Galit is a Middle Eastern small plates restaurant in Lincoln Park, and you should make a reservation here immediately (maybe even before reading the rest of this caption). The food is across-the-board great - from the creamy hummuses (the one topped with brisket is a standout), to the light and crispy falafel, to a rich and spicy shakshuka. The space is large, and works well for groups, dates, and even dining solo at the long chef’s counter. In fact, the only problem with this spot so far is that you’re going to be tempted to try everything on the menu, and the costs can add up. But it’s worth it.

Cebu is a new Filipino restaurant in Wicker Park. The menu is short - with dishes like kinilaw, sisig, and chicken adobo, which are all delicious, and some fantastic housemade pandesal bread that you need to make sure is on the table. The small dining room is good for date night, or grabbing cocktails and a bite at the bar. Plus, there’s a back patio that we’ll be able to use at some point... eventually, when it’s warmer.

You can always count on two things in Chicago. One, there will be a snowstorm in April. Two, people will lose their sh*t whenever the Girl & The Goat group opens a restaurant. Cabra is the newest restaurant from that same team, on the roof of the Hoxton Hotel in the West Loop, and as expected, it’s already incredibly busy. It also serves some very good Peruvian-inspired food, and has a great view. The menu is mainly small plates, and the best things here are the ceviches (the bass with leche de tigre and the duck are stand-outs), a tender and spicy skewered beef heart, and the shrimp tacu tacu which comes on a delicious crispy rice cake. It’s a great spot for a fun date night, or a group dinner outside (as long as there’s no surprise snowstorm to deal with).

The original Carnitas Uruapan is a small counter-service spot in Pilsen that specializes in, yes, carnitas - and this is a (much) bigger location in Gage Park. It’s great for large groups, parties, or just dinner with a few friends who want to eat as much pork as humanly possible. You can order individual tacos, or just get belly, shoulder, or rib meat (our favorite) by weight. Whichever one(s) you choose will be juicy and delicious, and come with some fantastic housemade tortillas.

Mako is the fourth omakase-only sushi spot to open in Chicago over the past few months (and the third one in the West Loop). Instead of wondering why this is all happening at once, we’re just going with it, since these places are really good. Mako is from the same chef as Juno, and charges $175 for around 25 courses of delicious nigiri, sashimi, and small plates (like perfectly seared duck breast with enoki and duck sausage, and buttery sea bass with charred frisee and seaweed). Compared to the other new omakase-only spots, Mako is the largest (it seats 22 people, with 12 at the bar and the rest at tables), and dinner here is long. Plan on a very enjoyable three-hour experience.

This upscale Korean spot is one of the best new restaurants in West Town. You can do an $87, seven-course tasting menu, or go a la carte with options like tteokbokki with a quail egg, and kalbi with confit turnips and a carrot veloute. Either approach is a good one, and this is a great spot for a special occasion dinner (whether it’s date night or something with more of a group). Just don’t expect to walk in - it’s very busy right now, and books up fast.

Sometimes a place makes the Hit List for reasons beyond just the food. That’s what’s going on with Middle Brow Bungalow in Logan Square, which does have good food, but is also a fantastic place to hang. It’s a cute brew pub that’s decorated with tea lights and decorative plants in birdcages, and has long picnic tables are that are perfect for small groups. As far as the food goes, get anything with the housemade bread (like the toasts and spreads), plus the pepperoni pizza, and order plenty of their light and hoppy beers.

Landbirds is a casual counter-service spot in Logan Square that specializes in lollipopped Korean chicken wings and rice. The wings are delicious - twice-fried, crispy, and drizzled in a gingery sauce that’s sweet and not too sticky. There are four heat levels to choose from, but even the spiciest wings manage to keep a lot of flavor besides just “hot.” They also have fantastic masubi rice, made with spam, kimchi, and some of the wing sauce. It’s a meal on its own, but needs to be a part of your order even if you’re getting some chicken. Get dinner to-go, or come with a small group and BYOB.

Althea is an upscale vegan restaurant on the seventh floor of Saks Fifth Avenue downtown - which might not sound like a likely location for your next nice dinner out. But as long as you don’t sit in the front of the restaurant, you’ll have a great view of Michigan Avenue instead of a rack of John Varvatos pullovers. And the food here is creative, interesting, and really good. You can get dishes like a spicy and flavorful kung pao cauliflower, a rich “cacio e pepe” made with kelp noodles and cashew cheese sauce, and a vegan cheese plate with a macadamia nut pepper jack that’s way better than it has any right to be.

