Hello Chicago - got suggestions?

Hi All,

I'd love to get some suggestions on where the locals have lunch and dinner in Chicago! I left your town when I was an itty bitty little girl nearly three decades ago but now have a chance to visit in mid November and don't know where to go. I've been reading the blogs and books but the marketing and info is so overwhelming!

I'm looking for the good stuff - the places where the people who live in Chicago go for good food, ambiance and fun (a la Alinea).

I want to have lovely food experiences in this lovely city.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance...i'm so excited to come back home:)

Start here.

Sweetestgirl75 wrote:at decent enough prices (a la Alinea)

I'm a little puzzled as to how Alinea fits into that sentence - what sort of prices do you consider decent? Alinea is listed by most restaurant guides on the top tier of pricing in restaurants in Chicago, it's also considered to be extremely upscale dining, if whimsical. While Chicagoans eat there, I don't know that I'd classify it as "where the locals have lunch and dinner in Chicago" (for that, the GNR list that Stevez linked to is your best bet; you can search it in a number of ways, including by map)

Ohhh, you're right. My reference to Alinea didn't come out the way i intended. Alinea would be a great experience but certainly not what i am looking for during this trip. I will be there mostly on a work assignment and want to save Alinea for a purely pleasurable trip. I'm looking for Chicago's neighborhood haunts - thanks so much for the link!

Yeah, if you considered Alinea's prices "decent", I was going to suggest you bring me along and I'd even let you pay. But now that's off!

Mhays wrote:

Sweetestgirl75 wrote:at decent enough prices (a la Alinea)

I'm a little puzzled as to how Alinea fits into that sentence - what sort of prices do you consider decent? Alinea is listed by most restaurant guides on the top tier of pricing in restaurants in Chicago, it's also considered to be extremely upscale dining, if whimsical. While Chicagoans eat there, I don't know that I'd classify it as "where the locals have lunch and dinner in Chicago" (for that, the GNR list that Stevez linked to is your best bet; you can search it in a number of ways, including by map)

All I can figure with regards to pricing is that if you're used to the very high end of new york or sf, then alinea's pricing shouldn't be a shock.

True, but even there you're stretching the definition of "locals" a bit...which was why I asked - who knows?

At any rate, welcome to LTHForum and Chicago, Sweetestgirl! Lots of good food here, though not all of it will try to poke you in the eye.

Mhays wrote:Lots of good food here, though not all of it will try to poke you in the eye.

Not that a sense of danger can't add to the experience... think Octarine being chased on his motorcycle with Garlic Fried Ribs from Sun Wah.

-Dan

Chicago has terrific restaurants in all price ranges, kinds of food, etc, all over the city and suburbs. Did you know that there are over 20,000 restaurants listed in the yellow pages within 50 miles of downtown Chicago? Even the GNR list has many more places than you will be able to try in a brief visit.

To help you plan for your trip, I would suggest that you give some thought to how to zero in on what places might be best for you. Perhaps you would enjoy one or two specific kinds of food. Perhaps you would like places that are close to where you will be staying and/or spending time. In any case, give some thought to exactly what you're looking for, and tell us specific information that will help (such as specific kinds of food and/or specific locations), and we'll be able to provide a small number of recommendations that are targeted to best suit what you're looking for.

nsxtasy wrote:Chicago has terrific restaurants in all price ranges, kinds of food, etc, all over the city and suburbs. Did you know that there are over 20,000 restaurants listed in the yellow pages within 50 miles of downtown Chicago? Even the GNR list has many more places than you will be able to try in a brief visit.

To help you plan for your trip, I would suggest that you give some thought to how to zero in on what places might be best for you. Perhaps you would enjoy one or two specific kinds of food. Perhaps you would like places that are close to where you will be staying and/or spending time. In any case, give some thought to exactly what you're looking for, and tell us specific information that will help (such as specific kinds of food and/or specific locations), and we'll be able to provide a small number of recommendations that are targeted to best suit what you're looking for.

Well said.

Hi All,

I wanted to say a little thank you to everyone who endured my questioning posts to find some of the best places to eat during my short trip to Chicago. I got the chance to try some of your suggestions, though not all.

