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Where to eat in Chicago?


Huzband

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The Wife & I will be in Chicago this weekend for a convention. Staying at the Sheraton near the Navy Pier, & we'd like to get out of the hotel for a couple of evening meals. We like very nice, but nothing where we can't wear jeans. And food & service has to be excellent.

 

Suggestions?

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Chicago Source

Top 100

 

 

Call now to make reservations!

 

my favorites...

 

Frontera Grill on North Clark Street at Hubbard Street - Mexican (or Topolobampo - either one - same owners

 

Cafe Ba Ba Reeba! - Tapas - Spanish

 

Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House - shares the kitchen with Gibsons for much less $

 

Le Colonial - Vietnamese

 

Shaw's Crab House - crabs and oysters

 

Twin Anchors - Ribs - and the feeling that you are sitting in a family bar in WI

 

 

I could go on and on and on

it's hard to get a bad meal in Chicago

I'm so jealous!! Have a GREAT time and you MUST POST PHOTOS! please?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Frontera Grill? That schmuck goes to Mexico, steals fabulous recipes and remakes them into horribly expensive treats for the fat of wallet.

By all means post a foto of your meal.Please.....

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Geez, that's a tough one. There are bazillions of great restaurants in Chicago. On Navy Pier, you could hit Harry Caray's or Riva and get great meals. The latter offers some nice views.

 

One of my favorite places near there is Bandera, a place offering the best darned rotisserie chicken you'll ever have; it's on Michigan Avenue and they generally have a jazz trio in the evening. Not expensive, either. Catch 35 is great for seafood, and Heaven on Seven is an outstanding Cajun restaurant. In the Sheraton, you'll find Shula's Steak House, one of the top steak places in the city. Do you have a preference for a certain type of cuisine?

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Joe Frickin' Friday
Shaw's Crab House - crabs and oysters

 

+1 on Shaw's. Jeans are borderline, but probabably more OK if you're being seated in the oyster bar (as opposed to the more formal main dining room). Excellent food, and we've (almost) always had top-notch service there.

 

 

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I second Hugo's Frog Bar, I always go there when I visit Chicago. you have to try their Key Lime Pie, best I have ever had, and I have had a bunch all over the planet. :thumbsup:

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Lots of choices, just as I suspected. I'm mostly a meat & potatoes guy, but not exclusively. I don't know what a foodie is, but I doubt I would fit in there. Mostly we're looking at places we don't have here. And like I said, get out of the hotel. That's where the convention is, so I don't care how good Shula's is, I would've needed to make reservations a month ago just to have a chance at a table.

 

Thanks for the help, & keep 'em comin'.

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Probably not a jeans place but I doubt they'd turn you away. The best steak I had ever was at GeneandGeorgettis . If you change your mind about what you want to wear this beats Morton's and any of the other chains hands down. And the service is superb. Price is mid to high but it will be memorable.

 

Have fun.

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Probably not a jeans place but I doubt they'd turn you away. The best steak I had ever was at GeneandGeorgettis . If you change your mind about what you want to wear this beats Morton's and any of the other chains hands down. And the service is superb. Price is mid to high but it will be memorable.

 

Have fun.

 

That looks tasty. Thanks.

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Danny--I'd suggest creating an account on Open Table, which is an on-line reservation system that includes hundreds of restaurants in the Chicago area (they also cover other metro areas). You could plug in the time you're looking for a reservation, restrict it by cuisine or location, and it will give you the option of making reservations on the spot. It's a great tool that includes customer reviews, links to the restaurants' websites, and more.

 

If you're not up for a dressy place, you might want to check out the Weber Grill restaurant. Great steaks, burgers, and more, all cooked on real charcoal grills.

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Fogo do Chao or Brazzas are both good and within 4 blocks of each other.

 

No need to speak Portuguese

Mas eles gosta muito quando voce fazer.

 

 

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Thanks, Mike. I'll look into that.

 

While you're there, check out the Chicago Restaurant Week specials, which run through Sunday; great deals at some of the best restaurants in Chicago. However, the reservations often go fast . . . .

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One of my favorite places near there is Bandera, a place offering the best darned rotisserie chicken you'll ever have; it's on Michigan Avenue and they generally have a jazz trio in the evening. Not expensive, either.

 

+1 One of my staple stops to eat when I was a Chi-Towner. Best cornbread north of the Mason-Dixon line.

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Aluminum_Butt

It's nothing like the "nicer" places that others have posted, but can you really come to Chicago and not have Chicago-style pizza?

