Going to Chicago this summer, is food good value?

Hello everyone,

I'm going to Chicago this summer on holiday from England and i'm really looking forward to it. I'd like to know how well priced the food is in the city. I'm staying at the Congress Plaza Hotel which is in the "Loop" and i'd want to go out for something to eat for dinner. What would be the price range? Also, what are the price ranges for breakfasts and lunches. I'm not asking for excat prices, just a general idea.

Any replies would be greatly appriciated, thanks.

Chicago Tourist:

That's a big question. If you are mostly going to be eating near the Congress Plaza (or if your trip is focused on popular tourism like the museums and the Millennium Park and Grant Park areas), you will probably mostly find that food is not a great value. Obviously there's a range, but the market in that area is tourists and business people, and the rent is high, so things cost more.

If part of your tourism will be travelling around the city, then yes, you can certainly find delicious food for a good value. We have a long running discussion of good lunches for under $5. (I don't think any of those lunches are in the loop, although some might be close.) Besides that, there are many neighborhoods which don't have the factors pushing Loop-area prices up, and for my kind of tourism, they are great places to visit. They may be short on formal tourism stuff, although there's a good museum of Mexican art in the Pilsen neighborhod (and lots of excellent food too!) Folks here will give you tons of detail if you can tell us a little more.

Last fall someone coming to Chicago managed to get a bunch of us to help plan her trip out in excruciating detail!

Thrift was one of her planning factors, so reviewing that thread may be helpful -- but it also demonstrates that people here love their city and love sharing info... so a few more details will take you a long way...

Chicago, like New York or San Francisco or London, are fairly expensive largely because operators have a lot higher overhead than in a lot of smaller cities. I travel all through the US and generally spend less on meals when I am out of town.

However, there are a lot of places both in the Loop and in the neighborhoods where you can get a pretty good meal for very reasonable prices - EVEN in the Loop and near the tourist.

If I was budgeting for a trip to Chicago, I would budget $5 for a light breakfast ($10 for a hot one), $12 for lunch, and $20 for dinner and generally you should be able to eat fairly well on those amounts.

OTOH, at those prices, you will not be eating at an upscale hip diner or the latest celebrity chef restaurant.

I'd say that, on the whole, you'll find it good value because servings are, in most places, massively larger than servings in the UK. Hence, with a request to have your leavings wrapped to go, you can often get two meals out of one outing.

When I had a friend from London visit a couple of years ago, she was impressed with how far her dollar went, when comparing what you got to what you spent. Of course, this depends on where you go. You can unload a lot of money, but generally speaking, everything here is less than there, especially if you're from London.

What do you like? And will you have transportation? Close to the hotel will cost more than more out of the way places -- but that said, Russian Tea Time is about a 10-minute walk from the Congress, and main courses ranged from $16 to $28.

jlawrence01 wrote:If I was budgeting for a trip to Chicago, I would budget $5 for a light breakfast ($10 for a hot one), $12 for lunch, and $20 for dinner and generally you should be able to eat fairly well on those amounts.

Jlawrence,

While I, or most LTHers for that matter, could eat very well in Chicago for $42 per day I think it would be difficult to do so as a tourist staying in a Loop hotel. Not saying I disagree with you as to the possibility, just that it would be difficult.

Chicagotourist, if, as germuska suggested, you give us a few more details, such as your willingness, and comfort level, with going beyond the Loop/downtown area and types of food you enjoy, we will attempt to make the culinary part of your visit as enjoyable as I am sure the rest will be.

Enjoy,
Gary

The difference in the dollar vs. the pound will make Chicago an excellent value, as long as you dine away from the tourist areas.

I think $42/day is pushing it, but not that bad if you exclude booze. I was in Manhattan on Saturday, and spent $12 for a huge late breakfast, $4 for a couple of hot dogs and a drink, and $30 for dinner (of which $5+tax+tip was an overpriced bear). I'm a shall we say "robust" eater, and I did not feel cheated. I could see $35/day as basic budget, with an extra $150 put away for two high-end splurge meals if you feel the desire.

We have a thread here on $5 lunch items - I am late for work but hope somebody has the time to search for it and post it.

threadkiller wrote:We have a thread here on $5 lunch items - I am late for work but hope somebody has the time to search for it and post it.

