Restaurant Row

The stretch of Milwaukee Avenue running through Wheeling — roughly Dundee Road to Lake-Cook Road — is one of the most concentrated and diverse restaurant strips in the Chicago suburbs. Korean barbecue rooms, South Indian dosa houses, Filipino grills, Polish delis, Mexican taquerias, and a long-standing Japanese contingent sit side by side along the same six-lane road.

The quality is high because these are first-generation immigrant kitchens cooking for their own people. Prices are well below comparable spots in the city. Lunch on a weekday is the best slot — quieter, faster service, and the lowest prices.

things to do sight eating out
A story
Wheeling's reputation as a dining destination dates to 1973, when restaurateur Bob Djahanguiri opened Le Français on Milwaukee Avenue. For two decades it was widely considered one of the best restaurants in America, drawing diners up from the Loop and the North Shore. The original Le Français closed in 2007, but the corridor it helped establish kept growing — these days the energy is more about Asian and Latin American kitchens than French haute cuisine.

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