Restaurants in Palatine

Chicken Charlie's grills and smokes fresh, never-frozen chicken that ABC7's "Hungry Hound" Steve Dolinsky says “arrives tender and juicy, not overcooked.” The eatery's menu abounds with slabs of ribs slathered in barbecue sauce, brisket sandwiches, and baked potatoes stuffed with grilled chicken breast and dressed in cheddar cheese. Catering services supply ample eats for coworkers, birthday partygoers, or hoarders who contend that Y2K has just been biding its time before striking.

In the kitchen of El Sombrero Restaurant, Chef Ignacio "Nacho" Suchil prepares Mexican favorites such as big burritos, corn-tortilla enchiladas, and fish tacos made with icelandic cod and lime. While live music plays in the dining room, he splashes housemade creole sauce onto grilled shrimp and tosses skirt steaks onto blazing grills. El Sombrero Restaurant augments its eats with a game room, outdoor seating, and a lunch buffet on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Since 1979, a collection of family chefs has filled El Torero Restaurant & Bar's dining room with the aromas of authentic Mexican cuisine. Equipped with a catch of fresh ingredients, chefs drizzle chicken with special mole, green, and garlic sauces, and broil prime skirt steak before topping it with zucchini or poblano peppers. In the construction of their fleet of specialty enchiladas, cooks sauté shrimp and melt savory cheeses before en-rainbowing the whole ensemble with colorful veggies.

Outside the kitchen, bartending brethren supplement bites with margaritas forged from 100% agave tequila, and fruit cocktails concocted from the likes of Curacao and amaretto. Tall, vibrant purple booths cradle patrons more effectively than a robotic grandmother, and floor-to-ceiling windows illuminate gentle pastel-yellow walls.

All too often, embracing authenticity means sacrificing creativity, but the chefs in San Gabriel Mexican Café’s kitchen strive to incorporate both. They infuse classic tuna ceviche with bites of mango and passion fruit, melding tropical sweetness into the savory dish. They busily wield mortars and pestles all day to grind guacamole to order, while their ovens churn out a continuous stream of fresh-baked tortillas. Those tortillas enwrap tacos, enchiladas, and fajitas, but the chefs’ true specialties lie elsewhere on the menu. They enrich the flavor of pablano-chile sauced chicken with ground huitlacoche, an earthy, sweet fungus that grows on corn. They heartily recommend the molcajete, a traditional bowl made from volcanic stone and filled with stewed meat, three chile salsa, and cactus leaf.

Greek Village’s white-washed exterior, which is trimmed with blue shutters and draped in vines, whisks diners to Grecian shores even before they enter the lavishly decorated interior, ready to be plied with classic eats. As servers ignite brandy-soaked saganaki at white-draped tables, diners peruse a menu of traditional Greek fare and Mediterranean specialties. Chefs plate fresh seafood and spear grilled meats onto kebabs, then broil tender cuts of lamb to bronze it for swimsuit season on the Greek Islands. Tongues that utter specialties such as moussaka and spanakotiropita are rewarded for their efforts with platefuls of the much-beloved dishes.

Rustic wooden barrels top the bar’s shelves, while stucco-style walls, indoor greenery, and sumptuously hung curtains transport visitors to the streets of a Grecian village as quickly as a homesick Aegean Airlines jet. On Saturdays, a belly dancer’s smoothly rotating hips hypnotize tables at 7:30 p.m. until live music reanimates them at 8 p.m.

Benjamin Brasserie’s sleek, elegant dining room is staggering, hosting dark tables basking in the warm glow of chandeliers, which reflect off opulent mirrors. Beneath high ceilings, guests slide onto plush seats in the main dining room, or snuggle into private animal-print booths on the mezzanine, serenaded by a combination of blues, jazz, and alternative music, which compliments the restaurant's urban stylized decor. Professional servers adorn tabletops with seasonal plates piled with fresh, local produce and meats from Midwest farms. Local whitefish, bacon from Jones Farm, and greenhouse tomatoes comprise executive chef Benjamin Brittsan’s innovative meals, which are artfully plated to stun both eyes and taste buds.