Illinois

Explore the State One Destination at a Time

One size certainly doesn’t fit all with a statewide list. The visit to Chicago requires one type of search, whereas a weekend in Springfield, Galena, Peoria Heights, Rockford, or O’Fallon requires another approach. Such an approach allows the user to clearly define what is good about particular destinations and what can be experienced in those destinations.

This resource should be used for any occasion, be it vacation planning, friends meeting up, family dining, or any other purpose. Every destination will offer the user a more precise starting point in his or her search, thus allowing the user to have less generic search results and a more precise comparison of options.

Local Flavor Changes as You Travel

Deep-dish pizza, tavern pizza, Italian beef, steakhouses, chefs, and endless varieties of cuisines from around the world make Chicago known for food. However, the food variety is definitely not limited to one city, of course. Suburban areas, college towns, riverside communities, and small downtown areas all have something of their own to offer.

Springfield is known for its famous horseshoe sandwich with bread, meat, french fries, and cheese sauce served on the open face. Galena stands apart with its historical background and independent restaurants, which seem perfectly fine in the context of a two-day visit. In other parts of the state, diners, barbecue restaurants, bakeries, taverns, bistros, and farm-to-table restaurants provide many places to try out.

These themes are reflected by the official tourism resources of the state as well. It is important to keep this diversity in mind while deciding where to go. Sometimes the choice will be an elegant restaurant with excellent service. At other times, it will be a family-run diner or even a local dish that made the area famous.

Search by Cuisine, Mood, and Occasion

Not many people search for their food exactly in the same way. One day you might find yourself craving a steak or seafood, and on other occasions Mexican, Italian, Indian, Japanese, barbecue, pizza, or just simple American cuisines will fit better. And brunches, fast lunches, dates, dinners with families, business dinners, or just celebration dinners have their own requirements.

The Community Roundup is designed to help you make the right choice. You can browse through restaurants according to the criteria of cuisine, atmosphere, price, setting, and the occasion you go there instead of trying to find out who has the highest rating.

Hidden gems should also find their places next to famous restaurants. The small café, bakery, local neighborhood restaurant, or even a new trend restaurant driven by a chef can provide you with much more pleasure than a popular destination, especially when the whole experience seems related to its environment.

Go Beyond the Most Famous Stops

Often the most helpful research takes place away from popular tourist spots. Places like Naperville, Aurora, Joliet, Evanston, Elgin, Decatur, Crystal Lake, Lombard, Long Grove, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana all have unique dining opportunities, ranging from the tried-and-true to the avant-garde.

Road trips bring a different perspective to the state. Places along Historic Route 66, riverside towns, small county towns, and suburbs make for great dining locations, adding another dimension to road travel. As such, an “eat first” guide is just as useful to locals as to tourists who wish to go a step further than the closest franchise restaurant. Illinois tourist brochures emphasize their Route 66 offerings, farm-to-table food, and less-known eating locations in addition to Chicago.

If you already have your destination in mind, just go directly to its page. However, if you have some flexibility in your plans, take some time and browse other communities and see which one fits your needs best for dining.

A Better Starting Point for Your Next Meal

The concept of this category is easy and straightforward: help people to find the desired restaurant easily. Rather than directing users through the general state guide, the category allows getting straight into the recommended restaurants depending on the actual destination.

Begin with picking the area of interest first and then narrow your options by taking into account what you need for the day. Whether you would like to have a casual lunch, an elegant dinner, a traditional dish of the region, a restaurant for children, or the best restaurants of Illinois for your visit, pick a destination from the list below.