First Time to Chicago....

I will be coming in January to Chicago for a week. I have only been there once before and was not able to get out and explore.

Food is one of my favorite things in life. I am almost more excited about coming and trying different places to eat than actually sight-seeing. I am not, however, a "high-end" food person, and strange foods scare me.

Based on some things I have read online, I have been thinking about....

Keefer's Steakhouse
Ditkas
Giordanas
Portillos
Eleven City Diner

Any information would be appreciated!!! I love Italian and Mexican, and LOVE a good ole Steak. I plan to hit some breakfast spots and have lunch out every day.

If YOU could only recommend ONE place to me while I was there, where would it be and why?

Thanks!
Tiffany

Portillos- Good spot to sample a Chicago hot dog and an Italian beef. There are better places for each but all in all a good chance to sample both.

Giordano's- I would probably replace it with Lou Malnati's...again if you are willing to venture out, Burt's, in Morton Grove, is the place to go.

Keefers- I haven't been there but the best steak I've had in Chicago is David Burke's Prime House

Eleven City- I haven't been ...but I think I'd prefer Manny's on Roosevelt

Don't forget to check out Chicago rib places. Do a search of this site for any number of good choices.

Keefers - I have heard good things but the best steak I have had in Chicago was at Saloon Steakhouse. I have heard great things about David Burke's

Portillos - A decent one stop spot to have a hot dog, an Italian Beef, or a saisage & beef combo. Not the best representation of these items in the city, but serviceable.

Ditkas - Not a fan of Ditka's

Giordanos - Not a fan of any of the chain pizza places in town, especially Giordanos , go to Coalfire for some great pizza, and BYOB

Eleven City Diner - Never heard of it

Hope you enjoy your stay here during the most brutal of our months weatherwise. Comfort food is always a great way to ward off the chill of a January deep freeze.

Chicago has an abundance of great steak houses. Keefers is among that group. However, if I was to choose one which would be a great standout in comparison to the others, it would be David Burke's Primehouse. You can find many reviews herein from our very knowlegeable community members by using the search function. Or simply google David Burke + LTH + Chicago.

For Mexican, there are so many options that you won't find in other cities. For great tacos, try La Pasadita on the east side of Ashland. Note: There are three on the same block. The east side location is the better of the three IMO.

If you enjoy a more traditional, but simple mexican meal of say Chicken in mole, it's really hard to beat Taqueria Oaxequena on Milwaukee or Cemitas Pueblas on North Avenue for excellent tacos and cemitas (try the milanesa).

There are a couple of good Pozolerias on Fullerton Avenue near Pulaski that serve hearty and traditional dishes. My favorite being San Juan.

Folks here generally rave about the Yucatan specialties at Xni-Pec, and I agree. From wonderful seafood dishes to the incredibly rich slow cooked pork dish, conchita pibil, everything at Xni-pec is fresh, unique and delicious.

If you like Thai, Chicago has a number of excellent options including TAC, Sticky Rice and Spoon Thai.

Here's something fairly recent on ECD:

http://lthforum.com/bb/search.php?mode=results

No need to make a special trip, altho if you're in the neighborhood hankering for something simple (patty melt and a beer?) it's an option.

By the way, where are you going to be? In January, proximity can be a major deciding factor.

There's a lot of questions here..."strange food" scares you? What would you consider to be strange food? You could find some pretty strange foods at a mexican restaurant...tripe, goat, tongue...also how comfortable are you with venturing into sketchy parts of town? Though I might be OK wandering around Humbolt Park, I sure as hell wouldn't send my neice from Iowa over there to wander around at night.

Going to be staying in Bartlett, (house swapping for a week with friends). We figure the money we will save on hotels will enable us to eat out for that entire week! Driving around is NOT a problem. We plan to check out some of the sights in Chicago anyway, so if something is too good to miss, we are more than willing to drive a distance to try it.

Thank you so much for the tips. It's very helpful.

Tiff

Teat...yeah, the "innards" of animals I try to stay away from. I don't like sushi, or most of the "gourmet" things. I am so sorry I can't be more specific...I tend to like, steak, pizza, burgers...typical American fare. My husband is a big seafood fan, but I am not.

I was born and lived in a small rural community where we didn't get out much to the bigger cities, so I am leery of ordering things that I have never had before and paying $70 a meal for something I just don't like. I would rather stick to the tried and true.

As far as venturing into sketchy parts of town, I will have my husband with me and if the meal was worth it, we would consider it. Maybe for lunch though and not after dark.

T

If the weather is not too bad, I would suggest Chinatown - really fun for wandering, shopping and eating! There's kind of two main parts, Wentworth street has the arch over it, which is a little more 'touristy' but I think not in a bad way, and the mall part which is farther west. Parking can be tough, but there is a cheap parking lot near the elevated tracks. Or bring quarters and fight for a meter!

It's located on the near south side, google chicago chinatown and find a map!

Yes, Chinatown is pretty cool. One of the Greektown places..saganaki.... I get the feeling that a good time is more important than what exotic chiles got put in the mole.

TiffanyMarie wrote:Going to be staying in Bartlett, (house swapping for a week with friends). We figure the money we will save on hotels will enable us to eat out for that entire week! Driving around is NOT a problem. We plan to check out some of the sights in Chicago anyway, so if something is too good to miss, we are more than willing to drive a distance to try it.

If you're going to be in Bartlett, you will be doing A LOT of driving if you limit your choices to Chicago. Every place mentioned is at least an hour's drive from where you will be staying, and restaurants on the north side of Chicago are closer to 90 minutes away.