Threadkiller,

Germuska has you covered upthread. There is also If you had 10 bucks

Enjoy,
Gary

Considering the strength of the pound versus the dollar nowadays, you may not want to limit your search to the best value at the lowest prices.

Chicago has terrific restaurants at every price level, from the lowest to the highest, and in general, within those levels, has much lower price points than London. To allow low price to be your #1 factor, will make it more difficult to find real quality (altho you certainly can) while sacrificing (often) convenience, atmosphere, and sometimes consistency. (I would also add that many our great lower priced restaurants are ethnic restaurants many of which -- of equal quality -- can be found in England (i.e., Indian, Pakistani, Italian). The exception here is Mexican and Latin American -- a cuisine you might want to explore at all price levels.)

In other words, now is the time to schedule in a couple of "splurges," and unless your budget (in pounds) is really tight and you're a fairly intrepid explorer, take advantage of the exchange rate while you can.

jbw wrote:The exception here is Mexican and Latin American -- a cuisine you might want to explore at all price levels.)

If different dining experiences are sought, I'd definitely go Mexican (not, I believe, a well-represented cuisine in Europe). Offerings in the loop are limited, but as was noted, there are many possibilities within a short car/train ride.

And nobody has suggested it yet, but if you would ever like to have company, many LTHers have been known to arrange a meal or two with out with out-of-town visitors. If you're doing busines entertaining or on your honeymoon, that might not be a pleasant thought, but if you're here on your own, a dinner with some locals can be amusing. Just let us know.

Also, I wrote up a walking tour (architecture, history, art) of the area where you'll be staying -- Michigan Avenue, Grant Park, and the Loop -- I created it for a large convention that was held close to where you'll be. It's too long to post, but if you want to PM me with your e-mail address, I can send it to you. It doesn't cover the whole city, but it might be useful, given where you're staying.

wow, thanks for the great response guys, all of your tips have been really helpful and i'm even more excited about the trip now. A big thanks to everyone who has offered to give me some additional advice, so here it is.

Basically most of the holiday will revolve in and around Chicago. I'll be going to places like Schaumburg and Lyons and i think those will be the only times when i'm travelling far out of the city (lyons, not that far) and getting some grub. I'll be using public transport as well which means i wont be able to be as flexible as i would like. I wont be eating completely in the loop but most dinners will be in areas close to the hotel as i dont want to be out travelling too much, too late. I'll be at Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field to watch a couple of baseball games, and i dont know much about food there, at football (soccer) matches over here, theres usually a small food bar thingy under the stands in the concourse which serves Burgers, Hot Dogs, Pies and beverages. I have heard of the Chicago Dog however and i'm intrested to see how it tastes.

As for budget, i'm very very aware of the exchange rate situations and at the moment i'm still licking my lips with glee as i watch the pound stratch away at the two dollar mark. Regardless of the rates, my food budget will accomodate the highest of the high end restuarants. I like trying different foods, i'm not too radical and experimental but i do like to try different foods from different cultures.

As I usually suggest to people with a question such as yours, you should check out the LTH Forum Great Neighborhood Restaurants, which the posters on this forum have selected as being particularly good places to eat. These places span all price points and sophistication. The quality of the food is the guiding criteria. In that section of the website, besides descriptions of all of the GNRs, is a link to a handy pocket guide that you can download and print out before you come.

Plus if you intend to travel CTA (public transportation) be sure & get a CTA pass -- $20 for one week -- it will free you up to travel the neighborhoods & give you a lot of insight on the city.

The area of the loop in which you're staying is very close to the "L," or elevated train. Happily, many wonderful restaurants are also close to the L. Argyle Street, our thriving Vietnamese/panAsian center of town, has an L stop. So does Chinatown. So does much of Clark Street, which offers miles of food from around the world (favorites near L stops include Andalous, for Moroccan, and Socca, for southern French/Meditarranean). You can search the forum for these areas for loads of options. (I think most folks would probably vote for Tank on Argyle St.)

As for Wrigley Field (which can be reached by L), there are a few food options inside (including the classic Chicago hot dog -- no catsup, please), but the area is crawling with good eateries. If you can get in, the Outpost is fun and tasty. I'm sure others will have recommendations. I haven't been to Comisky Park, but I've heard that the dining options there border on the impressive.

