The most-ordered menu item at 20 popular Chicago restaurants

Most popular restaurant menu order
Sean Cooley
Sean Cooley

Not that life is a popularity contest (follow us on Twitter btw), but when you hit up a sandwich shop like Jerry's with 100+ options, or food emporiums like Eataly with a dozen food counters, sometimes it's nice to just know what to order. We've found the most popular item at 20 great, local restaurants, to save you the trouble of asking your waitress, "So, what's good here?".

Jerry's Sandwiches (click here for address and info)
Wicker Park, Andersonville
Most-Ordered Item: Fried Chicken Sandwich
Of the 100+ sandwiches gracing Jerry's menu, the fried buttermilk-chicken is the top seller. It's served with pickles, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, and hot sauce on challah bread.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Galdones Photography

Little Goat (click here for address and info)
West Loop
Most-Ordered Item: Machos Nachos
Obviously, the most popular thing on superstar Chef Stephanie Izard's dinner menu is... nachos. But not just any nachos; these guys are covered in tangy BBQ pork, beans, pickled peppers, cheddar, sour cream, and avocado.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Eduoard Pierre

Big Star (click here for address and info)
Wicker Park
Most-Ordered Item: Taco De Pescado
Surpassing the pastor and pollo, Big Star's fish taco has battered tilapia fillet, cabbage, red onion, lime, and what Milwaukee Bucks forward Zaza Pachulia says whenever OJ is all, "Where should we get burritos, dude?" (chipotle mayo).

Most popular restaurant menu order
Fat Rice

Fat Rice (click here for address and info)
Logan Square
Most-Ordered Item: Portuguese Chicken
Fat Rice moves more Portuguese chicken (AKA po kok gai: mussels, chorizo, olives, cabbage, mild coconut curry) than potstickers OR arroz gordo, which we mention because it was legitimately close. Like, within-a-few-orders-a-night close.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Xoco

XOCO (click here for address and info)
River North
Most-Ordered Item: Torta Ahogada
While Rick Bayless' Mexican sandwich shop has enough rotating specials to make this maybe not a fair fight, they sell enough golden pork carnitas with black beans, pickled onions, tomato broth, and a spicy árbol chile sauce to make us pretty confident that this would be the ordering standard either way.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Hopleaf

Hopleaf (click here for address and info)
Andersonville
Most-Ordered Item: Mussels & Frites
Also the most-ordered menu item at Jean-Claude Van Damme's fry shop, this Andersonville favorite is cooked in Wittekerke white ale (yes, the beer) and served alongside frites and aioli.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Rockit Ranch Productions

Sunda (click here for address and info)
River North
Most-Ordered Item: Crispy Brussels Sprout Salad
Maybe it's the chilis, maybe it's the fried shallots, maybe it's nuoc Cham. Either way, there's something about this salad that makes it a Chicago favorite. Oh, right, it's the minced shrimp.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Coalfire

Coalfire Pizza (click here for address and info)
West Town
Most-Ordered Item: 'Nduja Pizza
Nightly neck-and-neck with the margherita pizza, the 'Nduja nets you Calabrian pork sausage from Publican Quality Meats on top of the usual spread of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil.

Most popular restaurant menu order
lthforum

Big & Little’s (click here for address and info)
River North, Lakeview
Most-Ordered Item: Raw Ahi Tuna Taco/ Samurai Whitefish Taco
There's a never-ending arms race between poke tacos with ahi tuna (ginger, chili paste), and whitefish tacos (beer-battered with jalapeños, lime, and two Asian sauces). Our suggestion? Get both.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Flickr/ Jay Pascual

Smoque BBQ (click here for address and info)
Irving Park
Most-Ordered Item: Smoked Brisket
After 14hrs in the smoker, the moist and tender brisket with a two-layer spice rub and house BBQ sauce finds its way into... more customer's stomachs than any other Smoque offering.

most popular menu item CHI
Owen & Engine

Owen & Engine (click here for address and info)
Logan Square
Most-Ordered Item: Slagel Farm Beef Burger
It's like Chicago likes burgers, or something. This one in particular is a house-ground chuck/short rib/brisket burg topped with caramelized onions and cheddar.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Davanti Enoteca

Davanti Enoteca (click here for address and info)
River North
Most-Ordered Item: Focaccia di Recco
Focaccia di Recco translates to baked focaccia with fresh cow cheese and local honeycomb... which apparently a lot of people already know, because this guy won by a LANDSLIDE.

Most popular restaurant menu order
eataly

Eataly (click here for address and info)
River North
Most-Ordered Item: Grande Salumi & Formaggi Platter
On a given day, Eataly will sell more than 200 of these platters, which feature an assortment of their best cheese and cured meats. Two. Hundred.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba (click here for address and info)
Lincoln Park
Most-Ordered Item: Patatas Bravas
Sitting atop an endless tapas menu are these spicy potatoes, of which they sell 750 orders A WEEK. The house-fried potato wedges are tossed in a marinade of cayenne, paprika, pimenton, salt, pepper, and garlic, then served with sun-dried tomato aioli.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Lillie's Q

Lillie’s Q (click here for address and info)
Wicker Park
Most-Ordered Item: Pulled Pork Sandwich
The pulled pork is touted (it's the first thing listed under "Q") for a reason. It's packed onto a brioche bun with your choice of six sauces, including Carolina, Hot Smoky, and Ivory -- an Alabama-style white sauce with mayo, vinegar, and pepper.

Most popular restaurant menu order
The Berghoff

The Berghoff (click here for address and info)
The Loop
Most-Ordered Item: Wiener Schnitzel
I mean, obviously, right? Their wiener schnitzel is a classic, breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet with an asparagus and pepper salad and German fried potatoes.

Most popular restaurant menu order

Dusek’s (click here for address and info)
Pilsen
Most-Ordered Item: Choucroute
Duck confit + House garlic sausage + Fresh bacon confit + Red potatoes + Sauerkraut + Caraway pickled apple = Hugely ordered item. All that + Having it available in latke-form for brunch? = Most-ordered item.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Flicker/ Edsel Little

Purple Pig (click here for address and info)
River North
Most-Ordered Item: Roasted Bone Marrow
If Purple Pig were a high school, the bone marrow would be the football player, the fried pig ears would be the tennis captain, and the pickled cherry peppers would be the dude who smokes under the bleachers and wears a leather jacket.

Most popular restaurant menu order
West Town Bakery & Diner

West Town Bakery & Diner (click here for address and info)
West Town
Most-Ordered Item: West Coast Burger
AGAIN with the burger thing. Geez. Diners flock to this guy, which's got two beef patties, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and special sauce on a Hawaiian bun with crispy Parmesan potatoes.

Most popular restaurant menu order
Kanela

Kanela Breakfast Club (click here for address and info)
Lakeview, Old Town
Most-Ordered Item: Chocolate Bacon Waffle
Duh.

Sean Cooley is Thrillist's Chicago Editor, and he's noticed that a pie tin is a handy pie chart for how much pie you've eaten. Follow him @SeanCooley.