4 Giants fans want to sample Chicago!

We are coming in July to see our team play at Wrigley. 2 of us have been to Wrigley, and the new Cominsky, ten years ago. I used to visit Chicago regularly in my long distant girlhood, but we have no current info.

We have tickets to a day and a night game, resevations at Alinea and Topolobampo, tickets for the CAF architecture river cruise, which 2 of us did before, and plan on visiting most of Millennium Park and the Art Institute. That's 4 full days, and nights!

I printed out Chicagoland's GREAT Neighborhood Restaurants BUT I don't have any idea of where these neighborhoods are! Is there some place near Wrigley we should eat or drink at? What is the Wrigley area called?
What about Millennium Park. We will need lunch near there since there's so much to see. What about near or at the Art Insitute? The cafe at SF MOMA has great food, and so do several museums in NYC, but some museums have mediocre fuel.

Will we be near one of the great hot dog places? Pizza? Some place for music and drinks after dinner? We need something special for our 1st night Mon. when lots of places are closed. Suggest something. We will be staying at the Seneca because it seems reasonable and central. (We have better things to spend money on than a place to sleep. Not renting a car, but may rent bikes one day.)

Help us out and don't blame us for Dusty!

I'll take a wack at the Millenium Park and Art Institute question. They are across the street from each other. Here are some thoughts:
1. There is an outdoor courtyeard type restaurant in the Art Institute. The food is mediocre, but the setting is lovely if the weather is good for outdoor eating.
2. If the weather is good, there is a restaurant in Millenium Park (Park Grille) that is actually decent. It's right on Michigan Ave in the park. Do not eat at the cafe type place that is all outdoors; try to get a table at the indoor restaurant that has a few outdoor tables, and a full menu.
3. If you want Chicago style pizza, you can go to Pizano's, which in on Madison just a half block each of Michigan Ave. and Millenium Park. It's decent Chicago pan style pizza. They, too, have outdoor tables if the weather permits.
4. My favorate place for food would be Russian Tea Time, an excellent place just across the street from the Art Institute on Adams. It is, as you may guess, Russian stuff, but really well done, and nice quite place with good service.

For Russian Tea Time and Park Grille, get there around 11:30, or you might need reservations.

Enjoy,
Jonah

See if this helps:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... 71db&msa=0

Also, in The Seneca, The Saloon gets reasonably good reviews. Not the best steakhouse by any means, but certainly convenient to where you're staying.

The Saloon
200 E. Chestnut St., Chicago

For your Art Institute/Millennium Park lunch, grab a sandwich, etc. at Hannah's Bretzel (233 N. Michigan Ave. in the Illinois Center) and have a picnic.

The web site is http://www.hannahsbretzel.com/

It doesn't list the Michigan Ave. location, but its there and only about two blocks north of the park.

For food before or after the game, an LTH favorite is TAC, a great Thai place under the Sheridan El stop (one stop north of Addison Red Line stop, where Wrigley is). It's within walking distance of the ballpark if you're used to walking a bit, or a scant 2-minute, 1-stop train ride if you prefer that way.

Edited to add the address:

3930 N Sheridan Rd
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 327-5253

Let'sEat wrote:
Is there some place near Wrigley we should eat or drink at? What is the Wrigley area called?

Will we be near one of the great hot dog places?

For hot dogs near Wrigley, I'd suggest Murphy's, at Belmont and Racine, just a half-mile walk from the field. If you want to travel further, a big hot dog favorite and GNR is Hot Doug's, which is convenient by the Addison bus, just take it west from Wrigley 2 miles to California Ave and walk 2 blocks south to Roscoe. Be advised, though, that Hot Doug's closes at 4 every day, and is closed on Sundays.

Murphy's Red Hots
1211 W. Belmont

Hot Doug's
3324 N. California

Let'sEat wrote:Pizza?

I'll second the vote for Pizano's, but I would call it excellent, not decent.

Let'sEat wrote:don't blame us for Dusty!

Oh, we do. Happy eating!

-John

Aye, Pizano's is one of the better pizza joints around imo... fantastic crust. Great beers as well.

Murphy's does a dog right - interesting pedigree too, I believe they have locations in Japan.

After a cubs game you could also roll north on the Red Line and get off at Argyle, enjoy Tank or Hai Yen Vietnamese.

