This year in Food & Drink, we reviewed 75 restaurants, published 13 interviews, shared 42 lists, and wrote 291 SPlog posts about food. We do our best to publish fresh looks at restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks, bakeries, and hidden gems of Champaign-Urbana, and we’ll do it again in 2024. It is an honor — a very delicious honor — to be Food & Drink Editor and to write about C-U’s food scene week after week. From the bottom of my heart (and the tips of my fingers on this keyboard), thank you for reading Smile Politely‘s Food & Drink section this year. Thank you for the emails, DMs, in person words, and (most especially) for showing up to eat at mom-and-pop restaurants and trying new foods.
I hope this reflection of the BEST Food & Drink from 2023 makes you hungry, makes you happy, and makes you want to read more SP in the new year. Cheers!
BEST thing to happen to the C-U food scene: All the new small business openings
This town loves a new restaurant, and this year, Champaign-Urbana had an influx of new restaurant (and food truck) openings. The new Afghan Cuisine restaurant opened first in Strawberry Fields and then expanded into a spacious location on Neil Street. Run by Chez Maman Ketty, Sepelas African Restaurant opened in Urbana with a Congolese menu of grilled proteins, rice, plantains, kwanga, fufu, fries, and beignets. This summer, North African Cuisine began serving Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian dishes inside Strawberry Fields.
This November, Anthem lounge opened in Downtown Champaign, and Weird Meat Boyz brought Smashy McSmashface burgers to their first restaurant The Space. Downtown Urbana has been blessed with the new additions of Gallery Art Bar, Encanto Restaurant, and The Main Scoop ice cream parlor. In Campustown, Northern Cuisine opened with upscale Chinese food, NAYA reopened with Indian cuisine, Dee Dee’s Beef with arancini and Italian beef, and Chong Qing House launched unlimited hot pot at the corner of Fourth and Green, and J6 Kitchen moved into the space that used to be Tacool. At The Literary in Downtown Champaign, the bookstore took over the Kitchen and Cafe.
A meal prep station called Namken Nutrition opened at The Pines, Mexican restaurant Casa Margaritas opened at The Crossing, and Hacienda Agave opened by I-74’s Neil Street exit. Masala Indian House, Shots & Slots, and Park Bar & Grill all joined the food scene. Some food businesses expanded: Fernando’s Tacos truck opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant, Sushi Man added an all-you-can-eat location, Sooie Bros opened on Kirby, Vinny’s Pizza By The Slice added a Savoy location, and Stango Cuisine launched a food truck. Maize moved into the Union as did Thai Fusion. Selling fresh-pressed juice, JuicyU opened at the farmers’ market, and new food trucks launched this year: Mama Duke’s, Guerra Azteca, and Sugga Shaii’s Sweets.
BEST raw cheese: Prairie Fruits Farm feta
The only feta I want to eat is the feta made with milk from the goats at Champaign’s Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery. I wrote about this cheese (once, twice — and last summer, too) because it’s fantastic. This feta won a national award in 2023, too, so it really is the best.
BEST reference to a movie in a menu item: Punch! Bar: You’re Turning Violet, Violet
In April, Punch! had a cocktail inspired by the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Though it was listed on the menu as one drink, it came as three glasses, a cocktail in three courses like Wonka chewing gum’s three courses. In the movie, the gum’s first course was tomato soup, and Punch! Bar’s first sip had a tomato garnish and was made with vodka, dried tomato, and ginger. The second course of the gum was roast beef with baked potato, and fittingly, the second drink had savory brown butter, rosemary, bay leaf, and bourbon — plus it was garnished with a mini baked potato! Inspired by the final course of the gum (blueberry pie), the third sip ended sweet like dessert. Punch! Bar’s top-notch bartenders can make many a great drink, but this one in particular was unique, clever, and absolutely delicious.
BEST collaboration: Collective Pour bringing in Smith Burger Co.
Collective Pour’s beer is better with food, and Smith Burger Co.’s food truck burgers taste even better eaten at a table than in my car. I love that Smith Burger Co. and Collective Pour are open for lunch — a rarity in Downtown Champaign these days. Smith Burger Co.’s owner Drew is pretty much always there, taking orders, wiping tables, bringing out burgers, and checking in with diners. And anyone who remembers the epic soft pretzel of pre-pandemic days when Collective Pour ran the kitchen can be happy because that giant pretzel is back, and not much hits harder than a cold beer with a hot, salty pretzel.
BEST way to spend $1: Bread from Tienda Guatemala
There isn’t much that costs one dollar anymore, but the bread at this little grocery in Urbana, Tienda Guatemala, does. All the bread is baked fresh daily and only $1. When I asked the staff what the different breads were called, she told me, “bread.” And that’s all we need to know really. It’s cheap, tasty bread.
