United States

One of the best steakhouses in the US? Yes. There is a reason why this place releases reservations for each day, 30 days in advance at 9am central, and they're gone within minutes. Yes, you read that right, reservations are gone within minutes for a table you can't even sit at for 30 days—that's how good this place is.

Located in Chicago and Vegas, I've only been to the one in Chicago as it's the OG. My old director of engineering told me about this place and that it couldn't be missed when I had to fly into Chicago for some meetings. I'm usually solo so a reservation is usually not necessary as I'll go sit at one of the bars  or the high tops on the back wall. When you walk in, you see that old school, warm, steakhouse vibe. Leather chairs and couches, chandeliers, wood, and dim lighting—You also notice the huge ice bar with massive crab legs and lobsters. There's 2 floors, the top floor is definitely more busy and lively while the underground floor is more private, quiet, and darker.

If I don't get one of the very few hightop upstairs, I will go downstairs and sit at that bar—The top bar is way too loud, busy and filled with pretentious and annoying women that make me want to slam my head into the bar top, which I'd like to avoid. The bottom floor bar is quiet and more reserved, my style.

What to eat? To start, shrimp cocktail, the fresh house made sourdough bread service with house salted butter, and the chopped wedge salad—Hold the nasty ass boiled egg though. For the entree, Ribeye. Medium rare with a side of horseradish. Appropriate sides would be the mashed potatoes topped with roasted garlic and/or the baked macaroni and cheese—Both are incredible.

They obviously have many more options but that is my typical go to and it's too perfect to stray away from.

The wine selection is really good as is their dirty martinis. I like their one Côtes du Rhône and usually go for the bottle if I plan on sitting there for a while, it's pictured below.

So, go now and book your flight into ORD or MDW and make your reservation for a month out and plan for an excellent meal.

Need a fine dining, Michelin star, French recommendation for NYC? Le Coucou. What a special place—beautiful atmosphere, lighting, decor, attentive staff, and obviously, incredible food.

I went here for the first time back in 2024 when I arranged a dinner for our engineering group which was 5 of us. We hadn't met all year since we're remote and this was around November I believe so it was kind of a EOY blowout dinner and boy did we treat it as such. In attendance was my friend and co-worker, Dan. You'll find him throughout my writings as it relates to meals. He started us off with the wine choice for the night, a bottle of château Canon. A Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (Bordeaux) from the right bank of France. The vintage was somewhere between a 2015-2018, it was an amazing wine. Props to Dan, he's the only other person I trust to select  a wine other than myself.

Now for food, I have to cover each dish in detail because they deserve that respect. We started off with an absolute spread of starters including the Thon à l'espelette, Lotte frite au sarrasin, Oysters, the Aubergine voyageuse, Crépinette de brochet with sauce américaine and a single dumpling for each. Alright, now what the hell even is all that? Let me explain.

The Thon à l'espelette was a dish of yellowfin tuna, scallop, espelette oil, and spring onions—Light and incredibly flavorful. What an absolute perfect way to treat yellowfin.

Next was the Lotte frite au sarrasin or fried monkfish with a cucumber and curry vinaigrette. Monkfish itself is an absolute hideous fish but clean it, section it, and fry it with that sauce and it could look like whatever it wants to. It was absolutely delicious.

Next were oysters, I passed on these, they're actually.... Not my favorite. I used to like them but had a bad experience once. I'll leave it at that.

Up next was the aubergine voyageuse, fancy name for eggplant with a glaze. I generally am not a fan of eggplant either but they did this one right, really thoughtful preparation that in my opinion, lended a giant helping hand that eggplant needs.

Then came the Crépinette de brochet with sauce américaine,—A chicken and foie gras and "last years pear." My god, was the flavor incredible—and with a sip of red from the French right bank? Fuck.

Finally for the starters, the staff treated us to an amuse bouche which was a dumpling with a house made broth and it was so simple but incredible. Well done.

Okay, cool, we got the starters out of the way. Dinner, let's cover that. It's a restaurant with an excellent homage to France, obviously I'm ordering the Filet de Boeuf, no question. A prime filet paired with a marrow bone, pommes purée, and sauce chateaubriand. The chef should be put on a pedestal, the execution could not have been any better. Perfectly cooked and incredibly flavorful, I was impressed. The whole table was covered in delicious diversity—whole rabbit, halibut, lobster, and a veal chop.

What's next? We're not done, not even close. It's time to finish off with desserts and no we didn't get just one, that's stupid. It was a table full of almost every dessert they had, I think we only skipped on one. There were many desserts but the most memorable one for me, was the baba au rhum. It was a fresh pound cake with vanilla cream, fresh pineapple, and with it comes... Two full sized bottles of rum to pour onto and soak the cake to your liking. Thoughtful and interesting presentation and great flavors, not too sweet, it would have been the perfect way to close out the meal but lastly, Dan had a magnum bottle of 2010 chateau d'yquem brought over and it's hard to top that...

We spent so much money, the general manager personally thanked me for the reservation and gave me his direct phone number for future reservations when there's no tables available. Win.

Located in West Village, Leitao is a beautiful Portuguese restaurant. Like any good restaurant  in NYC, this place is hard to get a reservation at, even for the bar you need one. I've been here a couple times and it's made its way onto my list of the best restaurants like the rest on this website. 

For one, the service doesn't fall short—The staff is so friendly and act like they actually enjoy you being there. For the cuisine, well, it's Portuguese so... everything is done impeccably—As are the drinks and wine selection. 

Leitao is actually the place that drove my inspiration for the Portuguese style little neck clams with chorizo. A dish so good, I re-created it myself and it's just as good if not better. I first had these during winter in NYC so it was obviously really cold out and what better way to warm up than a hot bowl of clams with broth? The little necks are cooked in a broth of tomato, vino verde, garlic, lemon, chorizo, shallot, and more. You build a base of delicious flavors first and then add the clams and cover til they open. Serve with some crusty bread for dunking and you've got yourself a hell of a meal—Hearty, flavorful, and just perfect. 

Let's talk Malandrinho or, Portuguese soupy rice. It's exactly as it sounds, Carolina gold stewed rice with tomatoes, beans, and olives. It's soupy, full of flavor and the perfect addition of a side to your meal—And might I clarify, no it is not rice from fucking North or South Carolina. It's Carolino, from rice paddies along the Tejo and Montego rivers of Lisbon and Coimbra. For an entree, I highly recommend the bife a cervejeiro or, sirloin steak in garlic sauce. It's a prime sirloin served with a cremini mushroom and pepper sauce and topped with scallions and crispy garlic. Those mash of flavors are simply perfect. I thought it was a delicious sauce and paired perfectly with the steak.

For desserts, they have many like a pear poached in a 20 year old port from Porto, Portugal or a Portuguese creamy sponge cake with sheep's milk cheese and berries, but honestly, I go so hard on the starters, entrees, and sides, there's no room left for a full dessert. However, the staff there are so courteous, they will give you a complimentary pasteis de nata—this is a traditional Portuguese custard tart. I first had these in Portugal at the Palacio Ramalhete and they are just perfect. Pair that with a fresh pulled double espresso and it's the best way to close out the meal.