Chrome similarly used to honor the /etc/hosts file, first by default, then via setting. Now it always uses Google's DNS, no workarounds. I cant create localhost aliases for dev VMs nor can I block distracting sites. I've switched back to firefox.
Ironically, this "feature" prevented me from getting good access to Google's own services. I was only getting routed to a saturated Google datacenter (the NUQ range, e.g. nuq04s01-in-f1.1e100.net). When I just blocked all those servers, it detected that and sent me to another range of servers (LAX) that worked much faster... but I used Firefox every time I wanted to open Google Maps because that trick didn't work from Chrome!