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Home / Businesses / Portillo's

Portillo's

Iconic/NotableRiver North · Chicago Classic Community-sourced, unverified
📍 100 W Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60654

Portillo's started in 1963 as a 6-by-12-foot trailer with no running water on North Avenue in Villa Park, where Dick Portillo sank about $1,100 into a hot dog stand he called The Dog House.

$$
The chocolate cake is a Chicago fast-food staple in its own right — simple, reliable, exactly what you want after an Italian beef.

By 1967 it had a real building and the family name, and the chain that grew from it is now one of the most reliable places in the city to get a proper Chicago dog: Vienna Beef frank, yellow mustard, neon relish, chopped onion, tomato, a pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt on a poppy seed bun — and, as every Chicagoan will remind you, never ketchup. The River North location at Ontario and Clark (signed as Portillo's & Barnelli's, with the pasta side of the brand under the same roof) is the big downtown one, two floors decked out in vintage Chicago memorabilia and built for volume, which is why it's on so many visitors' lists. Order the Chicago dog and the Italian beef — thin-sliced beef soaked in gravy on French bread, ask for it 'dipped' and with hot giardiniera if you want it the local way — and finish with the chocolate cake, or the chocolate cake shake that blends a whole slice into it.

There's no special or discount here; the value is that the classics are consistent and fast. It runs late into the night (listings put closing between 11pm and 1am depending on the day), and it's a short walk from the Grand Red Line stop.

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Specials at Portillo's

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Portillo's

Iconic/Notable
Chicago Dog, Italian Beef + Chocolate Cake
River NorthCommunity

Hours

Dailyfrom ~10AM; closing listed 11PM-1AM depending on source/day
📅 Reservations not available 🥡 Takeout available 📞 (312) 587-8910

Amenities & accessibility

🚶Walk-in only, no reservations
🥡Takeout available
♿Wheelchair accessible
🙂Kid-friendly
🅿️Parking garage
🚇Near the CTA Red Line

Location

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