Bill Daley / baiduhaiCrispy chicken bao topped with pickled napa cabbage is a starter at Saigon Sisters during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiThe open-faced schnitzel sandwich, on toasted rye with a dill, mustard, horseradish cream and a fried egg, is the best dish on the menu.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiFirst course menu options include a vividly colored blood-orange and fennel salad with baby arugula, duqqa and white dots of labne, at Sepia during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe clam chowder features a creamy broth filled with clams and Nueske's bacon chunks and perked up with a drizzle of red-chile sauce, accompanied by house-made oyster crackers.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiThe chocolate ganache has a modern feel, with two densely textured cubes of chocolate, crouton-size pieces of a brown butter shortbread cookie, stewed cherries, whipped cream and slivered fresh basil. At Saigon Sisters for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiA single plump raviolo stuffed with shredded duck sits over reduced duck jus and is topped with bits of Medjool date, flecks of rosemary and tiny flakes of grana padano, a second course option at Sepia during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiSpicy pepper relish adds just the right amount of heat to deviled eggs.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiJambalaya with black barley and sweet potatoes, topped with pea shoots, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiA winter salad with toasted rye berries, blood orange, grapefruit and sweet potato puree is the second course.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiPeeking out from a delicious piece of grilled pork collar are soft pieces of cheddar and corn spoonbread and collard greens and a soft dab of smoked apple butter, at Sepia during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiThe Chocolate & Pumpkin dessert involves cubes of dense chocolate and peanut butter ganache, dollops of pureed pumpkin and apple, and pumpkin ice cream, the whole garnished dramatically with curled ribbons of spiced meringue. The elements march down a line of granola.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiButtery, tangy apricot kolacky are served with a stiff sweet-sour cream.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiDessert options include a note-perfect key-lime pie topped with meringue, matched to a gin-and-tonic sorbet, served on a plate dusted with raspberry powder.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiOne of the starters, Gumbo z'Herbes, greens in a dark roux served with rice, had a satisfyingly deep, smoldering heat with a slight vinegary tang.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiA heaping pile of spatzle comes with broccoli, mushrooms, caramelized onions and more.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiCalas, ca. 1890 features sourdough rice fritters drizzled with chocolate and goat milk caramel, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley / baiduhaiA starter option at Saigon Sisters during Chicago Restaurant Week is a vegetarian spring roll stuffed with, among other items, firm slices of golden beets and avocado.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiDoughnuts, generously coated in vanilla sugar, come with Bavarian cream and currant marmalade.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiAdd the duck egg to the pork belly course, which also comes with kale and fried parsnips.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiPlin with La Tur (a tangy, three-milk cheese from Piedmont) and tossed in Parmesan-thyme butter, at Osteria Langhe for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiCornbread arrives nicely browned, topped with a nugget of butter, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiParisian gnocchi with bold garlicky pesto, plump stems of trumpet mushrooms and ribbons of shishito peppers make up a main course lunch option at GreenRiver for Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiGrains of farro are topped with plenty of vegetables, celery root, roasted butternut squash, pretty slices of chioggia beets, and flavored with Parmesan, at Cherry Circle Room for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe four-course dinner menu at Whitney's during Chicago Restaurant Week begins with a huge plate of fried Brussels sprouts with pancetta, and a little maple syrup for the barest hint of sweetness.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe Itasca chicken is an entire spatchcocked bird, loaded with garlic and oregano, served with crushed Yukon gold potatoes and sauteed broccoli, for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiDesserts include chocolate truffles, sitting in way too much whipped cream, at Whitney's during Chicago Restaurant Week.
phil vettel/chicago tribuneThe $44 dinner menu gets you upgrades on dishes, including shavings of black truffle, here showered over crespelle (crepes) with mushrooms, gorgonzola and leek fonduta, at Osteria Langhe for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiSweet meets bitter in the Negroni panna cotta, with blood-orange gelee and gin-Campari syrup, at Osteria Langhe for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiThe Cajun Boudin Balls, ca. 1955, featured two crisp patties of pork liver and rice sausage topped with sweet-sour bits of piccalilli relish, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiMain-course options include a flatiron steak with herb butter, or veal Milanese over pappardelle, at Whitney's during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiFor one of the starter options, burrata cheese is topped with a bit of smoked salmon, truffle and chopped onion, at RPM Italian during Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiFried chicken over red beans and rice, with a side of voodoo greens, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe other main course option is a hybrid of New England and New Orleans, an oyster po-boy served in a griddled brioche lobster-roll bun, with a sheaf of fried-oyster shoestrings and a saucer of lightly vinegared vegetables.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiWalleye teamed with shrimp, mussels and clams in a smoked saffron broth with fennel, spiked with red chil pepper and garnished with grilled garlic bread, at Cherry Circle Room for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiEggplant Parmesan at Vivo is a fine version of the dish with half inch thick slices breaded and fried, then served over fusilli in a tomato-basil sauce, during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Marissa Conrad / baiduhaiCan you see the slow-cooked egg hiding under this Brussels sprout salad?
