The January Hit List: Ruth’s Panmade Pizza, Split-Rail, Carver 47 and More

Chicago’s deli mini-revival continues apace with Rye & Deli, a smoke-kissed take on traditional Jewish deli food from the minds of chef Billy Caruso (24 Diner, Easy Tiger Bake Shop & Beer Garden) and general manager Jeremy Vass (Chicago III Forks, Bel Air Country Club). Expect beet-cured salmon that’s cold smoked for eight hours, and heirloom wheat bagels slathered with labneh and burnt eggplant, garlic, lemon and pomegranate. There’s pastrami too, of course, piled high on seeded rye with a mustard schmear, along with soups, shareables and even a Jerusalem bagel burger. Coffee drinks, tea and wine are available to go or stay, as are imaginative to-go cocktails — like the Clockwork Orange, with vodka, fresh carrot juice, aquavit, and lemon — batched for one, by the quart and even by the gallon.

Dining status: Pickup is available.

Honest, invigorating Vietnamese cooking shines at Thai and Danielle Dang’s Pilsen restaurant, which offers family meal kits for two to four plus a handful of menu classics to go, like whole-fried fluke, crispy wings smothered in caramelized fish sauce and Thai chile, and signature green papaya salad with housemade beef jerky. Heads up: Check the website for monthly changing cooking classes, during which you might learn to make that beguiling papaya salad yourself.

Dining status: Pickup and delivery are available.

Even in the dead of Chicago winter, good times abound at this cheery spot, with its tasty fried chicken and fish, and boozy slushies. They’ve added some hot cocktails to warm you through whether you’re braving the patio or carrying out. We love the choose-your-booze mulled cider and the Heat Miser, with bourbon- and triple sec-laced coffee.

Dining status: No dine-in but patio seating via counter service is available, weather permitting; call 773-384-3333 for more details. Also carryout and delivery.

This newcomer all-day cafe inside the recently reopened cultural arts and education center Little Black Pearl celebrates the legacy of famed agricultural scientist and inventor Dr. George Washington Carver. Chef, owner, and professional vocalist Lizz Wright turns onsite and locally procured ingredients into imaginative meals like Affy Tapple pancakes topped with spiced apples and peanut-butter butter; and roasted chicken or portobello steak harvest bowls with sweet potatoes, balsamic onions, kale, and pomegranate salad. The cafe also features a retail market with produce, flowers, home goods and clothing.

Dining status: Curbside pickup is available.

For craggy fried chicken that holds its crag in transit, and fluffy buttermilk biscuits, consider carryout (Wednesday through Sunday) from this inviting restaurant by beloved Chicago chef Zoe Schor. Toss in a crunchy shaved-vegetable caesar salad for some green and a ready-to-bake bread pudding, because you deserve it. For home cooks looking to up their game on everything from whole-roasting chicken to pasta, Schor co-hosts a weekly live cooking class series called Off the Table with Whitney LaMora, founder of flexible event space The Martin. The pair demystify cooking through demonstrating building-block cooking techniques and answering questions. Find more details here.

Dining status: Carryout and delivery are available.

This sultry sherry bar and ultramarino (gourmet neighborhood market) continues to adapt to a tough year and even tougher winter, debuting a heated outdoor pavilion decked out with vintage Persian rugs and weekend DJ sets. Stay for regional Spanish plates with Midwestern touches, like garlicky head-on prawns and foie gras terrine with sherry jam, or ham washed down by one of over 30 sherries on the patio, or at the 30-foot marble bar. Or stock up on small-batch wines, conservas, olive oils, dried spices and potato chips handpicked by executive chef Marcos Campos and Co.

Dining status: Tented patio seating is available; also gourmet grocery items for carryout.

This South Side craft brewpub slings hearty American fare like blue crab gumbo and pulled pork sandwiches alongside award-winning seasonal and staple beers. All winter long, we’ll be ordering growlers of Biere de Voleur, an amber French-style farmhouse ale with toffee-like malt flavors. It goes down extra easy with a grass-fed beef burger topped with melted Gruyère.

Dining status: Limited indoor seating is available; also carryout. Call (773) 779-BREW, Tuesday through Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m.

A flurry of quarantine home baking inspired celeb chef Stephanie Izard and pastry chef Faith Taheny to co-open this imaginative bakery and sweets shop, tucked inside Little Goat Diner. Expect childhood nostalgia with a heavy dose of whimsy via rotating sweet and savory treats, like chocolate french-fry pie with fry crumble crust and chocolate malt silk filling, sourdough avocado toast cake with tomatillo caramel, and tomato-caramel buttercream and oatmeal pickled-raisin cookies. Custom orders are available, with national shipping to follow soon.

Dining status: Pickup and delivery are available.

The team behind Roots Handmade Pizza has dreamed up Ruth’s Panmade Pizza, a delivery-only concept to satisfy partner Scott Weiner’s goal of perfecting Chicago’s famous butter-crust deep dish pizza. The resulting rich, caramelized crust houses nostalgic fillings like ground beef with jalapeños and spicy cheese curds. Inventive sandwiches (like our fave, a beef torta gyro with pepperoncinis and tzatziki), chicken wings, monstrous salads and towering cheesecake slices round out the fun-loving menu. Better yet, 10% of all proceeds benefit the ACLU of Illinois’s Roger Baldwin Foundation, in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice (and concept namesake) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Dining status: Delivery only; order here.