The past seven years have witnessed a flurry of contemporary Filipino restaurant openings in Chicago, built on the pioneering shoulders of family-owned stalwarts such as Ruby’s Fast Food, Uncle Mike’s Place, Isla Pilipina (which closed in 2020) and the Filipino supermarket Seafood City.
These newer icons run the gamut in style, from classic to boundary-pushing, handheld snacks to tweezered and foamed courses, mind-bending laminated pastries and stick-to-your-ribs diner fare. Here are 10 places to experience the best of this tangy-sweet and richly satisfying island cuisine, as seen through a singularly modern and Midwestern lens.
Boonie’s
4337 N. Western Ave.
This pop-up is now a Michelin Guide-recognized brick-and-mortar restaurant from fine-dining vet Joseph Fontelera, who serves up some of the most exciting Filipino-influenced cooking in the city. Standouts include grilled Argentine sugpo (prawns) with bagoong brown butter and sugarcane juice chimichurri and the adobong isda and monkfish with preserved garlic chive, coconut water adobo and hanghang oil. We’re pleased to report that Fontelera swears he’ll never stop serving the tangy, rich sizzling sisig (pork and chicken liver hash with egg and lime).
Cebu
3120 N. Lincoln Ave.
Creative spins on regional Filipino classics take center stage at this sibling-owned brunch and dinner spot in Lake View, from Marlon Tan and his brothers Malvin and Martin. Think adobo chilaquiles, short rib silog with garlic rice (brunch only!), sisig punched up with puckering calamansi espuma, ube-tinged waffles with fried chicken and three-hour lechon belly with crackly skin — which has blessedly remained on the menu since Cebu opened in Wicker Park in 2018.
Kasama
1001 N. Winchester Ave.
Chicago’s first Michelin-starred Filipino restaurant is an all-day affair from the brilliant minds of husband-and-wife chef duo Tim Flores and Genie Kwon. By day, lines of diners wait for hearty Filipino-inspired breakfasts such as custardy egg sandwiches topped with caramelized longanisa and fried eggs with garlic rice and tocino (plus cheffy pastries like cardamom buns, coconut pineapple croissants and lemon pecan hand pies). By night Thursday through Sunday, an inventive tasting menu ($285) features Filipino small plates including lamb belly kare-kare with bagoong XO sauce and salmon and tamarind sinigang.
Del Sur Bakery
4639 N. Damen Ave.
Midwestern and Filipino flavors creatively mingle at Justin Lerias’ buzzy bakery and cafe that’s notably allergen-friendly. Trendy purple ube colors the buttercream between two oat cookies, citrusy calamansi curd infuses a morning bun and sweet-savory longanisa sausage packs a mouthful in a crackly croissant. Wash it down with heady house chai or salted pandan syrup-infused latte in this pretty, plant-dotted space.
Bayan Ko
1810 W. Montrose Ave.
Husband-and-wife team Lawrence Letrero and Raquel Quadreny created one of the city’s best tasting menu deals ($119 for seven generous courses) when they transitioned their singular Filipino-Cuban menu to a prix-fixe format in 2024. Now in its second iteration, the team is evolving in its use of Filipino flavors, emphasizing balance in dishes like whole-prawn kinilaw (ceviche) with yuzu juice-coconut vinaigrette and Thai chilies or Iberian pork collar asado with sour orange and yuca con mojo. The vegetarian tasting menu ($99) goes stride for delicious stride with its carnivorous counterpart via courses like toothsome, brown butter-soused black arroz caldo with meaty seared trumpet and oyster mushrooms.
Bayan Ko Diner
1820 W. Montrose Ave.
A stone’s throw from Bayan Ko in the former Glenn’s Diner space, Bayan Ko Diner slings stick-to-your-ribs midday and dinner food — the kind that comes on heavy plates and is best washed down with bottomless coffee. The sisig hash is a bestseller for good reason: Chopped pork belly mingles with shishito peppers, crisp-edged potatoes and soy black vinegar aioli under a perfectly runny egg. The menu also features empanadas, meat and seafood silog with garlic rice and tomato salad, plus fat, sticky Filipino sweet bread with cinnamon glaze and cheddar cheese.
Side Practice Coffee
5139 N. Damen Ave.
This creative and warm corner cafe and launchpad for local indie startups slings excellent Filipino-inspired coffee drinks such as Purple Haze, with cold brew, ube foam and steamed milk; Sunog Lattes with burnt vanilla bean, black sesame and liquid smoke; plus rotating pastries from Umaga Bakehouse. Keep an eye on Side Practice’s Instagram for pop-ups, which feature everything from art and jewelry to Texas BBQ kolaches — you might be witnessing the origin of the future hottest business in Chicago.
Novel Pizza Cafe
1759 W. 19th St.
Excellent tavern and pan pizzas anchor Novel’s tight Filipino- and Mexican-inspired menu, which also features calzones and coffee drinks zhuzhed with ube and pandan, plus rotating agua frescas. The longanisa and giardiniera tavern pie perfectly balances salty, sweet and crunchy; the focaccia-style pan pizza is heaped generously with toppings such as pepperoni, ricotta and hot honey. Come early — Novel is known to sell out of everything.
Kanin
5131 N. Damen Ave.
This tiny grab-and-go takes inspiration from the corner bodegas dotting the Hawaiian islands, with casual bites inspired by Filipino and Hawaiian flavors. Nori-wrapped musubi range from Spam and furikake to tamarind shrimp to tomato jam and egg. Skewers pack juicy tocino chicken and chimichurri pork. Show up before lunch on weekends, when ube banana pudding and some musubi start selling out.
A Taste of the Philippines
5914 W. Lawrence Ave.
Manila-born Kathy Vega Hardy got her start over a decade ago with a Filipino food truck in Denver before she moved to Chicago in 2018 to pursue her dream of opening a modern restaurant. At her welcoming Jefferson Park spot, expect a mix of traditional Filipino brunch and lunch dishes, such as pancit and crisp-edged lechon (pork belly) over garlic rice, plus more contemporary options, including ube cheesecake bites and longanisa Scotch eggs.
Maggie Hennessy is a Chicago-based food and drink writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appetit and Food & Wine. Follow her on Instagram.