Near Wrigley, I highly recommend Goose Island. Great, award winning beers, good burgers, a block from Wrigley. I will agree 2 seasons ago, it was awful compared to Clybourn, but they got a new manager and they were great last season.

Go north on Clark Street bus (#22) to Hopleaf for fabulous beer & frites, plus other Belgian specialties --

Lot's of good suggestions here, especially TAC (which, by the way, is just around the corner from the classic hot dog stand, Byron's, on Irving). For a nice after-game experience that is relatively unique, I'd also suggest Tango Sur (Argentine neighborhood steak place on Southport) and/or Uncommon Ground (organtic-ish place that is very pleasant, very un-Wrigleyville (nothing wrong with the Americana of Wrigley, but sometimes a respite helps), with a nice menu, beer list and great cocktails, on Grace very near the field. Tango Sur takes reservations, which I suggest, and is BYOB. There is a solid wine shop just south and across the street, Que Syrah. If you don't like red meat, well, maybe not an Argentine steakhouse. Julius Mienl, the lone US outpost (for now) of the Viennese coffee and tea chain is also nice, with a surprisingly good kitchen. All three of the aforementioned happen to have live music regularly. And, for one last bit of Chicagoana, there's a solid Italian Ice place further south on Southport, Anthony's.

I agree that Goose Island's kitchen is much improved, and the beer is tough to beat. For oases of gameday sanity near Wrigley, the Japanese traditional Matsuya and the Japanese/Korean greasy spoon Hamburger King offer a break. For full jackass immersion, feel free to drop in on any of the meat markets (Barleycorn, Hi-Tops, various Irish themed pubs) or the Hofbrauhaus Uberstein -- which has the benefit of good beer and ok German snacks, plus a concentration of one disturbingly common type -- recent U Wisconsin and Iowa grads who've been to Munich and enjoy drinking Jager from a ski.

Near Millenium Park
Rhapsody
65 E. Adams
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/dini ... 9598.story

The Gage
24. S. Michigan
Casual Dining

And a Chicago institution
Millers Pub
134 S. Wabash

Wrigleyville does offer some good pre- and post-game choices:

Tango Sur - definitely (as in above post)!

Yakzie's on Clark @ Waveland (spitting distance from Wrigley) has good wings. It can get quite crowded but, hey, it's near a sporting venue so that's the point, isn't it?

The Raw Bar further north on Clark (but still just a 3 minute walk to the ballpark) has a less frat-boy vibe and a nice menu of alligator, salmon, shrimp, mussels, and oysters.

Uncommon Ground @ Clark and Grace (5 minute walk) is your typical coffee house w/ a hearty selection salads, sandwiches, vegetariana and non-vegetarian fair + a lovely little outdoor seating area that's great for post-game people watching.

Check out Nuts on Clark just north of Uncommon Ground for some take along snacks. Every kind of peanut, bridge mix, and popcorn item you can imagine.

The pastries and sweets are better at Julius Meinl coffee haus on Addison @ Southport, if you need a sugar fix.

D'Agostino's west on Addison @ Clark is a quick place to grab a pizza and a pitcher (boy, the Cubs could use some of the latter!)

Enjoy!!!

JeffB wrote:Tango Sur takes reservations, which I suggest, and is BYOB.

I'm pretty sure they only take reservations for largish groups (8 or more).

Thay've taken my reservation for 5, and they are on opentable. Things might have changed, though.

Thanks for all the ideas. So what neighborhood is Wrigley in? And I still need help with that dinner on our 1st night, Mon. No Asian though. We have lots of that here. Someplace that says Chicago. Steak? Central European? With jazz? Maybe I should do a separate post.

Let'sEat wrote:Thanks for all the ideas. So what neighborhood is Wrigley in? And I still need help with that dinner on our 1st night, Mon. No Asian though. We have lots of that here. Someplace that says Chicago. Steak? Central European? With jazz? Maybe I should do a separate post.

Wrigley is in ... Wrigleyville! How helpful, huh? Wrigleyville is a subset of Lakeview, bisected by Clark and Addison (where Wrigley Field sits).