 

My favorite is Gino's East. Other popular favorites are Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. Supporting one is kind of like supporting a sports team - somebody's likely to tell you that yours sucks and theirs is better. All three have downtown locations.

 

If you decide to try it, and you like sausage, recommend you ask for "crumbled", not "patty".

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Gibson's Steak House on N Rush is one of my favorites. A lot of the local TV personalities hang there. Good bar for before and after drinks.

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I second Hugo's Frog Bar, I always go there when I visit Chicago. you have to try their Key Lime Pie, best I have ever had, and I have had a bunch all over the planet. :thumbsup:

Key Lime outside of Florida? The temerity, sir! I take umbrage at the mere suggestion.

But try it and let me know.

Only place I went that I would recommend was the Goose Island brewery on Clybourne. I was there for the brews but the appetizers were very good and the entrees looked really good. The atmosphere was a very classy/casual mix that worked.

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Grab the L out to Ohare and jump over to Harry Carey's.

 

Better yet . . . go to the one in downtown Chicago.

 

Absolutely - go to the one downtown, where you won't see the

and if you'd gotten here long ago you could have eaten it
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If you want steak, Gene & Georgetti's or Gibson's, though neither will be cheap. Also David Burke's Primehouse is near the Sheraton.

 

Might be tough to get in because it just made the Michelin Guide, but the Purple Pig is just off Michigan Ave. Pork, cheese, wine, how can you go wrong?

 

Harry Caray's is within walking distance and is always good.

 

I'd say Frontera or Topo but you won't be able to get in except maybe at opening or closing. Rick has a new Mexican street food place right around the corner, Xoco, that you could try.

 

Heaven on Seven for New Orleans food, either the original on Wabash or the one on Michigan Ave.

 

Stefani's 437 Rush, another Italian steakhouse. Same ownership as Riva, a seafood place on Navy Pier, and Tavern on Rush. Then there's the Rosebud places, one on Dearborn, one on Rush.

 

A little beyond walking distance but worth the effort is Cafe Iberico, a tapas place, at Chicago and LaSalle.

 

There's an offshoot of Joe's Stone Crab on Rush, probably not the something different you're looking for. Various deep-dish pizza places - Pizzaria Uno & Due, Gino's East, Lou Malnati's.

 

If you want real Chicago food, Portillo's Hot Dogs or Al's Italian Beef on W. Ontario. For the atmosphere more than the food, the Billy Goat underneath the Tribune Tower.

 

Second the recommendation on Open Table, especially if you have a smartphone and can use their app. I've seen tables show in in the Open Table system that the restaurant staff didn't know were available.

 

If you walk west across Michigan Avenue from the Sheraton, or north along St. Clair and Michigan, you'll find hundreds of options.

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Oh yeah - end of Navy Pier - Riva's.

 

Well, now, the best place in Chicago for seafood is Calumet Fisheries. A James Beard Foundation honoree, raved about by Anthony Bourdain, right next to the drawbridge that that the Blues Brothers jumped across in the Bluesmobile. However, 3259 E. 95th Street is a bit more of an adventure than I'd want to send out-of-towners on.

 

4388.jpg

 

http://www.calumetfisheries.com/home.html

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Thanks for all the recommendations folks. We went to Brazzaz Fri night. OMG!!! That was awesome! Great food, great service, & a lot of fun. Sat night we were too bushed from the convention to go out, so I talked (read tipped) a waiter at Shula's into letting me take our order up to the room. It was quite good for carry out. :grin:

 

We have lots to look forward to next year when we go back, so we'll go a couple of days early. And the snow Saturday was a bonus for us.

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John Ranalletta

Glad you enjoyed your evening. We had a private party at Francesca's on Chestnut and drinks at the Red Head Piano Bar. The food was terrific and the Red Head was amazing. If the max. occupancy sign said "91", the crowd was easily double that and all were having a grand time. I'd recommend both next time.

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George Brown
Probably not a jeans place but I doubt they'd turn you away. The best steak I had ever was at GeneandGeorgettis . If you change your mind about what you want to wear this beats Morton's and any of the other chains hands down. And the service is superb. Price is mid to high but it will be memorable.

 

Have fun.

+1 - my favorite Chitown eatery
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Couldn't agree more on Brazzaz! Went with 2 others from work on this past Sunday and all agreed that it was the BEST we have ever had. Wait staff and servers were great, and the food was FANTASTIC.

Highly recommended!

 

 

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