homemade gravy.

Even the baked beans are smoky at this aptly named Chicago barbecue restaurant. The meaty menu makes it hard to decide, but ribs — available as baby backs or meaty St. Louis style — are especially excellent, coated in a Memphis-style dry rub and glazed with a sweet, tangy barbecue sauce.

This Belgian-style Andersonville bar doesn't do regular old pub food. Instead of wings and burgers, they serve incredible mussels and charcuterie, with a lengthy menu of craft beers.

Thin-crust pizza may be blasphemy in Chicago, but the Original Vito & Nick's thin-crust pizza has been winning over locals since 1932 with toppings like Chicago-style Italian beef or runny egg

DMK goes beyond the burger with clever updates to the classic. Top grass-fed patties with Reuben ingredients — pastrami, sauerkraut and cheese — or New Mexico's Hatch green chilies and smoked bacon. The restaurant can also swap out the beef patty for alternative fillings. Guy loved the bison burger with blueberry barbecue sauce, goat cheese and marinated onions, and the salmon burger with Thai curry mayonnaise and Asian coleslaw.

Music is never far from mind at this bar: In addition to a rocking soundtrack, nearly all the burgers are named for bands. Try the Slayer: a bunless patty on a pile of fries, topped with chili, andouille sausage, cherry peppers, onions and cheese.

What started out as a traveling rig, morphed into an award-winning barbecue restaurant helmed by self-taught pit master Willy Wagner. The secret to The Tonk's Memphis style 'cue is their dry rub made up of over 17 different spices including paprika, chili powder, sage, garlic and a variety of peppers.

"If a pizza met a sandwich and had a baby," is how co-owner Anthony Pinello describes this Sicilian staple at Rex Italian Foods. House-made dough is topped with mozzarella cheese, cooked prosciutto, pepperoni and deep-fried peppers, heated in the oven and crisped on a panini press. "It's like a real-deal Italian style ham and cheese," Guy says.

This Caribbean Joint is a taste of Belize in the heart of Chicago with authentic dishes like Hudut Baruru with Takini (fish soup with a side of mashed plantains) and fish empanadas. For the empanadas, a large cut of buffalo fish is cooked in a broth with vegetables, garlic, paprika and black pepper, shredded and wrapped in homemade, pressed masa and deep-fried until they're perfectly browned and crisp.