Reader's Best Of Chicago Issue Rates Every Single Food Category Imaginable

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jun 20, 2013 3:40PM

Every year, we marvel at the amazing comprehensiveness of the Reader's Best of Chicago issue's Food and Drink section. It means that there's room to give out a lot of awards, plus it means that the Best Of issue goes into our magazine rack to become our bible for the next 12 months. Plus, we tend to agree with their choices, especially on food.

For instance, Found. Found is one of our favorite restaurants to open in the past year, and has been getting accolade after accolade. The Reader may have won the best award award, naming them "Best Everything."

As always, the list of poll-driven categories is insanely comprehensive. It includes everything from Best Fancy Restaurant (Alinea) to Best Falafel (Sultan's Market), plus such enlightening rarities as Best Cheesemonger (Pastoral), Best Barrista (Tim Ashorian at Belleza Gelato Caffe) and, the question we get asked most often, Best Cheap Date (Big Star or Irazu). Check out the whole list and put it on your refrigerator.

The Critics Picks are always more notable for their category names than for their choices, since the categories are tailored such that there could be only one winner. Where else could you find an award for "Best Brewery with A Bright Tank Named Waffles?" Yup, gotta be Off Color. It's like a foodie quiz show. Try it with me: "Best Use of a Smoker for Something Other Than Meat?"

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Duh, smoked hummus at the Fountainhead.

Plus, we raise a glass to "Best Dessert Trend, Haters be Damned," because we still love doughnuts, and to "Best Urban Farmer" because La Manda Joy, founder of the Peterson Garden Project, is an angel of vegetables. Check out the whole list, which, as usual, is one of the most creative things in Chicago's food media scene. Well, and in every other media scene, but we mostly care about the food.