And once more, a note on value -- if London is the point of comparison, earlier this year, on the list of Most Expensive Cities in the World, London was number 2 after Oslo. Tokyo isn't as high as London. While our politicians seem bent on catching us up with these cities, we are still at present well down the list, and therefore should be a pleasant surprise. Do remember, however, that in the city, the sales tax is 10 percent, so sometimes the bill will be higher than you expect, but it should still be lower than in London. (Point of comparison, afternoon tea at the poshest hotel in London is about U.S. $70, but afternoon tea at the poshest hotel in Chicago -- the Drake-- is U.S. $30.)

Cynthia wrote:If you can get in, the Outpost is fun and tasty.

The Outpost has been closed for quite some time.

http://www.planet99.com/chicago/restaurants/1980.html

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:

Cynthia wrote:If you can get in, the Outpost is fun and tasty.

The Outpost has been closed for quite some time.

http://www.planet99.com/chicago/restaurants/1980.html

E.M.

That's too bad. It has been a couple of years since I ate there, but enough people still talk about it, and not apparently posthumously, that I thought it still open. However, even with that gone, the neighborhood around Wrigley Field is still packed with dining options. So you won't go hungry.

Actually, a very useful thing for you would probably be that mapping capability that Google has, where you can put in an address and specify that you want all LTHForum recommendations near that address. You can find an explanation of that here:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... hforum+com

Cynthia wrote: Do remember, however, that in the city, the sales tax is 10 percent, so sometimes the bill will be higher than you expect, but it should still be lower than in London. (Point of comparison, afternoon tea at the poshest hotel in London is about U.S. $70, but afternoon tea at the poshest hotel in Chicago -- the Drake-- is U.S. $30.)

I don't think a Londoner will have a problem affording any meal in Chicago. I think Chicago is a reasonably priced city given its size. The numerous times I've been in England (not even London), I found myself hemorrhaging money at every corner.

Enjoy yourself, chicagotourist, and if you have any inclination to have one amazing and expensive meal from one of the best restaurants in the world, treat yourself to a meal at Alinea. A full 21-course tour will set you back about a hundred quid without tax, tip, or wine.

It has been a couple of years since I ate there, but enough people still talk about it, and not apparently posthumously, that I thought it still open.

Actually, its glory days were when Kevin Shikami was there (before Confusion and Kevin), so if you liked it... go to Kevin! Though I will say that a large part of the appeal was finding food of that caliber in a ramshackle bar at low prices... almost too good to be true, and it soon was.

Not really addressing the OP's question...

I had dinner a couple of times at the Outpost and highly recommended it to others. Then it closed. I think it is now in its third incarnation. We gave it a shot one night and found the food to be barely passable, the crowd to be way young (I know, what did I expect?) and the music to be excrutiatingly loud. We settled our tab quickly and retreated to the more sedate (although more divey) Blarney Stone.

Blarney Stone
3424 N. Sheffield

chicagotourist wrote:I'll be at Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field to watch a couple of baseball games, and i dont know much about food there, at football (soccer) matches over here, theres usually a small food bar thingy under the stands in the concourse which serves Burgers, Hot Dogs, Pies and beverages.

I suspect that both Wrigley and the Cell will have similar food options (but no pies) in their respective stadiums as those found at a football match, but the food is barely passable and very overpriced. A lot of people going to the Cell stop by Chinatown (one or two stops over on the Red line from the Cell) for a meal before or after the game. I lot of people here like Lao Sze Chuan (London is rife with Cantonese, so this is a good change).

As for Wrigley, the stadium is located in the middle of a neighborhood, so there are bars and more bars just steps from the field. Most, however, limit their menus to passable bar-style food (hot dogs, hamburgers, fries) the main benefit of which is that it's loads cheaper than what you'd get in the field. Out of these places, I'd suggest Bernie's, located on Clark and Waveland (outside the northwest corner of Wrigley). You order at a window in the patio of the bar, and eat it standing up with a beer along with everyone else going to the game.

I highly second the suggestion of those above that you try Mexican food here. The only Mexican restaurants I've seen in Europe at best execute a bad imitation of the real thing. Not far from the Loop in River North is Frontera Grill, which is more upscale than your usual taqueria in the neighborhoods, but a place at which you will find a very good and broad representation of the cuisine. To eat at a real taqueria, you'll have to get out of the touristy areas of the Loop, River North, and the Gold Coast, but it's so easy to get around on our transportation system that only a few stops from these areas will get you there.

