Keith Williams: My favorite places to eat in Chicago

Keith Williams is President/CEO of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., in Northbrook, IL, and a member of NFPA's Board of Directors. As we make plans to visit Chicago this June for our annual conference and expo, we asked Keith for some recommendations on where to eat in The Windy City. Here are his recommendations:

UL has been in Chicago for 115 years and we are very happy that you'll be visiting in June!

Chicago has many famous restaurants and one need never go hungry here. In addition to famous national restaurants such as Ruth's Chris, Mortons, Smith & Wollensky, Capital Grill, Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil, McCormick & Schmick, and Il Mulino, we also have excellent local restaurants such as Shaw's Crab House, Coco Pazzo, Kinzi Chop House, Gibsons, Gene & Georgettis, and Tru. Your choices are only limited by your tastes, your appetite, and your budget.

As we are in challenging economic times, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite affordable dinner spots, including a Chicago deep dish pizza place that is less famous but never the less delicious. 

• Quartino - 626 N. State Street. This is as close to real Italian food as I've had in Chicago. The atmosphere is casual and portions are well-sized to allow you to order and share several dishes. Their thin crust pizza is traditional Italian pizza and I love it.

• Lou Malnati's Pizza - 439 N. Wells. Perhaps you've seen the Food Network program "Throwdown with Bobby Flay"? He challenged Malnati's Pizza and Malnati's won. It may be less famous that Uno, Due, or Giordano's but the food is excellent and the wait may be more palatable.

• Phoenix Restaurant - 2131 S. Archer Ave. If there is a better place in Chicago for dim sum lunch I haven't found it. My wife Kaori and I have waited 45 mintues for a table many times on the weekends and it was always worth it. Weekdays are a bit less busy and they take reservations for bigger parties. Dinner is full menu and truly excellent. 

• Itto Sushi - 2616 N. Halstead. This is the oldest, and I think best/most authentic Japanese restaurant in town. While the name says 'sushi' the restaurant seems more like an "izakaya" and has a varied menu including tempura, terriyaki, fried oysters and many delicious pork and beef dishes.

• Chicago Firehouse Restaurant - 1401 S. Michigan Avenue. Admitedly this pushes the limit of 'affordable' but who can resist lunch or dinner in a firehouse built in 1905 to serve the Prairie Avenue community; a building that also served as a set for the movie 'Backdraft'?

If your budget allows then, by all means, please visit the many famous and more expensive restaurants in Chicago. My favorites for a special experience in a small space would be Les Nomades and RL Restaurant.  Neither of these is high profile and both are pricey but you'll enjoy them; as you will any of the restaurants listed here.

We'd like to hear from you! What do you think about Keith’s list? Where are your favorite places to eat in Chicago? It's easy to respond: just click on the "comments" link below, enter your name (just your first name is fine) and your e-mail address (this will NOT show in your post), and type your comments in the white box. Then select "post".

Comments

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Fish Tails offers a large selection of seafood dishes (as well as non-seafood dishes like a steak, hamburgers, grilled chicken, etc). Fish Tails (as their name surely indicates) features an amazing selection of fresh seafood - they have king crab, dungeness crab, and snow crab and, of course, lobster. They have several varieties of game fish (tuna, wahoo, etc..), and also offer scallops, shrimp, clams, and mussels - the menu is huge!