CornerStone Café
If all of Panera was reduced to a single-location, mom-and-pop café based in Chicago, it would be this place. Country bumpkins love the rustic charm of the carefully catered decor and the homey atmosphere crafted by the ubiquitous proprietors, not to mention the frank, unadorned classic diner fare. CornerStone’s value is its reliability, not its ingenuity. Hosting a homesick suburbanite? Take them here.
2753 North Western, (773) 235-1155, chicagocornerstonecafe.com
Best of Chicago 2013