Bridgeport-Chinatown

A solid Vietnamese pho (noodle soup with beef) joint, which qualifies as "ethnic food" for Chinatown residents — this is one of the few places around where you'll likely see only Chinatown residents, even on weekends.

A Hong Kong teahouse chain with a very long beverage list also serves entrées. Young crowd that enjoys the all-ages hangout.

Seven Treasures has a huge, if uninteresting, interior and late hours, but the reason to come here is for Cantonese noodle soup. Anyone who has spent time in China, and hankers for the noodle soup they had there will not be disappointed. The Hong Kong-style barbecue menu is worthwhile.

Mexican supermarket famous for its homemade authentic Mexican chorizos, widely regarded as some of the best in Chicago. The chorizos can also be bought cooked and ready-to-eat in the form of their gigantic 3-pound and 7-pound burrito, but if you are not up for the challenge, they are also available at more manageable sizes in the form of regular tacos.

Insomniacs take note! Chicago fare is the whole menu: Maxwell Street Polishes, pork chop sandwiches, hot dogs, and hamburgers. This spot serves what might be the world's fastest food — served usually before you can complete your order — but it's magically piping hot fresh of the grill. The crowd can get pretty weird around F Sa 4AM, and the ingredients are of low quality, but the meats are cooked perfectly; and especially at that hour (after drinks) few things are more satisfying than a hot off the grill pork chop sandwich with a heaped mass of grilled onions and mustard.

With one exception the food here is uninspired, but the atmosphere is extreme Bridgeport, and it's a great place to bring kids. The exception is the Italian breaded steak sandwich, yet another neighborhood "delicacy," which it does better than anyone. There's nothing subtle about it — a big ol' breaded steak on chewy Italian bread, optionally drenched in red sauce, plus cheese, and hot or sweet giardinera. Don't order the king size unless you like to view your meal as a challenge.

A splash purple and green neighborhood ice cream parlor offering vegan ice cream, sundaes, and hot dogs.

One of the best bets in the Chinatown Marketplace with an extraordinarily long menu offering Cantonese preparations of virtually any creature or vegetable. It's hard to get a table on weekend nights.

There are two "Three Happinesses" right across the street from each other, and as you might guess, the small dingy looking one on the south side of the street is far superior. LTH is so beloved, the city's most knowledgeable foodie website is named after it. Specialties are many, including pan-fried rice noodles, spare ribs, crispy duck and chicken, and most famously the heads-on salt and pepper shrimp. The dim sum is excellent, and the cheapest of the big three (by a good margin).

One of Chicago's great neighborhood restaurants, though you would never know it from the inauthentic sounding name. Chicago's Chinese community more and more bleeds across neighborhood boundaries into Bridgeport proper, and this restaurant is the showcase of the culinary possibilities this creates for the area. It's a mom and pop run Chinese restaurant specializing in Northern Chinese cuisine. There are a lot of great dishes on the menu (hint, not the ones you've heard of before) — aim for the lamb cumin, soup dumplings, or the whole Szechuan style tilapia.

Some of Chicago's best Italian is hidden in a tiny checkerboard tablecloth deli, more resembling a grocery store than a restaurant, hidden further still in the residential streets of Bridgeport. It's also, as you might expect, a steal of a bargain. Delicious Italian pastas, chicken, and panini.

Authentic and very solid food in a nice sit-down family owned Mexican restaurant notable for its great margaritas. One of Bridgeport's trendiest restaurants.

High class, trendy dining on the cheap! But the neighborhood's new Han 202 has taken off, and its chef's cooking has attracted favorable comparisons to some of the flashiest and most esteemed in the city. The rave reviews are no doubt reinforced by the extraordinary deal — $39 for a fixed price four-course meal, plus BYOB with no corkage fee.

Often considered the best Chinese in the Chicagoland area, Lao Sze Chuan serves up fiery Szechuan cuisine. Not only is the food excellent, the service is as well, and it even has a nice ambiance. As is often the case in Chinatown, sometimes the most inauthentic sounding names hide the best dishes; Tony's Chicken is the restaurant's rightly famous dish, served with three types of chili sauce. Other famous dishes include their very unusual cumin lamb, as well as the tea duck. If what you want isn't on the menu, tell them what you want and how you want it cooked — they'll likely invent the dish on the spot!

The Phoenix is the gold standard in Chicago dim sum, and with good reason. It's one of the three top dim sum establishments that actually has nice decor, which, naturally, you pay for. Unlike the other good dim sum options, Phoenix uses the ever-popular wheeled cart method of delivery. The one downside to Phoenix is that it is better known, and therefore a good deal more crowded (and expensive) than most Chinatown restaurants — it pays to arrive either early or late to avoid the crowd.

A fine Bridgeport steakhouse decked with Mayor Daley-worship decor. Show up early on Saturday for the "Bloody Mary Brunch" and try "The Mayor's Steak and Eggs."