You should consider taking Metra to/from Chicago. Here's a link: http://metrarail.com/Sched/md_w/md_w.shtml

Looking at your list of places, you're better off going to a Portillo's and Giordano's near Bartlett...both are chains. And for Mexican, please consider the town of West Chicago, which is just a few minutes south of Bartlett.

Where are you from?

TiffanyMarie wrote:If YOU could only recommend ONE place to me while I was there, where would it be and why?

Our delicious deep-dish pizza. It's unique to Chicago and it's just wonderful.

There are two popular styles of deep-dish pizza: double-crust "stuffed" pizza (served at Giordano's, Edwardo's, Bacino's) and single-crust "pan" pizza (Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Pizano's, and the original location of Uno's and Due). I enjoy both kinds; I think Giordano's is a great choice and it's my favorite of all of them. But I think any of these is a fine representation.

All of these have locations all over the Chicago area and are pretty consistent from one location to another, with the exception of Uno's, which I would avoid other than downtown.

There are so many great restaurants in Chicago, that unless you make a really bad choice, you're never going to know if there was a better choice. Every place you've mentioned is good (can't comment on the last, never been). Commenting only re: places I've actually been.

Keefer's Steakhouse - very good, but I'd choose David Burke's, Gibson's or Capital Grille over Keefer's. But I'd choose Keefer's over Ruth's Chris, Smith & Wollensky.

Ditkas - nothing wrong with the place, but not noteworthy. For sports inspired places, I'd go to Harry Caray's instead but the steak places are all better than either.

Giordanas - I'd go with Lou Malnati's, Gino's or the original Uno first.

Portillos - good at what they do, but I can't imagine choosing this place as the one place to visit in Chicago.

Eleven City Diner - never been to this one.

I love Italian and Mexican...
There are so many good Italian restaurants in Chicago it's hard to pick. Unless you want to go $$$$ - for Northern Ital; any of the Francesca's restaurants (whichever one is close to where you're coming from) or Maggiano's is hard to beat for southern Ital (pasta). For Mexican I know no better than Frontera Grill (you might have to wait in line or go early or late) or Adobo Grill.

Good luck...

TiffanyMarie wrote:Teat...yeah, the "innards" of animals I try to stay away from. I don't like sushi, or most of the "gourmet" things. I am so sorry I can't be more specific...I tend to like, steak, pizza, burgers...typical American fare. My husband is a big seafood fan, but I am not.

I was born and lived in a small rural community where we didn't get out much to the bigger cities, so I am leery of ordering things that I have never had before and paying $70 a meal for something I just don't like. I would rather stick to the tried and true.

As far as venturing into sketchy parts of town, I will have my husband with me and if the meal was worth it, we would consider it. Maybe for lunch though and not after dark.

T

I live in the city but have some family in rural, central IL and kind of know where you're coming from. My suggestion would be for you to drive to the nearest metra station and take the train into the city. This is a commuter train that is very safe and easy to use. I think you could shoot downtown for 1/2 the cost of driving (at least). You can then take cabs to where you need to go.

I would then break down what types of food you want:

Deep dish - any of the above mentioned is fine but you don't have to go into the city to get it (except for the original Uno's or Due).

Italian - I would try to go to Taylor Street (an Italian neighborhood) and try Mia Francesca's. The other option would be Spaiggia Cafe on Michigan Ave.

Mexican - Try to go to Frontera Grill on Clark. Another option would be to grab lunch at one of the better taco stands like La Pasadita on Ashland (2.5 miles northwest of downtown in the Wicker Park neighborhood - also 1 block from the Division blue line el stop).

Steak - Any of those options above are great. A lot of people go for Gibson's because it is very "showy" and good for business dinners.

Hot dog / Beef sandwich - there are better but Portillo's is a good option and you can find one close to Bartlett.

Most of these options would not be considered "gourmet" but are fine places and better than most. Also, they're also places many Chicagoans will go for a bite. They are also not overly expensive except for the steak places and maybe Frontera and Spiaggia Cafe (around $100 per couple).

I would tend to agree with another poster and say that Greek town (Halsted and Adams) should be a must visit.

Have a good time.

Tiffany, a couple people have recommended Frontera Grill for Mexican food. That's a good recommendation but please note that Frontera and its sister restaurant Topolobampo will be closed for vacation Jan 1-7. I don't know if that overlaps with your planned dates or not.

Enjoy your visit!

Amata wrote:Tiffany, a couple people have recommended Frontera Grill for Mexican food. That's a good recommendation but please note that Frontera and its sister restaurant Topolobampo will be closed for vacation Jan 1-7. I don't know if that overlaps with your planned dates or not.

Also note that they don't accept reservations. If you don't like waiting for a table, avoid peak times or, better yet, arrive 15 minutes before they open. You can check their hours on their website.

From your original post, it seems we've got similar (some would call it "picky", I call it "selective") tastes....

I also recommend La Pasadita for Mexican fare. The southern-most location on the west side of Ashland is my favorite of the three, if only for the delicious pico de gallo.

Portillo's (jumbo hot dog with everything) is another spot I'd certainly hit. There are multiple locations in the greater Chicago area, and any one of them is worth checking out.

As for pizza, I guess you can't go wrong with many of the big-name places. I prefer paper-thin crust (cut in SLICES, natch), and as such I'm still searching for my favorite...

(As a disclaimer, I've only lived here for over one year.)

ogre wrote:As for pizza, I guess you can't go wrong with many of the big-name places. I prefer paper-thin crust (cut in SLICES, natch), and as such I'm still searching for my favorite...

Probably much further than you're willing to drive, but the best pizza that fits your description that I have had is at Stop 50 in Michiana, IN if you're ever over that direction. They closed last weekend for a holiday break, due back open in mid-Feb. There are messages on this forum about them and I can't recommend them highly enough...FWIW.