30th Birthday Suggestions

I am turning thirty in February and want to have a great culinary experience to commemorate. I have already been to Alinea or I would go there no question.
I was wondering if my fellow foodies had any suggestions of places that I should not miss on this occasion.
A little about the night: It is a Friday, there will be a small group (five maybe), cost is not an object, up for anything
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Can you give more details? Price range? How much do you want it to be focused on food, as opposed to atmosphere? Any picky eaters in the group?

Moto?

No picky eaters in the bunch.
I would say $150 max per person give or take would be nice
Great food in a nice room- don't want to be overly concerned with overly drunk people ruining my night by being obnoxious and would love to stay away from the hip to be seen atmosphere

My vote for a special occassion with really good food and no pretentious atmosphere is Frontera Grill or Topolobampo. Both excellent food and service.

Avenues?

johnny wrote:Avenues?

Avenues will break that $150 preference by quite a bit; it's typically $200-300/person including moderate alcohol and tax/tip.

I suggest one sixtyblue. Fantastic food, semi-casual subtly-modern atmosphere, just an excellent place in every way.

Another excellent place is North Pond. Great food from acclaimed chef Bruce Sherman, and the exquisite location in the middle of Lincoln Park, with the city skyline towering over the opposite shore of its namesake pond, makes it unique.

Both one sixtyblue and North Pond will probably come in somewhere around $100/pp or thereabouts.

Since you said you'd go to Alinea if you hadn't been there before, I suspected you wanted another four-star type of restaurant. Avenues, Moto, among others, are natural candidates.

friendly foodie wrote:I would say $150 max per person give or take would be nice

I think Alinea runs $135 & $195, depending on the menu, before alcohol and tip. As nsxtasy said, it is difficult to eat at four-star restaurant for $150 per person.

The first places that come to mind in a lower price level are Blackbird, Terra Gusto, Cafe Spiaggia, and Salpicon (and North Pond and Frontera Grill, which were already mentioned).

I think it really depends on the type of food you want, the neighborhood you want, etc. There are a lot of great restaurants in the city.

ETA: Upon further review, Moto has only three stars from the Tribune.

I would say either Moto (you should be at or around $150 pp if you do the 10 course menu with wine) or Blackbird (which will be further under your cap than Moto).

After eating at Blackbird a couple of weeks ago, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I haven't tried OneSixty Blue or Blackbird. These both look like nice suggestions.

I am not expecting 4 star, just tried and true good food. I am sorry if I threw you by the Alinea comment. Yes, that dinner was well over $150 per person.

I was also thinking about Primehouse. Any thoughts?

My fiance and I recently went to Primehouse as part of a research mission - we had thoughts about having our wedding reception at the James.

We loved it. We don't go to steakhouses regularly, though we both like beef. Before I went, someone told me that Primehouse has much better "non-steak" dishes -- i.e. salads, sides -- than other steakhouses in town, but the steaks themselves are perhaps a step below the best in town. Despite my limited experience dining in steakhouses, I think this assessment is right on.

I thought the ambiance was very fun, and the service was good, at Primehouse. If you read the posts about it on LTH Forum, though, you'll find some mixed reviews.

Personally, I'd rather go to Blackbird and order one of the beef dishes than go to Primehouse and have a more traditional steak. But it really depends on what you are after.

I believe Schwa might be re-opened by then?

I vote for Blackbird, too. Sepia would be fun as well.

Blackbird has really great food, almost as good as one sixtyblue; those may have the best food of any two such "casual fine dining" places in the city. However, I'm a little hesitant about how well Blackbird fits with the remark about how the OP "would love to stay away from the hip to be seen atmosphere".

nsxtasy wrote:Blackbird has really great food, almost as good as one sixtyblue; those may have the best food of any two such "casual fine dining" places in the city. However, I'm a little hesitant about how well Blackbird fits with the remark about how the OP "would love to stay away from the hip to be seen atmosphere".

