Telegraph Venture west to Logan Square if you want to see the city’s hipsters in their element. You’ll certainly find them at Telegraph, a cozy spot where the super-low lighting and buttery leather chairs beg a first date to go on for hours. Chef John Anderes is an alum of Avec, and his often surprising, always satisfying plates are focused on organic, local ingredients. Current examples include bucatini pasta with head-on prawns and chorizo, and a Wagyu tri-tip steak with fava-bean puree and pickled veggies. Always start with one of Anderes’s ever-changing tartines. Telegraph’s owners run two other successful wine bars (Webster’s and the Bluebird), and their latest project’s wine list is exclusively focused on family-owned European producers (2601 N. Milwaukee Ave.; 1-773/292-9463).

Trencherman The long-awaited Wicker Park restaurant from Michael and Patrick Sheerin (previously chefs at two Chicago mainstays, Blackbird and the Signature Room at the 95th) was the subject of such an extended round of pre-opening hype that it’s hard to believe the farm-to-table concept finally opened for business this summer. The brothers are aiming for a sweet spot between casual Midwestern fare and the experimental streak the Chicago dining landscape has more recently adopted; their menu starts with playful bites like pickle tots made with chicken-breast bresaola and turns its back on the small-plates movement with full-size entrees like Pekin duck with rhubarb umeboshi and braised pork belly with sugar snap peas and coconut. A young, gleaming neighborhood crowd packs in among industrial furnishings juxtaposed with jewel-toned velvet banquettes, where they sip bold cocktails crafted by a veteran of New York’s WD-50 (2039 W. North Ave.; 1-773/661-1540).

Originally appeared in the August/September 2012 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Chicago Cravings”)