Photo courtesy of Chicago Restaurant Week
Chicago Restaurant Week returns on January 19, 2024- February 4, 2024, with lots of tasty opportunities to dive into the city’s award-winning food scene. Technically, it’s not just a week, it’s a 17-day eating extravaganza. The 17th annual event features over 300 restaurants across the city and suburbs with a wide range of cuisines and culinary options.
The prix-fixe set-up offers multi-course meals for $25 for brunch or lunch and either $42 or $59 for dinner, excluding drinks, taxes and tips.
The appeal of Chicago Restaurant Week is the chance to explore different restaurants, neighborhoods and cuisines at discounted prices. Diners will get to sample some of the city’s best restaurants for less than it would usually cost. Although not required, reservations are recommended because many restaurants are packed for Restaurant Week.
Here are some of our picks for this year’s offerings.
5215 S. Harper Ave.
The newest offering by James Beard award-winning chef Erik Williams, this festive, casual New Orleans spot will serve 1/2 muffulettas, onion rings and a non-alcoholic drink for the lunch special and seafood gumbo, half a chicken with housemade biscuits and red beans and rice for the $42 dinner.
464 N. Halsted
A beloved Chicago standby, this elegant Italian restaurant supplies an expansive menu of tasty dishes. The lunch features choices like meatballs in marinara or mussels for the first course, grilled salmon, goat cheese ravioli or wild boar pappardelle for the second and panna cotta or tiramisu for the third.
Bites Asian Kitchen + Bar
3313 N. Clark St.
This lively space always serves high quality at great prices but the lunch menu is filled with deals. Munch on choices like jumbo shrimp shumai or roast duck bao for the first course, Hawaiian fried rice or honey bourbon sesame chicken for the second course and tempura brownies for the third.
4801 N. Broadways St.
A beloved Ethiopian eatery with award-winning cuisine, Demera provides an array of classic dishes from the East African country and the restaurant week lunch menu features some great deals. The sambussa with cherry tomato salad for the first course and Demera Messob tasting platter of meat and veggies for the second course finished with red chai ice cream for the third is a winning combination.
Tanta Chicago
118 W. Grand Ave.
Tanta supplies an upscale take on Peruvian cuisine in a welcoming setting. Go for the flavor-packed dinner of Tiradito Chalaco (whitefish, calamari, mussels and Peruvian corn), roasted chicken salad with quail eggs, potatoes and avocado mousse, grilled steak and passionfruit cheesecake.
