While the more formal Spiaggia is one of the restaurants that helped turn the Gold Coast into an haute buffet line, its Trumpified dining room (all soaring marble columns and tipsy, tilting topiary sculptures) and stratospheric prices (more than $20 for one wood-roasted sea scallop) mean you have to be in a dressy mood. If you're not, the better option is just across the hall at Café Spiaggia, where the pizzas and pastas come relatively bargain-priced and the walls are painted with frescoes of Renaissance noblemen decked out in pageboys and pillbox hats. If they all seem to be eyeing your dinner, that's no surprise: The prosciutto and arugula pizza flaunts a cracker-thin crust, and a clean toss of pasta, olive oil, poached tuna, and capers makes for one of the best lunches in town.

Open Sundays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5:30 to 9 pm; Mondays through Thursdays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5:30 to 9:30 pm; Fridays and Saturdays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5:30 to 10:30 pm.

Celebrity chef and local hero Charlie Trotter's shrine to "New American" cooking is still the hottest dining ticket in Chicago. Foodies from all over gladly shell out $145 per person to sample his seven-course tasting menus made with globally available organic ingredients. Plan way ahead for a table at this Lincoln Park town house (three months for weekends). Sample dishes include poached skate wing with red curry, 20-hour braised fennel, razor clams and herb oil, lamb loin with quinoa and black cardamom mole, and organic pears with caramelized endive and burnt-hickory-syrup ice cream. Trotter still tends the stoves, despite his culinary fame (including seven awards from the James Beard Foundation); watch him in action from the Kitchen Table (one of the most coveted spots in the house—it's set right inside the kitchen). And be prepared to linger; dinner here can take up to three hours. Sample the cuisine without the cost at Trotter's to Go.

Seatings Tuesdays through Thursdays from 6 to 6:30 pm and 9 to 9:30 pm, Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

Local favorite Shawn McClain is known for tinkering with tradition. His Spring adds a subtle Asian accent to seafood, and the homely vegetable won a glamorous makeover at his Green Zebra, with dishes like roasted spaghetti squash served with crispy chestnuts and savory yogurt. But it's Custom House that truly earns the title of new wave standard bearer. The Printers' Row kitchen establishes its heartland heart quickly with a wall of Wright-like limestone that's both homespun and chic. The same double-barreled sensibility drives the menu, ­an homage to the sheer glory of meat that includes steak, of course, but also a juicy roasted Berkshire pork chop with an unexpected side of grilled plums, and braised short ribs that are so tender they slide off the bone if you look at them wrong, or right.

Open Mondays through Thursdays 11:30 am to 10 pm, Fridays 11:30 am to 10:30 pm Saturdays 5 to 10:30 pm, and Sundays 5 to 9 pm.

Celebrity chef David Burke's Primehouse (part of the James Hotel) is a playful and more sophisticated interpretation of the classic steak house formula. Translation: You won't find any iceberg lettuce salads or gloppy vegetable side dishes here, but rather crab cakes encased in layers of thin Japanese pretzels and an impressive raw bar. Nor will you find wet-aged steaks, like you do at nearly every classic steak house in town. Every cut here is dry-aged in the restaurant's Himalayan salt–lined drying room, a flavor-enhancing process that gives the meat a subtle mineral flavor. But that's not all. In characteristic headline-making fashion, Burke bought his own 2,500-pound premium Black Angus bull—­named Prime, naturally—­to be the resident stud/progenitor for all the future steaks here. Over-the-top? For sure. Tasty? You bet.

Open Mondays through Thursdays 7 am to 3 pm and 5 to 10:30 pm, Fridays and Saturdays 7 am to 3 pm and 5 to 11:30 pm, and Sundays 7 am to 3 pm and 5 to 10 pm.

Locals and tourists line up for gourmet Mexican fare at these lively River North twins (Topolobampo's the upscale one). Rick and Deann Bayless have been wowing diners with their pioneering new takes on tacos, beans, and sauces since 1987. The dishes, all made with fresh organic ingredients, include made-to-order tortilla chips with two salsas, pato pibil (slow-roasted duck cooked for hours in banana leaves with sour orange and achiote), and arroz a la Tumbada (a brothy Mexican paella of fresh Florida shrimp, Dungeness crab, scallops, and baby octopus simmered with roasted tomato salsa). Don't miss the fabulous raw bar, Saturday brunch, or Topo's $75, five-course tasting menu. A local crowd also gathers for the wide selection of margaritas and Mexican beers. Not surprisingly, the Baylesses have built a mini empire around their award-winning cuisine; you can buy cookbooks, sauces, and more in their on-site stores.

