Great Everyman food? Check. (My weakness: hot dogs “dragged through the garden.”) Fine dining on par with the country’s best? Chicago can claim that distinction, too. Innovation and accessibility propel the Windy City’s food scene, second only to New York’s for the recognition it has received from the prestigious James Beard Foundation (more than 40 chef and restaurant awards). Chef Rick Bayless sets the Mexican standard in the country, at all price points, with a fleet of first-class eateries, while Grant Achatz of Alinea, which serves fruit-flavored balloons for dessert, pushes the molecular envelope to the moon. If some global flavors are only nominally represented, prime steaks and top-notch tacos are, like frigid winters, a given here. Bonus: This might be the only city in the country with an exciting new restaurant, Fat Rice, dedicated to the food of Macau. Its signature dish layers jasmine rice, Chinese sausage, Portuguese chicken thighs, pickles, prawns and more.

Defining moment: Grazing my way through the menu at the groovy Parachute, a mom-and-pop that serves showstoppers including bibimbap with Spanish mackerel and preserved lemon.

Best fast food: Xoco – “little sister” in Aztec – shows what happens when a top chef (Chicago’s Rick Bayless) goes casual: The café’s peerless hot chocolate relies on cacao beans from Tabasco that are roasted and ground in-house.