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Arlington Heights Dining
Arlington Heights has a reputation as having a downtown with great dining. But don’t limit yourself to the approximately 40 restaurants downtown. There are about 200 restaurants in the immediate area. Whether you’re in the mood for national chain restaurants, mom and pop establishments, great dining ambiance, fine dining establishments, pizzerias, the corner pizza place with delivery, espresso café’s, restaurant pubs, ethnic establishments, or wine shops; you’ll find it all.
Free smells aren’t limited to Jimmy John’s; the entire downtown air is filled with appetizing smells of restaurant cooking.
Delight your taste buds at Italian-themed bistros, Tapas, Thai, America, Mexican, Chinese, and Irish-inspired establishments, and more. Arlington Heights and Chicagoland offers so many menus with something for everyone.
No expensive parking.
In fact, there is free parking in Downtown Arlington Heights. There are several Village-owned parking garages as well as on-street parking with 2-hour free parking. Valet parking is also available at some establishments. With the train station right in the heart of eating establishments in downtown Arlington Heights, you might even time your Metra trip to satisfy your appetite in Arlington Heights.
But remember, don’t limit your selection to downtown. Arlington Heights has many restaurants all around town in both the Uptown and Southtown shopping districts. The Downtown Arlington Heights Directory provides the dining, shopping and entertainment offerings in Downtown.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS
CUISINE CATEGORIES
American Contemporary
Asian
Bakery Sandwich Shop
Banquet Halls
Buffet
Chicago-style Hot Dog
Coffee Shop
Deli & Sandwich Shop
Fast Food
French
Frozen Treats
Greek
Hungarian
Indian
Irish
Italian
Mexican & Southwest
Pizza
Prepared Meals
Pubs & Grills
Russian
Slovakian
Spanish Tapas
Steak & Seafood
Vegetarian
Chicagoland Dining
The city’s ethnic and working-class roots and rich history includes nationally renowned deep-dish pizza, Chicago-style thin crust, Chicago style tamales, gyros, barbecued ribs, pork sandwiches, but also provides jet fresh fish. A number of well-known chefs have had restaurants in Chicago, including Grant Achatz, Rick Bayless, , Rick Tramonto, and Charlie Trotter.
Midwestern cuisine is a regional cuisine of the American Midwest with culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe.
American Food, but more
Everyday Midwestern home cooking generally showcases simple and hearty dishes that make use of the abundance of locally grown foods. Its culinary profiles may seem synonymous with “American food.”
As with many American regional cuisines, Midwestern cooking has been heavily influenced by immigrant groups. Throughout the northern Midwest, northern European immigrant groups predominated, so Swedish pancakes and Polish pierogi are common. Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio and Illinois were destinations for many ethnic German immigrants, so pork sausages and potatoes are prevalent. In the Rust Belt, many Greeks became restaurateurs, imparting a Mediterranean influence. Native American influences show up in the uses of corn and wild rice.
Traditionally, Midwestern cooks used a light hand with seasonings, preferring sage, dill, caraway, mustard and parsley to hot, bold and spicy flavors. However, with new waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia moving into the region, these tastes are changing.
Chicagoland and the Midwest is also headquarters for several hamburger chains, notably McDonald’s — originally in Oak Brook, Illinois, and since 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. McDonald’s was converted to a franchise by milk shake mixer salesman Ray Kroc, who lived in the the Scarsdale neighborhood of Arlington Heights. He was selling a large order of mixers to the McDonald’s brothers restaurant in California, and recognized the potential of developing a multitude of restaurants. The first franchise McDonald’s was built in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Midwest is also home to Vienna Beef at Elston and Damen and Fullerton Avenues in Chicago, Culver’s in Sauk City, Wisconsin; Steak n Shake, founded in Normal, Illinois, and now based in Indianapolis; Wendy’s in Dublin, Ohio; and White Castle in Columbus, Ohio. Diner chain Big Boy, known for burgers, is headquartered in Warren, Michigan.
While Arlington Heights offers plenty of diverse foods — more than typical American Contemporary cuisine — Chicago, like other major urban centers, offers even more diverse foods of ethnic cuisines and sophisticated, contemporary techniques.
Chicagoland has a distinctive cuisine of restaurant foods exclusive to the area, such as Italian beef (think Johnny’s Beef), the Maxwell Street Polish, the Chicago-style hot dog (think Portillo’s all over Chicagoland and Wiener Take All in Buffalo Grove), Chicago-style pizza, chicken Vesuvio and the jibarito, as well as a large number of steakhouses.
Chicago also boasts many gourmet restaurants, as well as a wide variety of ethnic food stores and eateries, most notably Mexican, Polish, Italian, Greek, Indian/Pakistani and Asian, often clustered in ethnic neighborhoods. Many of these cuisines have been developed in Chicago.
As a major rail hub, Chicago historically had access to a broad range of the country’s foods and ingredients, so even in the 19th century, Chicagoans could easily buy items like live oyster and fresh shrimp. Chicago’s oldest signature dish, shrimp de Jonghe, was invented around the turn of the 20th century. Today, flights into O’Hare Airport bring Chicago fresh food from all over the world to restaurants, such as Bob Chin’s in Wheeling, and grocers throughout Chicagoland. Many grocers even cook up a meal for shoppers.
MORE HELPFUL SOURCES …
Facebook Group: Arlington Heights Restaurants – Delivery and Pickup
Facebook Page: Facebook.com/DiscoverArlingtonHeights