Chicago is widely regarded as one of the great food cities in the world, and Oak Park sits in the first ring of suburbs due west of the city. So if you're visiting Oak Park, you can hit up Italian beef stands, Chicago-style hot dog joints, and deep dish pizzerias as easily as you can admire Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and Ernest Hemingway's birthplace.
Chicago's Most Famous Foods
There are too many to count. We'll skip snacks (like Garrett Popcorn's classic Chicago Mix of cheddar and caramel corn) and desserts (like the original Rainbow Cone) and focus on the main events.
Italian Beef
We go into greater detail in our Italian beef guide.
Italian beef is a sandwich of seasoned, thinly sliced roast beef piled on a long Italian roll and topped with giardiniera, roasted sweet peppers, or both. What makes it distinctive is the au jus preparation: During roasting, the beef absorbs herbs and spices while releasing a rich, deeply flavored juice. The sliced meat is then submerged in that liquid and cooked a bit longer, making every bite unusually tender.
Regulars order their beef "wet" (fully dunked in the juice), "dipped" (just the bread submerged), or dry. First-timers often go dry, then wish they hadn't.
Hot Dogs
We go into greater detail in our hot dogs guide.
Chicagoans are particular about their hot dogs. Putting ketchup on a frankfurter here is considered a cardinal sin. A Chicago-style dog follows a specific formula. Deviate from it and locals will notice.
The foundation is an all-beef frank with a natural casing for the characteristic snap. Vienna Beef, a Chicago manufacturer in business for more than 125 years, supplies the dogs to most traditional stands. The frank goes into a steamed poppy-seed bun and gets topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onion, neon-green relish, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and a dusting of celery salt. That's seven toppings. Ketchup would make eight, and that's exactly the problem.
Pizza Puff
We go into greater detail in our pizza puff guide.
Born in 1976, the pizza puff was created by a Chicago company that originally specialized in tamales—a reflection of the city's layered food culture. The original puff was stuffed with pork sausage, mozzarella, and tomato sauce; beef and pepperoni varieties came later. Frozen versions appear in grocery stores throughout the region, but a fresh puff pulled from a restaurant fryer is a different experience entirely.
Deep Dish Pizza
We go into greater detail in our deep dish guide.
Deep dish is built in layers: cheese first, then toppings, then sauce on top, baked in a high-sided pan that gives each slice real depth. The sauce goes on last. It keeps the cheese from burning during the longer bake time, a detail that surprises most visitors. A single slice is often a meal.
The Best Places Near Oak Park to Try Chicago's Iconic Foods
Here are more than a dozen restaurants in and near Oak Park where you'll find Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago-style hot dogs, pizza puffs, and deep dish pizza. Some spots specialize in one iconic food; others have several.
Buona
7025 West North Avenue, Oak Park (next to Rainbow Cone)
2135 South Wolf Road, Hillside
The Oak Park location of Buona is one of the few spots where you can follow an Italian beef with a Rainbow Cone next door, a combination locals consider a proper summer meal. The Buonavolanto family has been serving Italian beef for more than 40 years; the original restaurant opened in Berwyn, just south of Oak Park. The Hillside location serves the same menu. Both locations also serve Chicago-style hot dogs.
Frannie's Beef & Catering
4304 River Road, Schiller Park
Frannie's Beef & Catering serves Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dogs and pizza puffs. It has been doing so for more than 20 years, and online reviewers consistently praise the sandwiches.
Gene & Jude's
2720 River Road, River Grove
When Rachael Ray's magazine partnered with Serious Eats to find America's best hot dog, Gene & Jude's took the top spot. The preparation differs from the classic Chicago formula: Dogs are topped with mustard, relish, onions, and sport peppers, with no pickle, no tomato, and no celery salt. There is no seating at the stand, which has been in operation since 1946; orders are eaten standing at a counter. Fries come standard, tossed onto the wax paper and wrapped with the frank.
Giordano's
1115 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park
Giordano's serves stuffed pizza, a variation of deep dish in which a second layer of dough seals in the toppings before the sauce goes on top. Two brothers from Torino, Italy, brought the recipe to Chicago in 1974, and this stop is a great place to introduce first-timers to its glories.
Johnnie's Beef
7500 West North Avenue, Elmwood Park
Widely considered one of the best Italian beef stands in the Chicago area, Johnnie's Beef draws lines out the door. Chicago magazine called it "the Mecca of Italian Beef." The ordering process has its own shorthand: "beef" for an Italian beef, "combo" if you want sausage added, and "juicy" when you want it dipped. Sweet peppers and giardiniera together is "mixed." Cash only.
La Barra Riverside
2 East Burlington Street, Riverside
La Barra Riverside is the only restaurant on this list where deep dish pizza is part of a full Italian dinner menu. Opened in 2016 by longtime Riverside residents Pat and Mary Leone, it serves modern Italian small plates alongside three styles of pizza: deep dish, Chicago thin crust, and artisan. The deep dish uses a double-proofed focaccia dough lined with mozzarella, producing a caramelized cheese crust that's crispy outside and light inside. Reservations are recommended.
Lou Malnati's
1038 Lake Street, Oak Park
7550 Broadview Village Square, Broadview (carryout and delivery only)
Known for its buttery crust and chunky tomato sauce, Lou Malnati's has been Chicago's benchmark for deep dish pizza since 1971. The downtown Oak Park location sits just a few blocks from the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum. The Broadview location is takeout and delivery only.
Michael's Beef House
6747 West North Avenue, Oak Park
Michael's Beef House is the only full table-service restaurant on this list that serves Italian beef, hot dogs, and pizza puffs, and it's in Oak Park proper, making it easy to work into a day of exploring the village.
Mickey's Drive-In
635 Mannheim Road, Bellwood, IL
Mickey's Drive-In has been serving Chicago-style hot dogs for more than 60 years. The drive-in format is increasingly rare in the Chicago area, and Mickey's is one of the few that has kept it alive. Italian beef and pizza puffs are also on the menu.
Parky's Hot Dogs
329 South Harlem Avenue, Forest Park
In Chicago, a hot dog stand that has operated in the same location for nearly 80 years is its own credential, and Parky's Hot Dogs has been serving classic Chicago-style dogs and fries since 1947. Pizza puffs and Italian beef round out the menu.
Portillo's
7740 Roosevelt Road, Forest Park
170 North Avenue, Northlake
Portillo's serves a generously portioned Italian beef sandwich alongside Chicago-style hot dogs. For visitors introducing out-of-towners to the city's food traditions, Portillo's is a reliable starting point.
Now Go Eat
Oak Park's position at Chicago's western edge puts you within 15 minutes of hot dog stands that have been operating since the 1940s, beef joints with lines out the door, and deep dish pizza that has been the city's benchmark for more than 50 years. That's a lot of eating to do.