FOODITOR’S TOP FIVE RESTAURANTS IN LINCOLN SQUARE:

1. Elizabeth
2. Gather
3. Aroy Thai
4. Baker Miller Bakery & Millhouse
5. Isla Pilipina

FOODITOR’S CURATED LIST OF THE BEST RESTAURANTS IN LINCOLN SQUARE:

AMERICAN

Baker Miller Bakery & Millhouse— Bakery/coffeehouse which mills its own grain, bakes natural pastries and hearty, seeded breads (which you can toast at your table), and best of all serves amazing oatmeal and grits (also milled in-house).

Fork— Family restaurant making big comfort food like chicken and waffles with farm to table ingredients.

Gather— Neighborhood farm to table restaurant with a hopping vibe at family style tables at both dinner and weekend brunch.

Luella’s Southern Kitchen— Dressed-up soul and Cajun comfort food in a Lincoln Ave. storefront.

Over Easy Cafe— Likable cafe featuring creative takes on breakfast and lunch classics.

River Valley Ranch & Kitchens— Natural, locally-focused breakfast to dinner cafe from the farm familiar for its locally-grown canned goods at many area farmer’s markets.

ASIAN

Aroy Thai— Top-tier Thai restaurant, with a special more authentic Thai menu alongside the regular menu; hearty, eye-openingly sour Beef Ball and Tendon soup recommended (if you can take it).

Da Rae Jung— Hole in the wall family style Korean restaurant with very friendly owner, good at dolsot bibimbop and soups (like mool naeng myun, served cold).

Dancen— Late night Korean dance club serving authentic grilled Korean drinking foods.

Isla Pilipina— Long-running Filipino restaurant in a strip mall has really come into its own under the second generation, packing in Filipinos and non- for flavorful, comfy food from lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) to pancit noodles and lechon kawali (crispy pork belly).

Opart Thai House Restaurant— One of the most popular Thai restaurants (with a satellite location in the South Loop), though I wouldn’t rank it at the top in Lincoln Square except for one great signature dish, Tiger Cry beef.

Rainbow Cuisine— Excellent. sunny sitdown Thai restaurant from former cooks at Spoon, who brought along dishes like the crispy, lime-soaked naem kao thawt.

San Soo Gab San— One of the better Korean barbecue places in town, especially during the after-midnight hours, when it has little competition for soaking up alcohol. Formerly renowned for surly service, after a remodel it’s almost freakishly friendly, at least for those who remember the old one.

Spoon Thai— Long one of the top Thai restaurants in the city, Spoon seems to have slipped a bit since the previous cooks opened Rainbow Cuisine, but it’s still cranking out respectable versions of many dishes from Isaan sausage to hoa mok (catfish custard) and duck curry, as well as excellent Thai fried chicken.

EUROPEAN

Bistro Campagne— Pleasant French bistro in a romantic Arts & Crafts-style building and garden.

Caffe Slasticarna Drina— Sunny Bosnian cafe serving coffee and desserts and a few lunch dishes, including cevapcici and bureks.

Famous Dutch Pancake Huis— Breakfast cafe specializing in crepe-like Dutch pancakes, served with various sweet and a few savory toppings, which may seem small for some American breakfast-goers. Formerly Pannenkoeken Cafe.

Jibek Jolu— Chicago’s only known Kyrgyz restaurant, serving plain but flavorful food similar to Russian food.

FINE DINING

Elizabeth— Innovative, defiantly quirky tasting menu restaurant featuring the often foraged and preserved midwestern cuisine (and philosophy) of chef Iliana Regan.

Goosefoot— Intimate, high-end tasting menu restaurant run by husband and wife chef and hostess team Chris and Nina Nugent, favoring delicate plates of luxe ingredients like truffle foam.

ITALIAN

Caro Mio— Friendly Italian-American joint (run by Mexicans) which rambles pleasantly over a couple of buildings, cranking out easy-to-like versions of standard things like lasagna, gnocchi and Chicken Vesuvio.

Due Lire— Authentic neighborhood Italian spot serving nicely simple pasta and meat dishes; good wine list of reasonably priced bottles.

Jimmy’s Pizza Café— One of the very best New York style pizzas in town comes from this corner joint doing both whole pies and slices, plus garlic knots and—who knows why—New Orleans-style beignets.

List compiled by Michael Gebert, 10/4/15.