I, too, like a lite meal before a performance, and our go to place for that is Bin 36. Get a flight of cheese, some wine and maybe one other appetizer.

Jonah

Resurrecting this thread to get some recommendations- going to see Santaland Diaries at Goodman this Saturday night with a friend. My friend has more restrictions than I do- she's not a particularly adventurous eater, so most ethnic food is out. I usually cringe when she orders because there's inevitably a couple ingredients she doesn't like, or wants something very customized....she must be a good friend because I still like going out with her Anyway, the one food group she's definitely not a fan of is seafood, so wherever we go has to have other options (*I* can still eat seafood!). $25 or less for entrees would be great, $30 or less would be acceptable for the right dish.

I pre-paid for parking across the street from the theater, but I think the weather's supposed to be fairly mild on Saturday, so I'm not opposed to walking a few blocks to get to the restaurant and back.

I don't go to the theaters downtown that often, but I know at the Italian Village, they'll hold your leftovers while you're at the show- not sure how common that is, but that would be awesome, though I suppose we could drop leftovers back at the car if we had to.

Italian Village was already on my list, Elephant and Castle on Wabash has been added now that I've looked at this thread...other ideas? The Dearborn was a little pricey for this trip.

I'm pretty sure Petterino's (right next door to the Goodman) has entrees in the $25-or-less category. Might be worth downloading a menu to see.

I know you said no ethnic, but I think Broken English has enough variety on the menu to appeal to the non taco crowd, although most of their Mexican offerings seemed pretty toned down to me. 75 E. Lake.

The wife and I will also hit up Staytion Bar across Lake at State for a charcuterie plate and a drink before the Goodman.

riddlemay wrote:I'm pretty sure Petterino's (right next door to the Goodman) has entrees in the $25-or-less category. Might be worth downloading a menu to see.

Agree with this recommendation--a good choice for the non-adventurous eater (it's Lettuce Entertain You) but food is decent, and you can't beat the location for the Goodman.

We also like Trattoria No. 10 for pre-theater, and find that there are always some affordable options on the menu (especially if you stick to pasta).

Petterino's also has specific pre-theater meals at a good set price.

If you do decide on Petterino's, keep in mind that this is the time of year when Lettuce Entertain You has their bonus gift card offer - buy $100 in gift cards, get a lightly-restricted $25 bonus card. The regular gift cards cannot be used the same day purchased. But if you can stop by any Lettuce restaurant at least a day before going to Petterino's, you can use the gift cards there and also keep the bonus card for use this winter.

We ended up at Petterino's, though it was me and equally adventurous husband. My friend had to cancel at the last minute. We both did the pre-fixe- I had the crispy burrata, he had the SotD, Lobster Bisque. I got the papardelle Bolognese, he had the short rib. I got the Key lime pie, he got the tiramisu. Everything was really good and they got us in and out!

I'm going to include "expensive" as seems needless to have multiple threads on restaurants near theaters, readers can pick/choose pricepoints.

All following are restaurants near Steppenwolf

Boka - a favorite pre-Steppenwolf, plenty of info in the Boka thread: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2300&start=60

King Crab House - Steppenwolf theatre attendees get 20% off the bill. Mrs Willie & I usually grab a couple dozen oysters and have always been pleased. We went just the other night, tried other items and while still extremely pleased with the oysters, were not pleased with every other item we ordered.
1) they were out of clams
2) the peel & eat shrimp while some were perfect, there were enough that were mealy in texture to be put off
3) "large" king crab legs are mediums at best, meat was mealy in texture & not a lot of flavor
4) mussels were also mealy and again not a lot of flavor
5) oysters still excellent
King Crab House
1816 N Halsted
http://kingcrabchicago.com/

Willow Room - Mrs Willie & I went a few months back & I should have written it up then but alas didn't. There were some very good cocktails and some items that were very good as well as some that were just ok. (again sorry for lack of details). We did decide that it was worth another shot in the near future.
Willow Room
1800 N Halsted
http://www.willowroomchicago.com/

My inexpensive pre-Steppenwolf choice:

Burger Bar Chicago
1578 N Clybourn Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642
(312) 255-0055
http://burgerbarchicago.com/

Creative burgers that are actually cooked to order.

A few blocks north of Steppenwolf at Halsted and Armitage is Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, which has been around a long time and (based on a fairly recent visit) is still very good as well as a very good value for the money. Also at that intersection is Oyster Bah, and its spinoff for all-you-can-eat king crab and burgers, Crab Cellar.