Some of the highlights included Sweet and Savories, Natalina Pasticceria, Giordano’s, Ann Sathers and surprisingly Signature Room:

After settling in we started our trip out with a trek out to Sweet and Savories. I was almost crushed when they said they only offered their tasting menu on Monday’s, but were able to accommodate our request anyway. Melissa was running the kitchen that night and was more than gracious to us. And what a tasting menu! The portions were practically full sized, and all so rich and decadent. Two people could have easily shared each entrée presented. And the accompanying wines, beer, and coffee made it all so fun!

Menu highlights included:
Well, all of it, but the crème de la crème was 1: gnocchi with escargot. This was sheer perfection. By far the best escargot I have ever had 2: thai seafood stew that offered the most perfectly cooked scallops and calamari you can imagine 3. and lastly, the aged goat bochron fromage with a confiture of black mission figs. It’s just cheese and figs but, my goodness, this intermission course was outrageous!

The sheer amount of food and wine was entirely overwhelming but I so wish sweet, quaint and easily accessible neighborhood haunts that make such perfect food were as easy to access in Los Angeles (I know, it’s Los Angeles, we do have good food to offer too it’s just that the value system is a bit different here).

I soooo wanted to go to Burt’s Pizza and meet the people who run the place but I was outvoted for the stuffed pizza at Giordano’s. Not a bad compromise all things considered. It was a fun beer and pizza extravaganza in a parlor type setting.

Taking a bus up Clark Street we were able to make it into Andersonville and navigate our way into Ann Sathers. Swedish is not my favorite fare but the atmosphere was cute and we had a lovely waitress that made it all worthwhile.

At least I got to see Hopleaf and dream about the mussels as we made our way to Natalina Pasticceria. Nick was there and spoke fondly of the people who started this blog, the words he used were “The people who started LTH are a group of crazy foodies. They were in here a while back with Anthony Bourdain who is all clean cut now”. He was out of the special canolis but we sampled another favorite with Chantilly Cream and Fresh Raspberries. Oh, and it’s worth noting that he wouldn’t let us take a tea to go to fight the blistering cold. His tea’s are to only be enjoyed in porcelain or not at all. It would have been a treat to meet the woman behind the mission but she wasn’t there that night.

And now for Signature Room. Not somewhere I would choose to eat but we made it up there for a drink and to enjoy the views but ended up ordering the cold trio (crab, shrimp, oysters). Much fresher and tastier than I would have imagined. However, big however, the oysters were accompanied by a Mignonette that was out of this world.

Once the unidentifiable vinegar concoction was nearly gone we discovered sunken treasures of what looked like fresh peppercorn, diced tomatoes and possibly some grated horseradish but I could not be sure what it was. We even asked the waitress to find out but she came back with a non-answer answer. It really was an incredible way to dress the oysters and induced such euphoria!

Does anyone have this recipe or know what I am talking about?? It’s really worth it…I would love to recreate this at home.

And those are the highlights. I had a lovely time enjoying the architectural history (i'm crazy about design), some snow, the pretty river front and some good jazz at Back Room. The last set included a cover to a couple of great AC/DC and Metallica songs – both concerts I will be attending at the Forum in December, so a nice coincidence - and of course classics like Purple Rain….

Thank You Chicago, hope to see you again soon.

Sincerely,
Lisa Markarian

Lisa-

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit and appreciate you took the time to report back. Come back to Chicago again! (Summer is great around here.)

-Mary

Thanks for the report - and we do have a small discussion area for other areas, including LA, etc. so come back and let us in on your city's secrets! We travel too...

My pleasure!

And I would love to share some of my favorite Los Angeles restaurants too. We do good sushi in LA and I recently had the most incredible sushi experience of my life in an unassuming neighborhood in Pasadena I pass by all the time off the beaten track. Now, I have had good sushi, not so good sushi, great sushi and even legendary sushi but this topped even that scale. Yes, even the legendary marker. I don't quite have a label for it yet but "Truly Orgasmic" comes to mind:) The experience lead me to explore that sleepy little street and find a handful of hidden treasures just waiting to be explored further! We got little tours of a couple of the places that night and you'd be amazed at what you find out when you engage in a little conversation during off-peak hours. Stories about hidden tunnels and Albert Einstein were in abundance - imagine that. Maybe I can give a little report on the area once I try a couple more places!

Sweetestgirl75 wrote:Maybe I can give a little report on the area once I try a couple more places!

I'd sure like to know the name of the "Truly Orgasmic" sushi place in Pasadena.

Thanks,
Gary