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiOption two for the first course: Thick, unctuous pieces of cured mackerel over a refreshing melange of green olive, golden raisins and ciabatta breadcrumbs, at Sepia during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe signature Turtle salad, a finely chopped melange of kale, romaine, green and red cabbages, carrots, sunflower seeds and bacon, is mounded high on a salad plate and dressed judiciously with a sweet onion-citrus dressing, at Fox and Turtle, during Chicago Restaurant Week and beyond.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiThe Gateaux Na-Na, a dense and buttery pecan praline pie paired with vanilla bean ice cream, at Big Jones for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe second course is all about carbo-loading, with options that include two freshly baked, meltingly-soft pretzels, served with a spicy pimiento-cheese dip.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiOne dessert choice at Saigon Sisters, warm tapioca pudding with coconut milk, was pure old-fashioned comfort, and was garnished with slivers of crisp green apple, toasted coconut and golden raisins.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiOctopus bolognese over radiatore pasta, with just enough spicy pepper to get your attention, is one of the entree choices at RPM Italian during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiGrilled mahi-mahi gets an Asian treatment, the fish resting on a bed of shaved vegetables alongside Chinese black rice and a Thai-like sauce with peanut and ginger.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe second course is charcuterie, a generous serving of meats, cheeses, olives and bread, at Whitney's during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley / baiduhaiLamb luc lac features cubes of well-seared lamb in an oyster sauce paired with steamed rice and a salad of arugula, pickled red onions and sliced radishes at Saigon Sisters during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiA soft-boiled egg sits on a bed of mushroom ragu, accompanied by a thin beam of toast spread with truffle butter, a second course option at Sepia during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiThe other dessert choice is a devil's food cake with chocolate mousse, topped with dots of lemon curd and served with salted-caramel ice cream and a cocoa-nib tuile.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiDessert options at Sepia include a ginger-lime parfait, presented as an upright cylinder dripping with mango sauce, alongside a thin line of coconut crumble, offered during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiChicory salad in a spry vinaigrette topped with a poached egg and notably accented with chunks of pork belly bacon, at the Cherry Circle Room for Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiOne of Saigon Sister's main course options for Chicago Restaurant Week features cubes of pork belly, alternating layers of fall-apart-tender meat and meltingly soft fat, paired with a hard-cooked egg in a briny sauce. Pickled cabbage and steamed rice serve as foils for the saucy pork.
Phil Vettel/baiduhaiCaesar salad, one of three options for a starter on the lunch menu at Vivo, is a bright and light version with Parmesan crisps and anchovy vinaigrette (whole anchovies provided if you ask). It's part of the Chicago Restaurant Week menu.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiHot white chocolate and chocolate chip-loaded cookies for dessert at GreenRiver during Chicago Restaurant Week.
Bill Daley/baiduhaiWhite chocolate flan at May St. Cafe featured dense tiles of custard drizzled with caramel and garnished with strawberries.
Bill Daley / baiduhai
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Crispy chicken bao topped with pickled napa cabbage is a starter at Saigon Sisters during Chicago Restaurant Week.
ExpandBy Bill Daley
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Chicago Restaurant Week is just over one month away, and online reservations are being taken now for more than 350 participating restaurants. The event runs 14 days, beginning Jan. 27 and ending Feb. 9.
Click on this Chicago Restaurant Week link to see which restaurants are participating, check out available menus, and book your seats for lunch, dinner or, new this year, brunch at some spots. Prix fixe menus for brunch and lunch are $22, according to a press release from the event’s sponsor, Choose Chicago, and dinner menus are $33 and/or $44 – excluding beverages, tax and gratuity.
More than 570,000 diners were served during CRW 2016, according to the press release, which noted 66 new restaurants are participating in CRW 2017.
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Tickets are also available to Chicago Restaurant Week’s First Bites Bash, which will be hosted by Sarah Grueneberg, chef/partner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio. Early bird tickets are $95 per person and on sale through Dec. 20. Regular adult admission is $125 per person. A portion of the proceeds generated by ticket sales will benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
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