Central European food with jazz. That's the kind of challenge this board lives for. I don't know whether you'll have any luck on that front, but I will suggest that if you want dinner with your jazz, Andy's is the place to go. And they are open on Mondays. I've never eaten there, although I understand the food is OK, but not special. They certainly serve steak, including dry aged steak. However, the best seats in the house are the dining room tables (not that hanging at the bar is a bad thing, but the stage is off to the side of the bar). If you eat dinner, the table is yours for the rest of the night (with some exceptions, when they have a "special" performer on stage). And the music will definitely impress.

Not sure about the music, but this is a Polish hipster hangout:

Moulin Rouge Coffee & Cafe
5749 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago
(773) 282-3333

FYI - It''s BYO

Also, there's a real old-school Polish place, with flaming tableside presentations, and a big ol' white piano in the middle, here:

Lutnia
5532 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
(773) 282-5335

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Central European food with jazz. That's the kind of challenge this board lives for.

nr706 wrote:Moulin Rouge Coffee & Café . . .
Lutnia

Don't forget Café Lura at Milwaukee & Belmont. This is really an excellent place and probably the most accessible Polish café for non-Polish speakers. I believe they usually have live music (not necessarily jazz) on weekends. Food is served earlier (until 9pm?). I haven't eaten there but would recommend the bar/café.

Café Lura
3184 N Milwaukee Av
Chicago
773-736-3033

I live in Wrigleyville and a lot of the places mentioned above are definitely worth checking out, like Tango Sur.

However, I definitely second Byron's for hot dogs. It's about a brisk seven minute walk from the field and, though it isn't much to look at, serves some of the best "everything on it" hot dogs I've ever had. Just make sure to not get the Dogzilla, no matter how much the grill cook tries to cajole you into it. They're a novelty, for sure, but the meat-to-topping ratio is absolutely ridiculous and it's almost painful to eat.

I'll also second (or third or fourth?) D'Agostino's for thin crust pizza. Their deep dish leaves a lot to be desired, but thinner crust is delicious. I try to carry out or eat there at least once every couple weeks and I have yet to be let down.

Byron's
1017 W Irvining Park Rd.
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 281-7474

D'Agostino's
1351 W Addison St.
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 477-1821

Not to confuse things, but the larger area that contains Wrigleyville is called Lakeview as you can see on this map: Chicago Neighborhood Map On this map, Wrigleyville is listed, but on some maps it's not.

Lakeview is a rather large area (maybe three miles east to west and 1 1/2 miles north to south), so all restaurants listed in Lakeview won't be close to Wrigley. . .

How much will you ride the bikes? If a weekday, it's a lovely (but can be a little slow) ride along the lake front, north or south from downtown. A little to the south along the lake path is the museum campus area and Soldier Field, but Navy Pier, North Ave. Beach, Lincoln Park, lots of people watching, and more are to the north. Because many Chicagoans bike, there are plenty of streets with bike lanes and it can be a great way to see some different neighborhoods quickly. From my perspective, it's one of the best ways to get around (you can even take bikes on public transportation most of the time). Bike Map

You shouldn't have too many difficulties finding a good restaurant on a Monday as my guess is that the majority of them are open 7 days, though a few are not. What area will you be in on Monday in case someone has something specific to offer or are you open to going anywhere (within public trans or a taxi ride)?

You can get a Southern/cajun menu at Buddy Guy's in the South Loop. The food's not the best, altho it can be interesting, particularly if you're not accustomed to this cuisine, but the blues are often topnotch. Monday's an off night so you're likely to see some local talent, altho the cover won't be much (if anything). Here's the site for more:

http://www.buddyguys.com/

HILARIOUS: A site calling itself outoftheballpark.com touts Wrigleyville as a neighborhood full of ethnic eats of all kinds and plenty of choices beyond sports bars. They must be missing a few screws, however, as their list for the Sheridan/Irving area includes Caliente, Emerald City Coffee, Pizza Rustica, Katachi, and Holiday Club but not one word about TAC Quick or even the humble Byron's!

PS - new sign up at storefront between the taco shop and the Chase on Sheridan saying "BBOP" (or something like that) - "Korean food". It's nice to see the strip getting yet another dinner option.

I was away for a couple days. Thanks for the neighborhood map and the bike map. Don't know how much time we'll spend on bikes. We have a lot to do in a short time, and I think bikes could help. But if it's too hot we may fade!

Thanks for all the great ideas.

Please report back after your trip! I'm always very interested in out-of-towners' perspectives on Chicago and its eateries.

Go Cubs!