It’ll take travel guide books a while to catch up with all the restaurants and bars closures caused by the COVID lockdowns. To help fill that gap, here are the best places I’ve ate and drank at during my 2021 travels. I’ll update this after each trip, so keep it bookmarked.
- Chicago
- NoodleBird at Fat Rice, 2957 W Diversey Ave (at N Sacramento), Logan Square — The lower price-point, post-pandemic reincarnation of Fat Rice, a perennial recommendation of mine. Like Fat Rice, NoodleBird’s starting point is the Chinese-Portuguese fusion cuisine of Macau and then extends to other Asian regions
- Galit, 2429 N Lincoln Ave (just north of Fullerton), Lincoln Park — Great Israeli/Middle Eastern restaurant with a nice 4-course menu that let’s your table try a lot of dishes
- High Five Ramen, 112 N Green St, West Loop — Small, hip basement ramen joint. Expect a wait, but have a beer and a Texas BBQ appetizer upstairs at Green Street Smoked Meats while you wait
- MingHin Cuisine, 2168 S Archer Ave, Chinatown — It’s our favorite dim sum place. And they take reservations!
- Birrieria Zaragoza, 4852 S Pulaski Rd, Archer Heights (near Midway Airport) — Small, family-owned place with a small menu focused on birria (stewed goat) from Jalisco. Warm service and phenomenal food.
- Bitter Pops, 3357 N Lincoln Ave (at Roscoe), Roscoe Village — a renovated slashie (bar + packaged goods) that has a great selection of Chicago craft beer
- Revolution Brewing – Brewery & Taproom, 3340 N Kedzie Ave, Avondale — Great beers; wide range of styles; bring your own food
- Maplewood Brewery & Distillery, 2717 N Maplewood Ave (South of Diversey), east of Logan Square — Small, neighborhood bar tucked up against the Kennedy Expressway
- For more taproom ideas, check out this pre-pandemic TravelCommons taproom tour. Three of the four taprooms featured are still open — Marz, Whiner, and Lo-Rez. Only Lagunitas Brewing is still closed
- Tuscon
- Ruiz Hot Dogs food truck 1140 S 6th Ave at W 22nd St — It’s all about the Sonoran hot dog
- El Taco Rustico, 2281 N Oracle Rd — Quesabirras and cabrito (goat) tacos.
- Tacos Apson, 3501 S 12th Ave — Mesquite-grilled beef rib tacos and a hass burro
- 1912 Brewing Company, 2045 N Forbes Blvd, Ste 105 — 20 taps with a wide variety of styles
- Pueblo Vida Brewing Company, 115 E Broadway Blvd — Best beers of the trip!
- Phoenix
- Pizzeria Bianco, 623 E Adams St — Thin crust pizza a short drive from the airport
- Pane Bianco, 4404 N Central Ave — Great sandwich place by the same group further north
- San Diego
- Mike’s Taco Club, 5060 Newport Ave Ocean Beach — Big fish tacos two blocks off the ocean beneath a tattoo parlor
- Azúcar Patisserie, 4820 Newport Ave Ocean Beach — Cuban-inspired pastries
- Eppig Brewing Waterfront Biergarten, 2817 Dickens St — Good beers sitting by the marina
- Pure Project Brewing Balboa Park Biergarten, 2865 Fifth Ave — Re-hydrate after walking through Balboa Park
- Modern Times Lomaland Fermentorium, 3725 Greenwood St — 32 taps of great beer 10 minutes from the airport
- Nashville
- Biscuit Love Gulch, 316 11th Ave S — Fun toppings on great buttermilk biscuits for breakfast
- Bar Sovereign, 514 Rep. John Lewis Way S — Fun speakeasy-ish bar south of the Broadway strip
- Black Dynasty Secret Ramen House, Pop-up that is moving from the back of Bar Sovereign to Bearded Iris’ new taproom
- Hattie B’s Hot Chicken – Melrose, 2222 8th Ave S — Good hot chicken without a wait near Belmont University
- Bearded Iris Brewing, 101 Van Buren St — Original taproom with pool tables and a big patio
- Various Artists Brewing, 1011 Elm Hill Pike — Wide variety of beer styles; big patio; guest chefs working a big grill
- New York City
- Hummus Kitchen, 444 3rd Ave (at 31st St), Murray Hill — Well-executed Middle-Eastern food
- Her Name is Han, 17 E 31st St (at Madison Ave), Koreatown — Home-style Korean food
- Craft + Carry – Murray Hill, 440 3rd St (at 30th St) — Excellent selection of NY craft beers on draft and in cans to-go
- Ted’s Corner Tavern, 523 3rd Ave (at 35th St), Murray Hill — Comfortable neighborhood bar with a great beer selection
- The Pony Bar, 1444 1st Ave (at E 75th St), Upper East Side — Casual bar with a great beer selection. Been going there for 10 years
- Portland, Maine
- Bob’s Clam Hut, 315 Route 1, Kittery — Best fried clams I’ve ever had
- The Shop by Island Creek Oysters, 123 Washington Ave, Portland — Excellent (and inexpensive) selection of Maine oysters
- Oxbow Blending & Bottling, 49 Washington Ave, Portland — Great selection of farmhouse ales with an outpost of Duckfat serving up fries on the patio
- London
- Behind Restaurant, 20 Sidworth St E8 3SD, Hackney — Focused on seafood and modern British flavors. The whole restaurant is a kitchen table experience, watching chefs prepare the dishes and then serve them to you. One of the best Michelin 1-star restaurants I’ve visited.
- The Ginger Pig, Corner of Stoney St and Park St, Borough Market — Bought the best sausage rolls I’ve ever had from their walk-up display. Want to go back and try their meat pies.
- NOPI, 21-22 Warwick St W1B 5NE, Soho — Fun Mediterranean/Middle Eastern fusion restaurant from star chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Sat at the bar and had a great late lunch.
- Al Masar, 214, 216 Borough High St SE1 1JX — Strategically located near the Borough tube stop. Solid Lebanese wraps; exactly what I needed after a long taproom crawl down the Bermondsey Beer Mile.
- Bermondsey Beer Mile, a mile of craft brewery taprooms that have set up shop in adjacent railway arches under a huge brick bridge carrying commuter trains in and out of London Bridge train station. Rob Cheshire, long-time TravelCommons listener and UK craft beer podcaster laid out a taproom crawl that started at The Kernel, the first brewery in on the Mile, and continued through The Barrel Project, Cloudwater, and Brew By Numbers.
- Old Fountain, 3 Baldwin St (at City Rd) EC1V 9NU, Shoreditch — Tucked into a little side street, it’s a comfortable pub with a great UK craft beer selection.