Shrimp in Chicago

35 restaurants in Chicago list shrimp on their menus. The cheapest is Tuscany at $6.00. The typical price across town is $14.33, and the dearest we found is $26.95 at Pizzeria Ora, so the two ends of the list are $20.95 apart, which is 349% more for the same dish. Of the 35 kitchens listed, 14 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 8 sit within a dollar of it and 13 charge more than a dollar over.

We track shrimp in 81 other areas and compare them all on shrimp across United States. The typical price there runs $15.95 at the median, so Chicago is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 48 of the 81. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine in Portland, OR, and the highest best price is $19.50 in Revere, MA. The nearest area with it is Buffalo Grove, about 25 mi away, where the best price is $14.50.

Where is the cheapest shrimp in Chicago? Tuscany, at $6.00 on 1014 West Taylor Street. The same dish reaches $26.95 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $20.95.

What should shrimp cost here? About $14.33 is the typical price across the 35 kitchens in Chicago that list it. Of the ones listed above, 14 are more than a dollar below that and 13 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Buffalo Grove, about 25 mi away, where the best price is $14.50. That is $8.50 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.