Version 3.0:

we fly into Midway at 2:51PM Tuesday the 11th.

Tues:
D: Blackbird then drinks at Violet Hour.

Wed:
L: Burt's (will make a reservation and take Metra)
D: Alinea!

Thursday:
L1: Cemitas Puebla
L2: Al's then Mario's
D: Katy's Dumplings? Tru? Avenues? Topo? Mado? Suggestions?

Friday: rent a car at hotel to drop off at Midway
B. Hot Doug's (Standing outside before they open)
L. Urban Belly
Snack: Pasticceria Natalina
D. Vito and Nick's takeout and drive to Midway. (7pm flight)

Version 3.1: You guys posted as I was writing!

we fly into Midway at 2:51PM Tuesday the 11th.

Tues:
D: Mado then drinks at Violet Hour.

Wed:
L: Burt's (will make a reservation and take Metra)
D: Alinea!

Thursday:
L1: Cemitas Puebla
L2: Al's then Mario's
D: Avec? Avenues? Suggestions?

Friday: rent a car at hotel to drop off at Midway
B. Hot Doug's (Standing outside before they open)
L. Urban Belly
Snack: Pasticceria Natalina
D. Vito and Nick's takeout and drive to Midway. (7pm flight)

hhlodesign@gmail.com wrote:Version 3.0:

we fly into Midway at 2:51PM Tuesday the 11th.

Tues:
D: Blackbird then drinks at Violet Hour.

Wed:
L: Burt's (will make a reservation and take Metra)
D: Alinea!

Thursday:
L1: Cemitas Puebla
L2: Al's then Mario's
D: Katy's Dumplings? Tru? Avenues? Topo? Mado? Suggestions?

Friday: rent a car at hotel to drop off at Midway
B. Hot Doug's (Standing outside before they open)
L. Urban Belly
Snack: Pasticceria Natalina
D. Vito and Nick's takeout and drive to Midway. (7pm flight)

Thursday - you'll need a car to get to Katy's.

Avec'd be my choice

A little tip since you are staying near the park. The Gage has good gastropub food if you are still looking for that sort of thing. Since the hubby wants a Rick Bayless taste, the seventh floor of Macy's has a Frontera Grill restaurant (not full service), that you could grab a snack. Also, pizza in that area on Madison, Pizano's does a fine job.

Few thoughts:
1. Avec is really special--the food is unusual and consistently good. One downside is that they don't accept reservations. But, I have always had good luck getting there early. You could consider appetizers and wine at Avec (4-5 ish) and have a late dinner. Though I have to say, the food is so good there, it may be hard to make yourself leave. I like Avec better than Blackbird (though both are gems). I haven't been to Publican so I can't comment there.
2. Hot Doug's is less crowded early and late Monday-Thurs. But duck fat fries are only on Friday and Saturday. If the duck fat fries aren't a must, I would visit H.D. earlier in the week. I went Monday at about 11:15 and waited for 10-15 minutes. I don't know that I would put Urban Belly into the line-up given your limited time. Sticky Rice, TAC Quick and Spoon are an easy drive from Hot Doug's and to Pasticceria Natalina--if you like Thai I would consider one of these for lunch #2. You may want to consider cookies and pastries to take on the plane from Pasticceria. I admire your wherewithall and ambition but you may be suffering for food fatigue by Friday.
3. I really enjoy Katy's but I don't know that it's worth it to rent a car and drive to Westmont. I would recommend Lao Sze Chuan over Katy's--easy cab ride from downtown. Of your other choices for Thursday, I've only eaten at Topo (a long time ago but it was very good).

Edited to correct bad grammar and add that you have created a terrific itinerary (I would point other out-of-town guests to this thread). Nicely done! Can't wait to hear what you think of all these spots.

hhlodesign@gmail.com wrote:Version 3.1: You guys posted as I was writing!

we fly into Midway at 2:51PM Tuesday the 11th.

Tues:
D: Mado then drinks at Violet Hour.

Wed:
L: Burt's (will make a reservation and take Metra)
D: Alinea!

Thursday:
L1: Cemitas Puebla
L2: Al's then Mario's
D: Avec? Avenues? Suggestions?

Friday: rent a car at hotel to drop off at Midway
B. Hot Doug's (Standing outside before they open)
L. Urban Belly
Snack: Pasticceria Natalina
D. Vito and Nick's takeout and drive to Midway. (7pm flight)

Looks very good though sub'ing Al's for Johnnies is a step down, IMO. Also, wrt Hot Doug's, understand there's no guarantee the foie gras dog will be on that day's menu. It *IS* very good, though, so I hope for your sake that it's available.

