Nice birthday dinner next week

Hey, first post on this forum, a friend highly recommended it. Hopefully you guys can help me out!

So, I'm turning 23 in a week, and would like to go into the city to celebrate. Evanston is only so exciting anymore Anyway, the friends going with me (probably 6 of them) are between 19 and 23 years old, so bars and lounges won't really work.

We'd really like go somewhere we can feel comfortable dressing up at least a little, but we're all college students/recent grads and can't really afford to spend more than $30 each. I assume that really limits us, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Thanks!

What kind of food are you looking for, and where in the City? Although we don't go for the dressing-up bit, we often are looking for $30 for the whole family, and there is an endless supply of nice places all over, especially if you're willing to go ethnic, Though I think that a $30 limit should open things up beyond nice ethnic places as well.

Welcome.

This recent thread was focused on inexpensive restaurants where you could dress up a little and have a good time.

Best,
Michael

We had dinner at Mundial Cocina Mestiza last night and it was $30 each, BYOB. Some people in the room were dressed nicely, others just casual, so you could go either way there. More here: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9455

Mhays wrote:What kind of food are you looking for, and where in the City? Although we don't go for the dressing-up bit, we often are looking for $30 for the whole family, and there is an endless supply of nice places all over, especially if you're willing to go ethnic, Though I think that a $30 limit should open things up beyond nice ethnic places as well.

I'm open to just about anything. I know at least one of my friends really doesn't like sushi, but as far as I know that's our only limitation.

In terms of location, I'd rather not go too far south, as we're in Evanston. We'd prefer something North/Near North, maybe in the Loop at the farthest.

Are you and your friends the kind of young people who dress in black and walk around texting each other or are you closer to the kind who dress in vintage finds and like nothing more than a good game of Risk? Are you looking for hip or retro? If the latter are closer to your answers, I think you might have a blast at Sabatino's. Lots of fancy clothes. Great people-watching. Terrific food. Friendly prices. And flames. Flames make any meal more fun.

In the same vein as Sabatino's, but high-class Polish rather than Italian:

Lutnia
5532 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago

nr706 wrote:In the same vein as Sabatino's, but high-class Polish rather than Italian:

Lutnia
5532 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago

NR, we're both big fans of Lutnia, but some of these people are teenagers, and I'm not sure the old school charm will work for generation Y (or is it Z by now?) as it would for members of ours, the second greatest generation. I feel pretty much the same way about Sabatino's, which is also a place I like a lot. Then again, I used to like Ike, if you get my drift.

Since when are we only the second greatest generation?

If the OP is more of a hipster, maybe Carnivale? As an old fart, I know I'd probably single-handedly increase the average age of the huge crowd by almost half a decade.

Carnivale
702 W. Fulton, Chicago

And, hey, I liked the guy who stopped the buck.

nr706 wrote:maybe Carnivale?

With most of the entrees priced in the twenties, it's tough to get through Carnivale for $30 per person, all in.

I wouldn't rule out Evanston itself. For example, you could dress up a bit and go to Trattoria D.O.C. or Gio without having to rob a bank to pay for it. Or Koi, for Chinese. You could even do Pete Miller's if you stick to their salads or excellent burgers rather than the steaks.

Or, what about going Greek in Greek Town? I listed all the Greek places in Greek Town in this topic.