Alinea, which means “beginning of a new kind of thinking” is located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood just steps from the Steppenwolf Theatre. Alinea is in a modest gray brick building with no external signage other than it’s street number.  There is no bar, no lobby and only seats around 70 people in its 2 levels. The interior décor and table settings are purposely minimalistic. They don’t play music in the dining room, to keep your attention focused completely on its masterful food preparation.

In 1963 Dick Portillo invested $1100 (around $10,000-$11,000 today) in a 6 x 12 trailer and named it “The Dog House” in Villa Park, IL 2 miles west of Chicago. What started with hot dogs out of a trailer, has grown to the establishment they are today. With over 70 locations nationwide, Portillo’s is a fun and exciting destination for some delicious Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago Dogs and their famous chocolate cake and chocolate cake shakes.

If you are not familiar with Chicago, you might ask...”What are the Goat Restaurants”? They are a group of restaurants in Chicago, that comprise of Girl & The Goat, Duck Duck Goat, The Little Goat Diner and Cabra (Spanish for Goat) which are Co-Owned by Chef Stephanie Izard. Stephanie was the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 4 in 2009 and the Iron Chef Gauntlet in 2017 against Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and Masaharu Morimoto, which launched her into fame as a celebrity chef. Her last name Izard is a type of Pyrenees Mountain Goat in France, hence the Goat in all her restaurant names