Bayan Ko is a small, BYOB Filipino and Cuban restaurant in Ravenswood that you should visit immediately. You’ll be eating things like croqueta tots (delicious crispy fried balls filled with ham hock), luglug noodles with perfectly cooked scallops, and a fantastic ropa vieja - and it’s the kind of place where the chef will probably come to your table and ask you how everything is (luckily your answer will be “great”). If there’s a special (like the rice porridge), don’t ask questions - just get it.

This is a very useful all-day spot in the Ukrainian Village. All Together Now is a restaurant and market, with a bar that works for dining solo and/or getting some work done, and also some tables for small groups. The food is delicious (for example, well-seasoned venison, and a juicy roasted chicken with black garlic bread pudding), and the space works well for everything from a casual weeknight dinner to just picking up some wine and cheese.

Kumiko is an upscale cocktail bar in the West Loop from the owners of Oriole. And this place is kind of like Oriole-lite, in a good way. Meaning it’s fancy, with attentive service, and has two seatings a night for a tasting menu at the bar (involving five courses of cocktails and food for $130). But there’s also an a la carte food and drink menu, which makes things more affordable. And even though the dishes are prettily plated and fancy-looking, it’s all still good drinking food - with small bites like shrimp tempura and a miniature pork belly bao that’s so good you’ll wish it was bigger.

It’s not quite clear at what point we decided to charge more money for food courts and call them “food halls,” but it probably doesn’t matter, since generally speaking, food halls seem to have better food. That’s definitely the case at Aster Hall, a new food hall inside the 900 N. Michigan building. It’s from the same group that owns Au Cheval, and it has 16 different places to eat and drink, including outposts of 3 Greens Market, Green Street Smoked Meats, and Small Cheval. The food is high-quality and reasonably priced - which is useful, because if you’re in this neighborhood, you’re probably spending a lot of money on something already. As a bonus, the upstairs area has a very nice view and is great for getting some work done.

If you’ve been to Luella’s Southern Kitchen in Lincoln Square, Luella’s Gospel Bird will feel familiar. It’s a casual, BYOB counter-service spot from the same owners, and like its sister restaurant, it serves delicious Southern food. The difference is that here, the focus is on buttermilk fried chicken. The menu is short, with just two styles of fried chicken (regular and “gospel,” which is topped with a spicy remoulade), a fried chicken po’ boy, and several sides. The chicken is juicy, with crunchy, crispy skin, and the sides (including greens and a creamy shell mac and cheese) are also very good.

We’re used to spending a good amount of money for quality sushi. But Kyoten, an omakase-only restaurant in Logan Square, is on another level price-wise. It’s $220 for 20 courses, putting it in the same category as the other most expensive tasting menu spots in Chicago. And as with those places, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth it. Our verdict: It definitely is. The omakase here involves a lot of delicious nigiri (made with heavily seasoned large-grained rice) - plus a number of creative small plates, like rendered beef fat poured over rice, or fried tilefish with caviar and creme fraiche. You’ll leave full, happy, and trying to figure out how soon you can justify your next visit.

Omakase Takeya is a very small, very quiet sushi bar in the basement of Ramen Takeya, a very busy, very loud ramen shop in the West Loop. Coming here is something you’ll definitely need to plan for - there are only seven seats, with two seatings a night, and the omakase is not cheap ($130 for 16 courses). But you won’t regret your decision. The constantly-changing menu of nigiri and Japanese small plates is fantastic, to the point that after the omakase is finished, you’ll probably want to order more sushi a la carte, even though you’ll be full.

This is the most understated of Chicago’s three new omakase-only sushi spots, but it’s still very much worth visiting. The space is simple, the atmosphere is quiet, and while there’s nothing too unusual on the menu, all of the sushi is expertly prepared. For $130 you get around 16 courses, and you probably won’t be full by the end, so plan to make use of the a la carte menu after that. Dinner here will be enjoyable, and watching the chef expertly slice fish will remind you why you never bothered trying out for Masterchef last year.

Wicker Park doesn’t have that many places where you can bring everyone from a toddler to a group of coworkers, and also eat some really good food. But now there’s Etta. This place serves delicious housemade pastas and pizzas, plus other dishes (like vegetables and pork shoulder) made in a wood-fired hearth. Inside, there are lots of booths and round tables that are perfect for groups, and overall it’s great for a special weeknight dinner - even one that happens to involve a high chair.

Good Measure feels different from all the big, tourist-filled spots in River North where DJs blast music all night - it’s a kind-of-divey bar with rockabilly skeletons and neon red lights instead of disco balls. But the atmosphere isn’t the only thing that makes this place stand out. There’s also an interesting menu of great bar food, ranging from Nashville hot fried duck livers to sunflower hummus to a fantastic cheeseburger with foie gras sauteed onions. This is the kind of spot that will make you immediately forget about the five bachelorette parties you passed by on your way here.