OKAY PEOPLE, IT HAS HIT. Remember how we reported on Serious Eats’s City Guides? And how Mike Gebert took on SE with his own Chicago guide? And then how we shamelessly fomented a rivalry between the SE team and Gebert?
So anyway, they have finally pubbed it. They chose the other Mike: Mr. Nagrant, perhaps Chicago’s most ludicrously prolific food writer (have we used that epithet for him before? We think we might have), takes us through his picks for the Windy City’s best.
The list is long, well-curated, and — we have to admit — quite agreeably even-handed between the high-profile and the under-the-radar. Case in point: Nagrant taps Smoque for the best barbecue, of course, but also calls out Honey 1 for their excellent ribs.
Nagrant concedes to SE overlord Ed Levine’s famous dislike of Chicago-style pizza by calling out his favorites for both deep-dish (Pizano’s, Pequod’s, and Morton Grove’s Burt’s) and non-deep-dish (Sicilian at Spaccanapoli, thin-crust at Vito & Nick’s).
And in the make-or-break category of hot dog, he plays it obvious (but deservedly) with Hot Doug’s, and crowns Jim’s Original king of the Polish.
For the rest of Nagrant’s takes, check out the whole list. There’s some good stuff on there, though oddly absent is a pick for best Italian beef.
Tune in later today for our side-by-side comparison of how the lists of the two Mikes compare to one another.
Serious Eats City Guide: Chicago [Serious Eats]
Serious Eats City Guides: It Grows Closer [previously]
Serious Eats Rounds Up The Best [previously]
