19 Illinois Cities Ranked By Their Awesome Food and Drink
Way to go Rockford! We made the list!
When you think of all the cities in Illinois, your head may explode. At least mine did.
Thrillist.com put out a list of the Top 19 cities in all of Illinois, ranked, based on their food and drink. I knew my hometown had to be on the list. I mean, come on... they had to be. Boy was I wrong.
My hometown, where I live, where my family lives and where my friends live didn't make the list. But, where I work (psst, that's Rockford) made the cut! Way to go Rockford!
This is how Thrillist came up with the ranking:
So, how the hell did we do this? By employing several metrics -- including bars/restaurants per capita, restaurant growth data from Nielsen, number of bars/restaurants included on past Thrillist best-of Illinois lists, number of awards won by bars/restaurants in each city, and walkability of downtown areas with high bar/restaurant concentrations, weighing all local joints more heavily than chains.
Alright, sounds good... now let's get to the ranks!
19. Aurora
18. Long Grove
17. Elmhurst
16. Libertyville
15. Morton Grove
14. Highland Park
13. Forest Park
12. Galena
11. Geniva
10. Murphysboro
9. Bloomington-Normal
8. Carbondale
7. Oak Park
6. Rockford
5. Peoria
4. Springfield
3. Champaign-Urbana
2. Evanston
1. Chicago
Here's what Thrillist had to say about Rockford:
Rockford boats an impressive lineup of restaurants, including Lino’s (one of the state’s best pizza joints) and the Stockholm Inn, which were both recently named a “Delicious Destination” by the Illinois Office of Tourism. Illinois’s third-largest city has more than 300 restaurants, including popular Marc’s Fusion Café and Five Forks Market, as well as Rockford Brewing Company, the longest operating brewery in Illinois, and Abreo, one of the state’s best restos -- which definitely knocks this city up a few rungs in our book.
How's that for AWESOME! Nice work Rockford! Now let's all go grab a pizza and beer to celebrate!