For Thursday dinner my vote would be Avec.

Kman wrote:Looks very good though sub'ing Al's for Johnnies is a step down, IMO. Also, wrt Hot Doug's, understand there's no guarantee the foie gras dog will be on that day's menu. It *IS* very good, though, so I hope for your sake that it's available.

For Thursday dinner my vote would be Avec.

It's a step down (and a step up in price, although we're talking an extra $10-15 here), but I think the convenience of Al's+Mario's to where they're staying and where they're eating makes it the right call. Plus, they get Mario's. C'mon.

Re: Hot Doug's -- There's no guarantee, but the foie gras dog has been on the specials menu for at least the last several months, without any gaps, so it's basically a permanent menu item now.

gleam wrote:
It's a step down (and a step up in price, although we're talking an extra $10-15 here), but I think the convenience of Al's+Mario's to where they're staying and where they're eating makes it the right call.

If you are saying it's a decision driven by logistics then you are losing me. If they are starting at Cemitas Pueblo (Lunch #1) they are already half-way to Johnnies. Heck, make it a trifecta and *start* at Johnnies instead then have lunch #2 at CP and finish with Mario's.

There *IS* a reason why I used "IMO" in my post, btw.

Johnny's is in Elmwood Park, Marios/Al's is on Taylor St. For first time visitors the latter is a far superior neighborhood to check out and maybe do some walking around in. No offense meaent to Elmwood Park

Johnny who?

... and then there's Marios

Awesome! thanks for all the great advice!

Here's what looks like the final itinerary:

Tues:
D: Mado then drinks at Violet Hour.

Wed:
L: Burt's (will make a reservation and take Metra)
D: Alinea!

Thursday:
L1: Cemitas Puebla (public transportation possible, or cab?)
L2: Al's then Mario's
D: Avec
Cocktails/Beer and nibbles: The Gage

Friday: rent a car at hotel to drop off at Midway
Brunch: Hot Doug's (Standing outside before they open)
Snack: Pasticceria Natalina
D: Vito and Nick's takeout and drive to Midway. (7pm flight)

Anyone care to meetup at Burt's on Wed? We love meeting new food people when we travel! Let me know before Friday, as I'll be calling for a reservation by then.

Thanks again everyone for the wonderful advice. We can't wait to enjoy your fabulous city!

well done, it looks like you have a couple days of good eats there, especially the last few days, & specifically your lunch choices of: Cemita's, Hot Dougs, & Burts.

enjoy your visit.

the idea of doing any kind of pizza, much less deep dish, on the same day as dinner at Alinea is terrifying to me. but maybe if you are doing the tasting rather than the tour, it's digestible.

AlyOx wrote:the idea of doing any kind of pizza, much less deep dish, on the same day as dinner at Alinea is terrifying to me. but maybe if you are doing the tasting rather than the tour, it's digestible.

Agreed. A single small pizza from Burt's should easily be enough for two, especially with a big dinner coming.

Kennyz wrote: You'll need to bring your own booze to Mado. Bin 36 cafe a couple of blocks south of the restaurant has bottles available for retail, as does a wine shop a couple of blocks north on Milwaukee Ave, and another a couple of blocks east on North Ave.

You can never go wrong w/Mado. The wine shop on Milwaukee Ave. is Red and White. They have a nice selection and I'd definitely recommend them for the wine. I've called them from Mado before and someone biked the bottles down to us in less time than it's taken some restaurants to get a bottle to the table. It's also just a 5 minute walk to get there.

Attrill wrote:

Kennyz wrote: You'll need to bring your own booze to Mado. Bin 36 cafe a couple of blocks south of the restaurant has bottles available for retail, as does a wine shop a couple of blocks north on Milwaukee Ave, and another a couple of blocks east on North Ave.

You can never go wrong w/Mado. The wine shop on Milwaukee Ave. is Red and White. They have a nice selection and I'd definitely recommend them for the wine. I've called them from Mado before and someone biked the bottles down to us in less time than it's taken some restaurants to get a bottle to the table. It's also just a 5 minute walk to get there.

Another option for wine, and one that's a little closer than Red and White, is Olivia's Market on Wabansia. It's more of a small (read: potentially precocious) grocery store that has a small but worthy selection. Goddess and Grocer is another option, though I find their selection on the small and over-priced side of things.

