John Kessler

Though I am fond of the thoughtful Cuban-Filipino tasting menu that Lawrence Letrero and Raquel Quadreny (pictured above) have created for their flagship Bayan Ko, I absolutely crush on the...

While the Archer Heights original remains closed indefinitely following a fire, this railroad car of a sophomore effort is still going strong. Jalisco-style birria, a.k.a. stewed goat, is what you’ve...

Say! I do like jibaritos! And I would eat them on a boat, and I would eat them with a goat. Omar Cadena, who owns this fantastic dining installation — essentially a...

The thing about Chinese dumplings is that you don’t want to include them as part of a balanced meal but rather to stuff yourself silly. You declare that you can’t...

When executive chef-owner Sangtae Park opened this restaurant nearly three years ago, he was importing an idea that had taken root in his native Korea: that of a beef omakase...

Nhu Lan’s Vietnamese menu, illuminated on screens behind the counter, lists more than 20 varieties of banh mi sandwiches, and the one labeled No. 1 gets top billing for good...

A thin line separates timeless from tired, and this Gold Coast institution never crosses it. The servers wear white jackets, give caramel-voiced spiels they’ve been honing for nearly four decades,...

At $98, the omakase at this lively, simply turned-out restaurant is one of the city’s great bargains. Sushi chef Timmy Chen (pictured above) offers 15 pieces of memorable nigiri bookended...

Red-sauce Italian restaurants, even the chains that I’ll duck into on a road trip or in an airport, always speak to my American soul. In fact, I’m so ready to...

Most cities have one place that serves as the unofficial country club restaurant for people who don’t actually belong to a country club, and this sidecar to the Mag Mile’s...