Illinois

bopNgrill on North Sheridan Road in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood has been serving Korean-American fusion burgers and rice bowls since it opened, building a menu around the creative crossover of Korean flavors — gochujang, kimchi, bulgogi — and the American burger format that earns a neighborhood restaurant its destination reputation in a city with an

Chicago Brauhaus appeared in Season 14, Episode 13 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, “Coast to Coast Chow,” which aired July 30, 2012, as a Chicago Lincoln Square German restaurant and beer hall serving the schnitzel, sauerbraten, and the Bavarian comfort food that made Lincoln Square Chicago’s historic German neighborhood before the demographic shifts of the

Irazu on North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood has been the city’s only Costa Rican restaurant since it opened in 1991, serving the casados, gallo pinto, and the home cooking of Central America that Chicago’s Costa Rican community and the curious eaters who found Irazu have been coming back for over 30 years.

Chilam Balam on North Broadway in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood has been one of the city’s most celebrated Mexican restaurants since chef Rodrigo Monterrey opened it, building a menu around authentic regional Mexican cooking that goes well beyond the Tex-Mex and generic Mexican-American cuisine that most Chicago neighborhoods had access to. It appeared in Season 12,