Olivia's Market
2014 W Wabansia Ave
(between Damen Ave & Hoyne Ave)
773.227.4220
www.oliviasmarket.com

The Goddess and Grocer
1646 North Damen Avenue
773.342.3200
http://www.goddessandgrocer.com/

Having a great time eating our way through Chicago. We'll post a full report with pictures when we have more time. Some short thoughts:

Mado. Chicken liver pate, testa, and shortbread were the highlights.
Violet Hour. Amazing room. Loved all 3 drinks we ordered.
Avec. Chorizo stuffed dates & blood sausage squid pasta were highlights of the trip.
Burt and his wife are the nicest characters in the world.
Alinea lived up to the hype. Possibly the best meal of our lives.
Went to Al's, Johnnies, and Portillos for lunch today. Liked Al's the most.
Loved the taco abodes at cemitas Puebla.
Gino's East was a letdown.

More indepth report to come. we still have dinner tonight and all day tomorrow.
Follow our tweets at:
@hhlodesign
@lornayee

d4v3 wrote:As much as I admire your fortitude for suggesting Burt's for lunch then Alinea for dinner, I think you may regret it. Burt's is one of those places that you can't help but over-indulge. I would hate to diminish the Alinea experience by arriving with a full stomach. BTW if you are staying downtown, there is a Metra train from Union Station that drops you a short block from Burt's.

Thanks d4v3 for the tip! I'm in the middle of planning my third eating expedition in the lovely Chicagoland and was hoping to somehow make a stop at this much talked about institution. Given this new bit of knowledge, I think it would be very much possible to fit it between the planned multi-course dinners.

Now the question is, if there is one particular pizza that MUST be ordered?

hhlodesign@gmail.com wrote:Having a great time eating our way through Chicago. We'll post a full report with pictures when we have more time. Some short thoughts:

Mado. Chicken liver pate, testa, and shortbread were the highlights.
Violet Hour. Amazing room. Loved all 3 drinks we ordered.
Avec. Chorizo stuffed dates & blood sausage squid pasta were highlights of the trip.
Burt and his wife are the nicest characters in the world.
Alinea lived up to the hype. Possibly the best meal of our lives.
Went to Al's, Johnnies, and Portillos for lunch today. Liked Al's the most.
Loved the taco abodes at cemitas Puebla.
Gino's East was a letdown.

More indepth report to come. we still have dinner tonight and all day tomorrow.
Follow our tweets at:
@hhlodesign
@lornayee

Happy Anniversary Mr. H and Mrs. L!

It's a great surprise (although not unexpected of you two ) to see your thread. Talk about total fluke. Anyway I'm going to pre-thank you for doing the leg work on some of the non-downtown eats on this thread as I'll be taking those notes for my trip.

Enjoy the rest of your stay and hopefully one day I'll be able to show you around (more like eating through) my neck of the woods.

Renka wrote:Now the question is, if there is one particular pizza that MUST be ordered?

Do you mean pizza at Burt's specifically? I once asked him if there is a particular favorite or special, and he basically said no (I think he said something like people like different things...there's a lot of options). My personal favorite is sausage and mixed bell peppers.

Darren72 wrote:

Renka wrote:Now the question is, if there is one particular pizza that MUST be ordered?

Do you mean pizza at Burt's specifically? I once asked him if there is a particular favorite or special, and he said basically said no (I think he said something like people like different things...there's a lot of options). My personal favorite is sausage and mixed bell peppers.

Ok. That’s fair enough. I wasn’t sure if there were must have items as I didn’t want to learn that I missed out on something spectacular after the fact.



BTW, I’m hoping to hit up Baconfest (the weekend I’m in town) before my reservations at L20. Depending on the day, Burt’s is likely before g.e. or Schwa (if I can get in). It’s all about balance right? There’s always a method to the madness. Finally a lunch at Blackbird before flying out. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it to venture out to Violet Hour or Hot Doug’s given the limited time and the fact that my dining companion wants to check out some of Chicago’s touristy things (I mean, seriously, what better way to learn about a city then to eat through it???). We’re staying on the Magnificent Mile – is there any must tries around there (keeping in mind I’ve had the pleasure of dining at these places to date)? Thanks in advance (and for letting me piggy back on this thread).

Here are some of our favorites from our trip to Chicago:

Day 1:
Mado
Chicken Liver Pate and testa


Baccala Crudo


Shortbread


Violet Hour


Loved all our drinks here



Avec
Bacon wrapped chorizo stuffed dates


blood sausage squid pasta


Day 2:
Burt's Place. Great crust and ingredients. Burt and his wife are the nicest people.



