Rockford Has All 5 Of The Top 5 Regional Restaurant Chains In Illinois

We don't have a shortage of good places to eat in town and this latest list proves it. 

Chicago Eater - Restaurants can use Facebook user data for all types of fun, and one company has crunched numbers to determine the most popular regional restaurant chains in all 50 states. In Illinois...Portillo's took home the crown with the most Facebook likes with 370,000. That's 70,000 more than Culver's which placed No. 2.

If there's one thing we here in Illinois are passionate about it's our Italian Beefs. We're the only Midwestern state that didn't put Culver's at the top of the list. Now Culver's is great but an Italian Beef will kick a ButterBurger to the curb 10 times out of 10.

Here's the complete top 10:

1. Portillo's
2. Culver's
3. Tilted Kilt
4. Potbelly Sandwich
5. Giordano's Pizzeria
6. Shake Shack
7. Cooper's Hawk
8. Gino's East
9. Blaze Pizza
10. Twin Peaks

I do have some thoughts on these places.

No problem with the top two spots. Tilted Kilt probably is getting some inflated "Likes" on Facebook for obvious reasons (same for Twin Peaks) I'm not saying it's a bad place but there are better options for food.

Love Potbelly's at 4. Probably my favorite "sub" franchise. A bonus for Potbelly's is an excellent selection of chips. Next time you're there give these a whirl:

Best chips in the game.

Giordano's has the name recognition but anyone from Chicago will tell you that there are soooooo many better options, two of them being on this list in Gino's and Blaze, it's fine in a pinch but you can do better.

We don't have a Shake Shack here in town but that's fine. We have 15th and Chris. I've had both. 15th and Chris wins very bigly.

The only Cooper's Hawk I've been to was in Hoffman Estates. It was very good. We should get one in town.

Remember to go out and support these "local" spots. We have good food out here in fly-over country. Be proud of it.