Best Fine Dining in Oak Brook

"Alinea’s website is clear: “Alinea is not a restaurant.” On top of delicious food, Alinea promises a performance, a spectacle of modern cuisine, and “a serving of emotions” over a modest three- to five-hour dinner of 18 to 22 courses. And ever since Head Chef Grant Achatz was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, the restaurant’s notoriety has exploded. Alinea plays with the presentation (driftwood topped with seaweed), sensory experience (an edible helium balloon made of green apple taffy), and sound."

"Chicago's lone three-Michelin-starred restaurant, helmed by the great chef Grant Achatz. Why we love it: Arguably Chicago's finest fine dining restaurant, Alinea is as focused on the experience of having a meal as it is about what you consume. Settle in for an evening of deconstructed dishes, billowing dry ice and edible balloons filled with helium."

"Experimental , Molecular Gastronomy"

"For an upscale and elegant dim sum experience, no place in the city rivals the Shanghai Terrace, perched on the top of the Peninsula Chicago Hotel. With an emphasis on Cantonese dishes, the dim sum menu features delicate plates with high-end ingredients such as dumplings with lobster and black truffle, bean curd rolls with scallop and fresh rice crepes. The Terrace also offers Peking duck prepared three ways – roasted and sliced according to tradition, cooked in a Chinese green mustard soup and finally, mixed with braised noodles."

"With an emphasis on Cantonese dishes, the dim sum menu features delicate plates with high-end ingredients such as dumplings with lobster and black truffle, bean curd rolls with scallop and fresh rice crepes. The Terrace also offers Peking duck prepared three ways – roasted and sliced according to tradition, cooked in a Chinese green mustard soup and finally, mixed with braised noodles. The interior is sophisticated, with Chinese silkscreens and elegant furniture, but the cozy outside terrace is the jewel in the crown."

"In the upscale Peninsula Hotel in Downtown Chicago, you'll find a gourmet dim sum restaurant with roaring ‘30s supper club décor and a blend of Shanghainese and Cantonese dishes. This Zagat-listed pearl of an eatery blends old world elegance with new world sensibilities for a one-of-a-kind dining experience. Shanghai Terrace is one of the best restaurants in Chicago for atmosphere and fine dining."

"Granted, it’s not that easy to spot the entrance to Oriole on the alley-side ground floor of a defunct glue factory in the West Loop. But once you realize your GPS is correct, and you see the discreet sign on the black-painted brick, you’re in for a treat. There’s the cinematic entrance to the den-like restaurant via a former freight elevator door."

"Restaurants Eclectic West Loop. To dine at Grant Achatz’s followup to Alinea is a rare—and rarefied—opportunity to submit yourself to a very specific vision of what great dining might look like. That vision changes every three months, from French fare to Italian staples to modern plates that don’t even look like food."

"Next restaurant offers family-style meals that change weekly. You can also choose to add a cocktail kit from The Aviary."

"For more than 30 years, Oceanique has presented top-notch French seafood with touches of Asian and Latin flavor. Chef-owner Mark Grosz treats seasonal produce with as much care as ..."

"In Latin, "temporis" refers to the passage of time but you may want time to stand still so your ten-course tasting menu of progressive American cuisine will last forever. Executive chef Troy Jorge's menu defines "seasonal" and the restaurant's own indoor hydroponic garden brings a bounty of herbs, greens and flowers to the courses year round. Your experience may launch with canapés of Wagyu, apple and pear and move onto octopus shored up with perky 'Nduja, celery root and Vidalia onion."

"Just try looking at pictures of food from Temporis and not wanting to try it. These culinary works of art seem too beautiful to destroy but the taste is always worth it."

"Everything is made right in Katherine Anne's retail space, so you can see them rolling truffles, pouring caramel and whipping marshmallow. The cafe has 16 seats for enjoying 15 flavors of drinking chocolate or sweets. Chocolatiers make a new truffle and caramel each week just for the shop, and they like to experiment."

"The longest-established purveyor of canelés in Chicago, Floriole Café & Bakery's Sandra Holl may also be their least traditional practitioner. Holl produces her canelés without the use of beeswax, and has even been known to tweak the time-honored vanilla-rum flavor profile. (A chocolate version, for instance, makes an appearance in the café each February.) Traditional or not, her approach works."

"Restaurants Cafés Lincoln Park. With an assortment of breads, tasty sandwiches and seriously delicious cookies in its repertoire, this airy Lincoln Park bakery-café certainly has range. But Floriole’s soul is its French pastry, skillfully executed by owner Sandra Holl."

"Order your favorite sandwiches from the nearly 20-year-old restaurant and dine on-site at one of five heated outdoor dining bubbles set up on Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. Seating up to six and warmed by electric heaters, the bubbles are available for 90-minute gigs, with a prepaid deposit ($100 minimum on weeknights and $150 Friday through Sunday). $1 mylar blankets available."