BEST new fusion dish: Nacho rangoon at 83 Vietnamese
One of the best things I ate in all of 2023 was this nacho rangoon appetizer at 83 Vietnamese. On crunchy wonton wrappers, there’s crab meat, chopped green onion, warm cream cheese, and a drizzle of sweet and sour sauce, which they make in-house. When nachos are made with tortilla chips, usually the chips get wet and floppy, but fried wontons hold a crunch and make sturdy scoops. My favorite part of a crab rangoon is the corner where the wrapper is crispy and the cream cheese isn’t too globby, and I dip that into the sauce. Every bite of these is that best bite over and over.
BEST toothpick: Watson’s Shack & Rail chicken toothpicks
Look at that toothpick! It’s a chicken. How charming for Downtown Champaign’s chicken shack to have chicken toothpicks for their cocktails. I’ll have another round, please.
BEST farmers’ market set up: Central Illinois Bakehouse in the summer
This summer, Central Illinois Bakehouse switched up their Urbana market set-up for the better. Rather than shoppers joining a long line to wait-wait-wait and then order (while a line of people wait on you) and staff retrieve the bread, the bakehouse rearranged the market spot into a little outdoor store. Shoppers wander down the aisle of bread, and there’s no line until the register at the very end. I love browsing the breads, croughnuts, cookies, buns, and pastries up close because it usually makes me want to buy more treats. And no one is waiting on me if I take forever to decide between the everything bagels or pretzel bites.
BEST deep-fried dish at a new restaurant: Northern Cuisine’s crispy pork belly in a sweet-and-sour-glaze
The new stylish Campustown spot Northern Cuisine opened with a menu of delicious Chinese cuisine, and the crispy pork belly in a sweet-and-sour glaze is outstanding. They take pork belly, batter it, fry it, and toss it in a from-scratch sweet, sticky sauce. It reminds me of Destihl’s battered bacon (RIP) but instead of strips of bacon, it’s thinly sliced triangles of pork belly. That sweet-and-sour glaze is just perfect.
BEST drink at a food truck: Agua de sandía at Los Paisas food truck
I love watermelon, but cutting watermelon is a chore, and it’s so dang messy. This agua de sandía from Los Paisas food truck comes in a humongous cup, and it seriously tastes like eating a watermelon. For real. It has pulp, and each sip is like the center bite of a watermelon slice with a burst of super sweet melon fruitiness. The new food truck has other flavors, but this is the best one — though the pineapple is tasty, too.
BEST new dispensary: Cloud9
It’s a happy day when there’s more cannabis in C-U, and the best new dispensary is Cloud9 in Champaign, which opened in this March. It has a wide selection of THC gummies, pre-rolled cigarettes, flower, vapes, and more. It’s the only place to buy cannabis in North Champaign, making Cloud9 an easy stop on a North Prospect errand day.
BEST way to avoid drinking alcohol: Mocktails at Katie’s Mocktail Labs
In my little opinion, most mocktails suck, but I’m a big fan of kombucha mocktails since taking Katie Carrillo’s mocktail lab in Urbana. She taught a class about what to pair kombucha with to elevate and enhance the flavors. I can honestly say that I took what she taught to heart. I use what I learned that night at Cloud Mountain to make mocktails at home regularly. My favorite: muddle fresh basil with five dashes of Angostura bitters and some simple syrup; then add ice and fill with half kombucha, half sparkling water.
BEST way to drink Malört in this town: The bar crawl for Malört Fest
Malört is an iconic Chicago drink, and if you’ve had it, you know that it’s…a lot. Malört is not for the weak; it’ll make you fight your dad, and that’s why this summer’s Malört Fest bar crawl was the best way to drink Malört. Five local bars each created a cocktail with the strong spirit. Champaign showed up to sip each one and vote. Quality won with the Elder-lört, a cocktail made with Malört, Sprite, and raspberry liqueur, garnished with a slice of lemon.
BEST creative cake: Edible Book Festival cake by Tiara Winfield
The Edible Book Festival happens every year, and this year’s winner was Tiara Winfield. She created a tiered cake inspired by Viola Davis’ book Finding Me, including a chocolate bust in the likeness of the author. The cake’s detail was incredible featuring flowers, a beautifully sculpted face, quotes from Davis’ book, and an edible book accessory with more hand-painted words from the memoir.
BEST food event: Maize’s five course dinner with Don Julio tequila pairings
Finally, there were a lot of food events this year, but none compare to Maize’s al fresco dinner with Don Julio tequila pairings. The menu was exceptional with five courses including mole pork belly and taco de tuétano (roasted bone marrow taco).
The owner roasted the bones for taco de tuétano on an outdoor grill, wafting aromas to the patio diners steps away. On both from-scratch blue and yellow corn tortillas, we scooped the birria and unctuous marrow. And then took a shot of tequila down the bone, a bone marrow luge. The decorations were beautiful, the weather cooperated, and the tastings included the nicest tequila I’ve ever had — and probably will ever have.
