Can’t get enough of Chicago’s restaurant scene? Jennifer Olvera’s Food Lovers’ Guide to Chicago was just released to the public last week, and it offers an incredible wealth of information about hundreds of restaurant picks in just about every neighborhood in the city. The book feels kind of like a mix of LTHForum’s exhaustive restaurant catalog and Not For Tourists’ street-smart sensibility. Though listing them in alphabetical order makes for some strange bedfellows (Cemitas Puebla comes right before Charlie Trotter’s), the pairing is also a perfect example of what makes Chicago food scene so vibrant.
What makes this book different from resources like Zagat and the Michelin Guide — which both need to be updated yearly to stay relevant — is that it also features helpful sections on speciality stores. Butchers, fishmongers, and farmers’ markets tend to open and close with less regularity than restaurants, making this a good guide to have in paper form.
That said, we most enjoyed the recipe section, which includes picks from some of the most respected chefs around town. Rick Bayless, Bill Kim, Giuseppe Tentori, Chris Pandel, and Paul Kahan all offer delectable sounding dishes, which we guarantee will never, ever go out of date.
Purchase your copy of Jennifer Olvera’s Food Lovers’ Guide to Chicago over at Amazon.
