Chicago steals the show

More than occasionally I'm asked what I believe to be America's best restaurant towns, and until recently I've always ranked New York first, San Francisco and Los Angeles next, then Chicago. But in the last year or so I've come around to thinking that Chicago has indeed earned its sobriquet `Second

While New York's surging restaurant scene keeps it squarely at the top rank, San Francisco's is merely simmering and L.A.'s has been sadly stifled for years now. But season after season Chicago has shown itself a city with an exceptionally vibrant dining out segment, ranging from storefronts serving deep-dish Chicago-style pizza on up to the highest reaches of haute cuisine. That expensive restaurants like Charlie Trotter's, Spiaggia, and Everest, now joined by the new Tru, continue to be among the most popular in the city shows that Chicagoans are as willing as out-of-towners to spend big bucks for a deluxe dining experience-as long as they get decent portions on the plate.