I don't think Blackbird has that type of atmosphere. I'm about as un-hip as they come, and I've never felt uncomfortable there. I also actively dislike anyplace that is about a "hip to be seen atmosphere" (Japonais...I'm looking at you).

I think this tends to be an overblown preconceived notion of the atmosphere at Blackbird.

If you're not concerned about a scene, how about one of Chicago's more established four star restaurants? While none of these places are hip, they're great: Spiaggia, Everest, Charlie Trotter's, or maybe Tru?

I agree that Blackbird is not the ideal for a lingering small group, excellent as the food is (and Avec next door will likely be too loud and have too high of a turnover rate to feel like you own the place).

I'd go one sixtyblue, Vie (Western Springs), or even Gioco or Opera for the remarkable interior design and some stellar dishes (like Mike Gs best pork chop of the year at the former).

Another thing you could do with foodies is go and challenge a chef to do a special menu for you at either a BYOB like Sol de Mexico or an tequila-on-hand place like Fonda del Mar. I'd recommend La Piazza in Forest Park as well, but am not sure if Gaetano's still active there.

nsxtasy wrote:

johnny wrote:Avenues?

Avenues will break that $150 preference by quite a bit; it's typically $200-300/person including moderate alcohol and tax/tip.

The 10 course chef's tasting menu with wine parings, tax, tip, etc will run you $300+ per person, but there is also a 5 course menu, and it seem like there may have been a 3 course a al carte menu. Not sure how much that would come to, but boy its fabulous food. Might be worth calling to ask.

That said, 160 Blue is another good suggestion where you could pretty much order anything off the menu and come in under $150 unless you go crazy on the wine. You can also dress down a 160 Blue (no jacket requirement) for going out later.

For a special occasion, Everest is tought to beat. Amazing food, extensive wine list, great view, gracious service. The price is quite reasonable given the quality.

wak wrote:Avenues will break that $150 preference by quite a bit; it's typically $200-300/person including moderate alcohol and tax/tip.

The 10 course chef's tasting menu with wine parings, tax, tip, etc will run you $300+ per person, but there is also a 5 course menu, and it seem like there may have been a 3 course a al carte menu.

I ate at Avenues last March. At that time, the menu offered a choice of 3 courses for $90, 5 courses for $120, and 10 courses for $160. We got the latter and with moderate alcohol and tax/tip, it came to $250/pp. I have read posts since then stating that they now offer a choice of menus of 5, 10, and 15 courses.

wak wrote:Might be worth calling to ask.

It's worth adding that, according to a column I read (Chicago Magazine's Dish, I think), Avenues is closed during the month of January; while they renovate the space for the Lobby restaurant, it's using the Avenues space. I'm sure they have people responding to calls in the interim.

FrankP wrote:For a special occasion, Everest is tought to beat. Amazing food, extensive wine list, great view, gracious service. The price is quite reasonable given the quality.

I agree. Everest is wonderful. And it tends to cost a bit less than places like Avenues and Alinea; figure $175-225/pp. Even less than that if you go for the early-bird prix fixe special ($50 for three courses, available at 5:00 and 5:30 every night they're open except Fridays).

For style, though, one sixtyblue and North Pond and Blackbird are all a lot more casual, with more casual attire (no jackets required) and more emphasis good ol' a la carte eating, rather than extensive tasting menus.

You'll find astonishingly good food at all of these places.

Thank you all for the input.
Have decided to go to Blackbird.

I suggest having appetizers at one restaurant, dinner at a different restaurant and dessert at a third.

For my wife's 30th, we started at Cafe Absinthe, dinner at Spring and dessert tasting at Tru (best steal in town).

fyi... Avenues reopens January 15th.

DukeFan wrote:fyi... Avenues reopens January 15th.

On opentable.com, it says "Please note that Avenues is closed for renovations during the month of January. We will reopen on Friday, February 1st. Please join us at that time."

I suggest calling ahead if you're interested in going there this month.