Frontera Grill open Tuesdays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5:20 pm to 10 pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm, Fridays 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm, Saturdays 10:30 am to 2:30 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm.

Topolobampo open Tuesdays 11:45 am to 2 pm and 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11:30 am to 2 pm and 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm, Fridays 11:30 am to 2 pm and 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm, Saturdays 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm.

Perhaps Graham Elliot Bowles's stint at the Peninsula Hotel's relatively formal Avenues restaurant created a pent-up need for culinary whimsy, but whatever the backstory, the chef's eponymous restaurant in River North's Gallery District is playful enough to verge on giddy. Blasting rock music, crayon-colored light fixtures, a clubby bar and lounge, and the exposed bricks and beams of this former printing warehouse set the tone for a menu full of gastronomic gags and puns. Emblematic of the house style (which Bowles dubs "bistronomic") is the foie gras lollipop rolled in watermelon and strawberry Pop Rocks, and a drumstick-size buffalo chicken wing crowned with a foam made from Budweiser. Entrées, such as braised pork with cheddar grits, collard greens, and redeye gravy, are more restrained (some dishes don't need a punch line). Main course prices hover around $30, a price point that tends to draw the expense-account crowd; the fairly reserved demeanor of the business set is at odds with the restaurant's otherwise rowdy vibe. —Raphael Kadushin

Open Mondays through Saturdays 5 to 10:30 pm.

While eating deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza with a fork is an equally novel experience at Gino's East and Giordanos, Chicago's two other famous pizza places, what sets Lou Malnati's apart is the spicy-sweet sauce and sausage. According to local lore, Grandpa Malnati started making pies here in the 1940s, and his family has been guarding his top-secret crust and sausage recipes ever since. It's served the family well: You'll now find more than 24 Lou Malnati's in Chicagoland. Still, there's no need to hop a cab; this centrally located, casual joint, with its red-and-white checkered tablecloths and posters of Ryne Sandberg, is as Chicago as it gets.

Open Mondays through Thursdays 11am to 11pm, Fridays and Saturdays 11am to midnight, Sundays noon to 10 pm.

A "schwa" is an unstressed vowel represented by a reversed and inverted letter E, but the restaurant's literary reference is more than a little misleading. From its location on a grimy thoroughfare on the city's northwest side to its decidedly unpretentious ambience, there is nothing fussy about this tiny, 26-seat bistro. For starters, there's no wine list: Like an increasing number of trendy boutique restaurants in town, Schwa is a BYOB joint. Unlike a lot them—BYOB or otherwise—it has Michael Carlson, who was recently voted one of the country's top chefs, in the tiny kitchen. And who cares if the service can be perfunctory and the hip-hop music is often turned up a little too loud? Carlson's artfully displayed entrées—which in the past have included seitan with roasted peanuts, Chinese broccoli, and mushrooms; and sablefish with pineapple, macadamia, taro root, and prosciutto—are so good we'd eat them on the curb in front of the tire shop across the street.

Open Tuesdays through Saturdays 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm.

This tranquil Bucktown restaurant, situated in a converted brownstone, is a respite from Chicago's restaurant wars. Neither the decor (vaguely Scandinavian), nor the waitstaff (quietly efficient), nor the crowd of arty foodies detract from chef Takashi Yagihashi's elegant East-meets-West cuisine. Yagihashi stuffs summer rolls to bursting with Gulf shrimp and house-smoked salmon, and adds a rousing dressing made with capers, golden raisins, and mustard. Sliced pork belly is served on pillowy buns; tofu is wrapped around Alaskan halibut and paired with a fricassee of Japanese mushrooms; and the cocoa ginger cake makes for a big, exuberant finish.

Open Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:30 to 10 pm, Fridays 5:30 to 10:30 pm, Saturdays 5 to 10:30 pm, and Sundays 5 to 9:30 pm.

There are literally hundreds of places in town that serve respectable Chicago-style hot dogs: char-grilled Vienna beef topped with mustard, chopped onions, bright green relish, a sliced tomato, peppers, a pickle spear, and a few dashes of celery salt on a steamed Rosen's poppy-seed bun. But none are tastier, or served by a more shockingly rude staff, than at this beloved shack in Lincoln Park. The service here is reminiscent of Seinfeld's famous soup Nazi—and probably best experienced after a few drinks. It's all in good fun and part of the shtick, but expect to be publicly and mercilessly humiliated if you don't order promptly and decisively.

Open Sundays through Thursdays 11 am to 4 am, Fridays and Saturdays 11am to 5 am.