John's Food and Wine

John's Food and Wine runs on a hybrid model that shouldn't work as well as it does: order at the counter like a fast-casual spot, then settle into a real table and flag a second glass of wine through a code at your seat. The service is a little strange to learn. The food answers any doubt fast.

The kitchen is doing seasonal American cooking with more ambition than the counter setup suggests. Beets get a yuzu pistachio vinaigrette instead of a predictable vinegar-and-goat-cheese treatment. Pork chops arrive with quince and black walnuts, not the usual apple. Fried branzino turns into something closer to grown-up fish sticks, dressed with kimchi ketchup and celery root slaw, and the lumache with shaved truffles is small but genuinely excellent.

This is a Lincoln Park restaurant that treats a casual price point as no excuse for lazy plates. National recognition has followed, and Michelin has selected it two years running. None of that is the reason to go. The reason is a menu that keeps making small, smart decisions instead of obvious ones.