Perfect party location

I'm throwing a smallish party in early March. I'm racking my brains to find a location that will fulfill my needs.

Well, actually, I'm looking for one of two kinds of locations. Either location would need to be:

*North or NW side of city or near suburbs, convenient to major arteries [friends from northern & western & southern 'burbs will be invited, want to make it easier on them].

*Available on a Sunday night [or Sunday brunch] for roughly 35 people.

*Location should have plentiful parking, if not access to parking lot.

*Have private room/area to make socializing more convenient.

*Cost neither an arm nor a leg.

So far, it could be a small restaurant or some kind of a small rental hall.

If it's a rental hall, I'd like to be able to bring in my own food [I'd absolutely love to have Chuck's cater]. Irish American Heritage Center would have been great, but the weekend I have in mind is close to St. Patrick's day.

As for a restaurant, I'm looking for food that wouldn't be too boring for me but not intimidating for the less adventuresome in the crowd. Italian, Thai . . . Elephant Thai might have worked, but they're usually closed on Sunday.

As I say, I'm not coming up with the right answers, but I know there must be something near-perfect out there. I'm thinking about inviting everyone to Al Primo Canto for brunch, but the room seats about 100, and I'm not sure how to mix private party/open to public in a space like that. It would likely make it harder to socialize.... [And having a private party there would be roughly twice what the costs.]

Halp!

Giovanna

Tufano's Vernon Park Tap for Sunday dinner. Easy access from all expressways. The back room there is private/semi-private, good for a group of that size. They'll do family-style dining. Inexpensive. Cheap valet parking ($3-5, I think). You might consider some of the pasta dishes to be "boring," but the pork chop and lemon chicken are some of the best around.

Giovanna wrote:*Cost neither an arm nor a leg.

What does an arm or a leg cost?

My sister had my nephew's first birthday party at Sabatino's. The menu included a few appetizers that they had picked out ahead of time. For the entree, guests had the choice of maybe 3-5 entrees. I don't really really call the details b/c it was almost 2 years ago, but for lunch it was reasonably priced. We had a back room to ourselves. There were at least 30 people.

Pucca wrote:

Giovanna wrote:*Cost neither an arm nor a leg.

What does an arm or a leg cost?

My sister had my nephew's first birthday party at Sabatino's. The menu included a few appetizers that they had picked out ahead of time. For the entree, guests had the choice of maybe 3-5 entrees. I don't really really call the details b/c it was almost 2 years ago, but for lunch it was reasonably priced. We had a back room to ourselves. There were at least 30 people.

When C2 and I were scoping out the space for the LTH holiday party, we were just about sold on Sabatino's but decided on Manny's at the last minute. Sabatino's has a room private upstairs (with juke box) and as I recall was offering us a decent price for dinner with drinks (from private bar) included.

O`Donnovan's has a very nice private room with its own bar.

2100 W Irving
478 2100

JSM wrote:O`Donnovan's has a very nice private room with its own bar.

2100 W Irving
478 2100

Along those same lines, Atlantic Bar & Grillhas a private room as well. It has it's own bar IIRC.

I'm going to be a little forward and bump this question back toward the top again.

Sabatino's has all of the qualities that I'm looking for in a restaurant, except for the fact that I don't like the food there very much at all.

Any other ideas, anybody? Puhleeze?

Giovanna

You might call Webster's Wine Bar- though not if you need it to be weelchair accessable- we almost used them for our rehearsal dinner but the wheelchair thing got in the way.

Del Rio, in Highwood, has gotten nice write ups here, I think (I like it, anyway) and we had a private party for my father-in-law's birthday there a few years back in an upstairs dining room. The food was quite good, in the traditional Italian way, and the service was very friendly. It all worked out quite well, so perhaps this would be a good choice for you.

Just to report back on food and ambiance, and answer the question of 'perfect', I ended up having friends and family [a head count of 27] to Al Primo Canto for brunch Sunday, a celebration of my [mumble mumble] birthday. All attending seemed very happy with the food available. I liked the idea that there would be a variety of food to choose from [would you believe that I am related to some picky eaters?], such as omelettes, pancakes, sausage & bacon, cured salmon and Italian-esque meats and cheeses. I made a point of telling
everyone to be sure to ask for the grilled meats available as part of the brunch [they're provided on request straight off of the charcoal grill, so you have to ask for them]. The grilled lamb, feijoada [Brazilian black bean soup], and polenta sticks seemed to be very popular with the people eating around me. I think that, in addition to the grilled lamb and other meat, one of the best things they have available is the cured salmon, but I wish that they'd have a better bagel-type product available.

Maria, wife of Chef Georges, works the front of the house as hostess, and she'd been my point person for setting up the party. She was wonderfully gracious and helpful. I brought along my own birthday cake from Cookie Monster's Delightful Pastries*. Maria provided 2 bottles of sparkling wine for a toast and cutting/plating the cake at no extra charge. [She and I had a conversation about how inhospitable restaurants that charge extra to plate cake are.] The guests all said that they enjoyed the food, service, and general ambiance of the restaurant a great deal. The only flaw in the whole set-up, from my point of view, is that we were set up at a very long table along one side of the restaurant. This made it very difficult for my guests to mingle and for me to mingle with them. People sat down near people they already knew, predictably and comfortably enough, so family members sat at one of the table, pretty much, while friends sat at the other end, pretty much. A perfect party situation would have given a chance for all to mingle, and allowed me to be a good hostess with fewer linear feet to travel.

*Cookie Monster's cake was truly a HUGE monster. Sponge cake with raspberry & custard filling, chocolate buttercream frosting. Delicious. Nicely decorated, too. Shame about the huge fire on top.