Thrillist: 21 Things You Have To Eat And Drink To Be A True Chicagoan
If you think all it takes to be a Chicagoan is housing a couple of veggie-laden hot dogs or knife and forking your way through a slice of deep dish, you have a few things to learn. Chicago is home to so many diverse neighborhoods with rich foodways that their food traditions, like drinking punishingly bitter booze or dunking entire beef sandwiches in beef jus, may seem absurd to the uninitiated. While we can’t promise finishing this list will ensure you’re correctly pronouncing “SAH-sage,” you’ll certainly be on the righteous path.
Steak
If you’re a meat eater (which by this point in the list we kind of hope you are), it’s hard to come to Chicago and not have a steak. Luckily, steakhouses here are as ubiquitous as disappointed Bears fans. So you can have your white-tablecloth, eye-poppingly priced dry-aged bone-in ribeye experience, your old-school, low-lit, perfectly cooked beef and large stiff cocktails experience, your steak with a side of live music experience, and your denim-clad, butcher-shop-turned-off-color-steakhouse experience — all within a few gloriously meaty miles.
