Visiting for two days in September..give me your best lists

My s/o and I will be in Chicago for two days in late September and are staying at the Peninsula. We're looking for great dining experiences for the short time we are there. We have dinner reservations for Alinea one night, so basically I need suggestions for one more dinner and a couple of lunches. We're not a fan of French food. Not really looking for steak. Upscale mexican, tuscan italian are things we're interested in. Walking distance from the Pen would be preferred. I've heard good things about Naha, and Coco Pazzo. Topolobampo and the Frontera Grill seem like possibilities.

I've looked at the menus and read the reviews for Avenues, Tru, Charlie Trotter's, and Everest, and they don't interest me.

Thanks in advance.

Shea

shea wrote:My s/o and I will be in Chicago for two days in late September and are staying at the Peninsula. We're looking for great dining experiences for the short time we are there. We have dinner reservations for Alinea one night, so basically I need suggestions for one more dinner and a couple of lunches. We're not a fan of French food. Not really looking for steak. Upscale mexican, tuscan italian are things we're interested in. Walking distance from the Pen would be preferred. I've heard good things about Naha, and Coco Pazzo. Topolobampo and the Frontera Grill seem like possibilities.

I've looked at the menus and read the reviews for Avenues, Tru, Charlie Trotter's, and Everest, and they don't interest me.

Thanks in advance.

Shea

From where are you visiting?

We're visiting from Hawaii.

BTW, since we're doing the over-the-top foodie experience at Alinea, for our other dining experiences, while we're looking for great food, we probably want our other meals to be more, well, substantial and perhaps less adventurous than Alinea, although we like nuevo latino, etc., and innovation. The one thing we get plenty of here in Hawaii is good Thai and pacific cuisine, but there's a real lack of good Italian, Latin American, etc.

Shea

Start with the GNR list LTH has compiled.

Go for Polish ... you can't get much of that in Hawaii.

Lots of threads about Lutnia ... here's one:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... b489680403

Lutnia
5532 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
773.282.5335