dinner with my sister from New York and elderly mom etc.

Looking for great food and not noisy. Every time my sis comes to town, we pick a different place to eat. Favorite meals include Spring, MK, One Sixty Blue, May Street Market, and Boka. We've also been to Hot Chocolate, Naha, Blackbird, Mexique, Socca, Sola. We can never seem to get a reservation at Frontera/Topolobampo, so we'll forget that. Any other suggestions for some really good food that we've not tried?

North Pond, for the lovely setting as well as the food. This assumes your elderly mom can walk a distance of roughly a block or so into the middle of the park where the restaurant is located.

Cafe des Architectes, in the Sofitel, is another excellent choice, with the best contemporary American food in the city, IMHO.

If you happen to be staying in the Loop, Atwood Cafe is another good choice.

All of the above are not particularly noisy.

Don't rule out Topolobampo until you've actually checked on reservations. Like the others listed here, they're on Opentable so with a few clicks of the keyboard, you can check availability on these and hundreds of others at the same time.

hikawatressler wrote:Looking for great food and not noisy. Every time my sis comes to town, we pick a different place to eat. Favorite meals include Spring, MK, One Sixty Blue, May Street Market, and Boka. We've also been to Hot Chocolate, Naha, Blackbird, Mexique, Socca, Sola. We can never seem to get a reservation at Frontera/Topolobampo, so we'll forget that. Any other suggestions for some really good food that we've not tried?

Try Perennial http://perennialchicago.com/

or

Sepia http://www.sepiachicago.com/

Thanks for the replies so far! We already checked for Frontera/Topolobampo and no dice on reservations. We were definitely considering North Pond. Publican?

Hi,

If elderly Mom has a hard time tracking conversation in noisy restaurants, Publican would be an excellent place to keep her in the dark. If you want Mom engaged in the conversation, perhaps Publican is not the best choice.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:If elderly Mom has a hard time tracking conversation in noisy restaurants, Publican would be an excellent place to keep her in the dark. If you want Mom engaged in the conversation, perhaps Publican is not the best choice.

In other words, Publican is VERY, VERY NOISY.

Based on the places you enjoyed before, I'd recommend Bistro Campagne or Mado--love them both!

I forgot about Bistro Campagne, we had a great meal there! I do love Mado, but don't think our group will appreciate it.

hikawatressler wrote:I forgot about Bistro Campagne, we had a great meal there! I do love Mado, but don't think our group will appreciate it.

Funny that you say that about BC--I did a quick search for it on here after I posted and was surprised to see so few mentions. It is truly my favorite neighborhood restaurant--i always feel like I'm eating in a chef's home. Delish!

Got some great recommendations last time, so I'm trying again. When sis comes in from NY, we always pick a good restaurant for dinner with the fam. We've liked Spring, MK, Hot Chocolate, One SixtyBlue, Boka, Bistro Campagne, Naha, Riccardo's, Sola. Weren't as crazy about Blackbird, Perennial, Blackboard, Mexique. North Pond? Seasons? Les Nomades? (too pricey) Thoughts? (We always try for Frontera or Topolobampo and there are never any reservations left.)
Thanks in advance for your help and great suggestions!

Hi.

I think upscale Mexican is something we do well that NYC doesn't (let alone the rest of the state).

How about Mixteco Grill? It's a BYO. You could cruise up to Andersonville afterwards, to In Fine Spirits for drinks and/or (preferably and) Pasticceria Natalina for a pastry afterwards.

Or Sol de Mexico? A little more out of the way, but very enjoyable and has a liquor license.

Both of these are most easily done with wheels. Neither is as polished or scene-y as some of the restaurants you name (not to say they're dives - they're nicely done - just not, you know, like that).

Damn. I'm hungry.

Best,
-jim

Once again, thanks to all for your help! We've been to Mexique and quite like Sol de Mexico, but this group is not the one for these places. After my last request, we decided on Perennial. Right now we have a reservation at Balsan. I've got my fingers crossed.