Alinea (deserves a post of it's own)


Day 3:
Italian Beef Crawl
We liked Al's the most overall. Johnnies beef had the best flavor and texture, but the bun was too bready. Bread to meat ratio was too high. Portillo's was good, nice garlicky flavor to the gravy, but the beef was the worst texture of the three we tried.

Al's


Johnnies


Portillo's


Cemitas Puebla
good sandwich, but loved the Tacos Arabes the most!



Gino's we didn't like as much as Burt's. Not a big fan of the cornmeal crust.


great interior space though.


Publican


Tomato salad with smoked trout and guanciale was a revelation!


Sweatbreads with lobster mushrooms, apple and celery was the best I've had!


Day 4
Hot Doug's


Foie gras dog was unbelievable! Didn't taste much sauternes in the dog though.


Elk Sausage was our favorite of the 4 we tried


Had to get a classic Chicago dog


the duck fat fries were good, but did not had a lot of duck fat flavor


This was the line at 11:30am on Friday


Our trip was cut short due to a rental car breakdown on Lakeshore drive during the air show. Wasted many hours and prevented us from getting to to Nick and Vito's (not to mention The Art Institute and IIT)


Hope this helps your trip planning Renka. We had such a great time in Chicago and can't wait to get back. Will post about Alinea when we get the chance. Thanks to all who helped plan our trip here!

I am in awe of your trip. Thank you for sharing!

The GP wrote:I am in awe of your trip. Thank you for sharing!

Agreed. Especially for a first-time visit, I really don't think you could have done any better, food-wise. Well done; hope you can make it back soon to try some more!

Love,
John

hhlodesign@gmail.com wrote:Here are some of our favorites from our trip to Chicago:

Hope this helps your trip planning Renka. We had such a great time in Chicago and can't wait to get back. Will post about Alinea when we get the chance. Thanks to all who helped plan our trip here!

As always, it does. Your power-eating is the way of my own heart. If only it wasn't so harsh on our waistlines and wallets.

Mado looks great. Its combination with the Violet Hour had me thinking that this could be an alternate to (up in the air reservation at) Schwa. I'll probably try to throw in a trip to Hot Doug's since it's "kind of" in the area. Plus the fact that the weekend only duck fat fries we good but nothing spectacular makes this itinerary possible. (My friends, you MUST try horse fat fries one day!) You've also helped me choose which of the Italian Beef places to stop at (aka Al's).

Really glad that this the long awaited and perfect honeymoon trip was so memorable.

Some reports and pics from:

Mado
http://www.thecookbookchronicles.com/blog/?p=1906

Violet Hour / Avec
http://www.thecookbookchronicles.com/blog/?p=1906

Burt's
http://www.thecookbookchronicles.com/blog/?p=1940

hhlodesign@gmail.com wrote:Having a great time eating our way through Chicago. We'll post a full report with pictures when we have more time. Some short thoughts:

Mado. Chicken liver pate, testa, and shortbread were the highlights.
Violet Hour. Amazing room. Loved all 3 drinks we ordered.
Avec. Chorizo stuffed dates & blood sausage squid pasta were highlights of the trip.
Burt and his wife are the nicest characters in the world.
Alinea lived up to the hype. Possibly the best meal of our lives.
Went to Al's, Johnnies, and Portillos for lunch today. Liked Al's the most.
Loved the taco abodes at cemitas Puebla.
Gino's East was a letdown.

More indepth report to come. we still have dinner tonight and all day tomorrow.
Follow our tweets at:
@hhlodesign
@lornayee

Elk Sausage was our favorite of the 4 we tried

Thoroughly impressive!!

Kudos to you on your anniversary and your exemplary fortitude in accomplishing so much in so little time on the Chicago eating scene.

The only advice I would offer for the future is to order your beefs "dipped" or "wet" which will alleviate the bready problem you described at Johnnies.

Also, any chance we can find out from where you visited Chicago? I would gladly follow your recommendations should I be traveling to your locale.

Thanks for the post!

I saw in your write-up that you called Burt's 2 weeks ahead of time. We are planning on eating there this coming Sunday. Do you think we will still be able to get our pizza order in?

pastry643 wrote:I saw in your write-up that you called Burt's 2 weeks ahead of time. We are planning on eating there this coming Sunday. Do you think we will still be able to get our pizza order in?

I've always called the same day. Why don't you call tomorrow and find out (they are closed today).