Chicago is made up of neighborhoods, and most of the gems in this city are in the neighborhoods. (Sticking to the Loop and River North is sort of like sticking to the West End, but only in the area around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.) You should really try to familarize yourself with the various neighborhoods. If you limit yourself to the area right around the Congress, you're not likely to find much in the way of restaurants.

Well, the frat-boy bars notwithstanding, there's plenty of food to explore within a short walk from Wrigley. Board favorite, fantastic Thai food, TAC Quick is nearby, and would seem to be an obvious choice. Byron's, the classic hot dog stand, is around the corner, as is the serviceable or better taqueria El Palmar, across the street. Nearer Wrigley is the very pleasant (especially outside) and surprisingly good Uncommon Ground. Southport is a pleasant stroll away, with Argentine steak at Tango Sur, Cajun/Creole at Blue Bayou , Austrian Coffeehouse at Meinl, Chicago pizza and tavern-Italian at D'Agostino's and others (I wouldn't normally reco BB, but it's fine and might be worth checking out since I didn't see much Creole in the UK).

South on Clark from the field, you have several decent options, including Goose Island, which can be pretty darn good for bar food (and, of course great beer), and interesting ethnic options ranging from West African (Bolat), to old-fashioned Japanese (Matsuya), to sit-down Mexican and Italian (Platiyo, Mia Francesca), to various other Thai, Mexican, Moroccan, Indian, Ethiopian, German beerhall, Jamaican, Diner, etc. Actually, there's so much within a short walk from Wrigley, much of it ranging from serviceable to quite good, it would help to start with some parameters or get there early to explore and decide what sounds good.

Another nice option is always to overshoot Wrigley by a couple of stops on the Red Line for Argyle Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese, which can be done quickly before or after the game with nearly no walking or other effort, given the location of the train stops. The L going to (or coming from) the north is usually not packed for Cubs games compared to points south, and you get a nice slice of Chicago with serious contrasts by doing an Argyle/Wrigley trip.

The list of options shrinks by eliminating fake Irish pubs, but tons of options are left.

Continuing the theme of exploiting your favorable exchange rate, you might also consider paying a visit to Topolobampo, Frontera Grill's higher-end sibling, right next door. Unlike FG, T also has the advantage of accepting reservations in advance:

http://www.fronterakitchens.com/restaur ... rants.html

Nearer the Congress, and in easy walking distance, is Custom House, probably the best restaurant in the immediate area of the hotel. It's also an American style haute cuisine, and therefore might be of interest to you as an overseas visitor.

Money-is-no-objeect ordering at both of these restaurants would probably run $100-$200 per person, which, if the rate of our current balance-of-payments continues, will probably cost you about 40 pounds each!

Thanks for all the replies everyone, they've been really helpful

jbw wrote:Continuing the theme of exploiting your favorable exchange rate, you might also consider paying a visit to Topolobampo, Frontera Grill's higher-end sibling, right next door. Unlike FG, T also has the advantage of accepting reservations in advance

Just as a data point on this, I met someone for dinner last week; we started at Frontera, but faced a 90 minute wait on a Thursday at 6 pm, so we passed on that.

Traditionally, the bar area at Frontera is festive and a fun place to wait for a while -- and you can even order a full dinner over there, if you can find space enough to eat it comfortably -- I say "traditionally" because on one recent trip that space was really too crowded for comfortable hanging out.

If your schedule works out so that you can get there when it opens (doors at 5 pm, I believe), you'll find quite a few people queued outside. But you can get seated and order a drink -- the kitchen doesn't open until 5:30.

I must admit that I wasn't knocked out by any recent meals at Frontera. But it's good, it's not all that expensive, and people are likely to ask you if you've been there, so you may want to be able to say that you have...

germuska wrote:I must admit that I wasn't knocked out by any recent meals at Frontera. But it's good, it's not all that expensive, and people are likely to ask you if you've been there, so you may want to be able to say that you have...

Yup. Especially now that the apparently clueless folks at the Beard Foundation just named Frontera the Best Restaurant in America, or whatever they call the award. I like to think that our palates are a bit more discerning. Speaking as the lead instigator (instigatee?) of the anti-GNR renewal for both restaurants, I feel a proprietary interest.