Dining Chicago

Paul Barile

Jaunted recently listed five common mistakes tourists make in Chicago. One they missed was not listening to locals’ advice on the city’s best restaurants.

Chicago actor, playwright and sometime musician Paul Barile, whose day job is piloting hundreds of tourists around town in a diesel trolley or double-decker bus, says he gets asked about restaurants a lot. “People will pass their driver or tour guide to get to me to ask me about restaurants,” he says. “Guess the girth is a advertisement for my restaurant knowledge.

“Due to my physical stature (and assumed jovial nature), people will immediately approach me for advice on restaurants — I ask a few questions and then try to steer them in right direction.

“Restaurants in Chicago have no idea how good the trolley people are to them. And all we get for it is the civic pride in our awesome restaurants.”

Despite Barile’s best efforts, though, visitors don’t always get it. Here’s his list of tourists’ top 10 favorite restaurants, with his comments:

1. Cheesecake Factory, Magnificent Mile. “I don’t get it, but we hear about it all throughout the tour.”
2. Giordano’s. “I try to steer them away, but they see so many of them. I don’t dislike Giordano’s so much as I don’t see it as a good representation of Chicago-style pizza.”
3. Kim and Carlo, Museum Campus. “The best hot dog in the city.”
4. Billy Goat Tavern, Streeterville. “Sadly, the one at Navy Pier gets all the attention.”
5. Hard Rock Cafe, River North. “They do have their own counterculture.”
6. Portillo’s, River North. “Another brainless choice that I try to steer people away from.”
7. Pizzeria Uno/Due, River North. “My choice for true deep-dish, as well.”
8. Gino’s East Pizza, River North. “Just because it is popular and the lights are brighter.”
9. Ed Debevic’s, River North. “Cool hats and crappy service make for a good time.”
10. Lawry’s, River North. “This is a little more for the upscale crowd, but suburbanites love it!”

Honorable mentions, according to Barile: Garrett’s Popcorn, the Hershey store and Lindt. “One sad notion,” he says, “McDonald’s is always jumping.

“If I could send tourists to one restaurant in the city,” Barile says, “I would say take the Red Line to the Argyle stop for Sun Wah BBQ. Sun Wah is currently closed, in the process of moving to a new location, however, so until October, tourists (and the rest of us) will have to lump it. For September visitors and those unable to leave downtown, Barile recommends the original Billy Goat on Lower Michigan.

Barile’s new play, “Flapper_42,” premieres in the Table and Chairs Festival next month. He’s also producing a theater festival — currently titled “Kissapalooza” — to be held across the country in February, as well as working on two films, “Have a Kung Fu Christmas,” starring John Champion, planned for a December release, and “Betray Me” (a working title), a one-act opera starring Lexie Honiotes and Clarence Goodman, for which he’s raising funds through Facebook.