“Sorry, the kitchen’s closed.” If you’re a night owl you’ve heard that any number of times in Chicago, a city where, despite its renowned theater and music scenes, it’s suprisingly difficult to get fed after the show. This guide to late-night dining will help. From downtown to Devon, Maxwell Street to Chinatown and beyond, here’s where you can eat after midnight, seven days a week. Hours reflect when the kitchen closes; the TK icon indicates a 24-hour spot.
Bijan’s Bistro663 N. State | 312-202-1904
Squaring off against feuding family members at neighboring Jim’s Original, Express Grill (with the word original prominently plastered all over their new, similarly very yellow building) serves up a somewhat smaller lineup of items starring the smoked Polish sausage ($3.10, same as Jim’s) and its almost indistinguishable though slightly less garlicky twin, the Vienna Beef sausage. Any sandwich order gets you a “free” bag of fries, leaving you enough spare coin to purchase some bootleg CDs or tube socks from the sidewalk entrepreneurs set up by the serving windows.
$Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 2, Sunday-Thursday till 1 | Cash only
a Jim’s Original1250 S. Union | 312-733-7820
From the time you spot Tarzan-clad Superdawg and his coy wienie sweetie towering over Milwaukee Avenue to the moment you beckon a carhop with the flip of a switch, you know you’re at a tailfin-era original. The Superdawg itself is one of Chicago’s outstanding hot dogs, an oversize garlicky natural-casing wienie as plump as a 50s starlet. The Superburger—a thin patty fried to a crispy crust and dotted with tiny diced onions—might be even better. Both “lounge contentedly,” as the charmingly corny restaurant copy has it, in crinkle-cut fries; accompaniments include pickles and pickled green tomatoes (though not, on the dogs, ketchup). Spoon-thick shakes round out the four food groups.
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Happy Chef is unlikely to win any interior design awards—the tablecloths are made of Hefty bag plastic, the china is chipped, the teapots cracked—but service is friendly and the adventurous menu rewards exploration. Dim sum is served daily, and party-colored papers on the walls announce tank-fresh scallops, large-mouth fish, frog, eel, and tiny, sweet shrimp, sold by weight and served delicately steamed accompanied by a jalapeno-laced soy sauce. A clay pot of bony but delicious duck has hints of ginger, orange peel, and curry; watercress in bean-curd sauce is bright green and very fresh. For dessert try “crispy milk,” the liquid frozen and cut into balls, then batter fried and arrayed with Cantonese simplicity around a bowl of sugar.
