Bacon Manhattan from The Southern among Zagat's Most Unique Bacon Dishes

On a recent Friday morning I visited Glazed & Infused Doughnuts in Wicker Park for the first time, and I walked away with an incredible maple bacon doughnut. 

The Bucktown-Wicker Park area must have something in the bacon, because another unique use of our favorite breakfast meat was recently recognized by Zagat, a top source for restaurant reviews.

In its "50 Plates of Bacon" list, Zagat featured some of the most unique uses of bacon in dishes, and The Southern in Wicker Park made the list. 

The Southern, located at 1840 W. North Ave., apparently makes a mean Manhattan. Besides being a quality drink in its own right, this Manhattan includes bacon and maple syrup. 

According to Zagat, "Inside this meaty drink, you find a house-infused bacon bourbon using Jim Beam, and North Country smoked bacon, which gets garnished with a thick slice of pork and sweetened with 100% pure maple syrup."

The Southern was one of three Chicago restaurants on the list. Also featured were Hash House a Go Go's sage fried chicken with bacon waffles and Mercat a la Planxa's coca flatbread with bacon marmalade, beef short rib and horseradish. 

See the full list of bacon beauties on Zagat.com.