Foreign language dinner location: ideas needed

I host a monthly Russian Language Dinner through the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and I need some help brainstorming for new location ideas. (I've been doing this for somethig like 10 years, and it seems we keep going to the same few places - it's definitely time to branch out.) What new places should we try?

Criteria:

-- Quiet enough to hear each other talk (for example, I love Cafe Iberico, but you have to yell to be heard, which is NOT good for the non-native speakers)

-- Downtown, or near downtown (whenever I go further afield than, say, Greektown, attendance sucks - dinners are on weeknights at 6:30, and most attendees work in the Loop). If not in the Loop proper, then preferably within walking distance of the Red Line.

-- Food that isn't going to freak out the less adventurous people (Reza's has gone over well, as have various Mediterranean-type places, but let's just say the one time we did Indian didn't work out very well; Slavs tend to think Georgian food is spicy because it has garlic in it)

-- Reasonably priced

Please suggest away - the next dinner will be next Thursday night, and I should send out the eVite shortly.

Russian Tea Time seems like a natural. Great food, rooms divided up so it never seems to get loud -- and it's Russian.

Cynthia wrote:Russian Tea Time seems like a natural. Great food, rooms divided up so it never seems to get loud -- and it's Russian.

We do end up going there about once a year, but it's kind of expensive for what you get, and it's getting less and less Russian every year.

You didn't say where you've already been, I just assumed that Russian Tea Time had been done. Next door is Rhapsody, it's nice, but you didn't say what a reasonable price is? Is reasonable Miller's or Exchequer? Eva if you could give a few more details, I have probably been to every restaurant in the loop for lunch or dinner.

nicinchic wrote:You didn't say where you've already been, I just assumed that Russian Tea Time had been done. Next door is Rhapsody, it's nice, but you didn't say what a reasonable price is? Is reasonable Miller's or Exchequer? Eva if you could give a few more details, I have probably been to every restaurant in the loop for lunch or dinner.

Well, I didn't meant to restrict the area to the Loop proper; we've been to a bunch of places in Streeterville, River North, Greektown, etc. I can't remember every place we've gone to over the past 10 years, but frequent places have included Reza's, Santorini, Russian Tea Time, and Emilio's Tapas. I'd like to go no higher than, say, $20 - 25 a person for dinner if possible, though the occasional splurge would be OK. (I try to remain sensitive to the pricing needs of the broke NGO employees who come to the dinner - in the beginning it was difficult when the high-powered attorneys would come, order half a billion drinks and appetizers, and then suggest splitting the check evenly, not thinking that maybe there was a reason that the nonprofit folks had tried to stick to the $10 pelmeni.)

But I know there are half a billion places that I've just never been to because I don't know about them, and would like to branch out a bit. Does that help? A Polish or Ukrainian place might be nice, too, but as far as I can tell most of them are a schlep from the Loop and/or close really early. So far I haven't even had any luck getting people to hop a couple of stops south on the Red Line to Chinatown, though once or twice I got decent groups at Cousin's on Halsted or Tango Sur on Southport (because people lived in the area, not because it was close to work). But my luck outside downtown-ish is spotty at best.

Atwood Cafe, Park Grill, Marche, S. Water kitchen, possibly the Gage (may be a bit noisy), Brasserie Jo, Bin 36, Aigre Doux, The Berghoff.

How about Sayat-Nova?

Eva,

I am often an organizer, too. People are very willing to make 'us' jump hoops, often with suggestions that are on the level of commands. You may want to borrow a page from my book: when they make a suggestion, then ask them to volunteer to do it.

If they don't like the restaurants you choose, why not let your group members take turns planning the restaurant? When I used to go to a weekly meeting, we rotated restaurant responsibility by last names following the alphabet.

If you go to Chinatown, Lao Sze Chuan has a private room on the 2nd floor that seats around 30 people. Sometimes they charge $50 for its use and sometimes they don't. The average tab has been around $20-$25 per person.

Regards,

And $20-25 pp at LSC will leave your guests very, very well fed.

cilantro wrote:How about Sayat-Nova?

We also go there about once a year; we were just there last month. Once we even ran into Studs Terkel (he doesn't run anymore; he's more of a shuffler these days).