837 W. Fulton Street

Tel: 312-733-9555

The parlor game at Publican, a gastropub in the Fulton Market district, is to match cuisine and quaff—in this case, beer. Chef Paul Kahan, of the city's perpetually booked Avec and Blackbird, has created a Belgium-channeling spot with over 100 beers and a stable of glassware tailored to specific styles of brew. Off-duty chefs and Chicago food obsessives come to feast immoderately on upscale peasant food such as spicy homemade pork rinds, boudin blanc, and farmhouse stew made with pork and wild boar. This side of Brussels, there's no better place to wash down frites with a spicy Lambic beer.
Tip: Round up the troops on Sunday evenings for the $45 prix-fixe supper served family style (entrées, $9–$32).