2 day, 4 meal itinerary

Hey Everyone,

Coming into Chicago for the first time Sunday, Aug. 22 & 23. We're going to the Cubs game Sunday afternoon, other than that, no real plans. I hate making decisions and would love someone to throw out a meal plan for the trip. Reasonable budget, between 10-20 dollars per person dinners. My only cliche request is a good local deep dish.

Sunday: post Cubs game dinner and late night food
Monday: Lunch and dinner

I appreciate any effort you put into this. Any entertainment suggestions for a 25 yo married couple that like to have a good time/drink would be appreciated as well.

Where are you staying? That can help people plan which restaurants to send you toward.

-John

Sorry, I thought I had mentioned that. We are staying in the Lincoln Park/Lakeview area. I'm sure on Monday we'll be all over the city, trying to see as much as we can.

The GNR List is a good place to begin - viewtopic.php?f=28&t=28382

That's fantastic, thank you so much. I'm sorry I didn't find that before I posted.

Marco wrote:For example. one could point out that there is a really nice, relatively new middle eastern place about a mile south of Wrigley Field on Broadway called Kabob Inn. The shawerma and fatoush rival the places on Lawrence/Kedzie---which can you read about in the GNR List. This way, everybody else reading here finds out about something new in addition to the incessantly annoying reference to the GNR List.

Thanks for the lead on this place.
Kabob Inn
2908 North Broadway, Chicago, IL‎ - (773) 883-8771‎

Marco wrote:

Dave148 wrote:The GNR List is a good place to begin - http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=28382

Can't we make a rule against posting JUST a reference to the GNR List? It gets REALLY BORING for people reading here. I want to see what NOVEL things people can contribute to a thread, or even, FOCUSED replies to questions. Yes there is a canon. But if that is all you have to say, why bother?

For example. one could point out that there is a really nice, relatively new middle eastern place about a mile south of Wrigley Field on Broadway called Kabob Inn. The shawerma and fatoush rival the places on Lawrence/Kedzie---which can you read about in the GNR List. This way, everybody else reading here finds out about something new in addition to the incessantly annoying reference to the GNR List.

Very well said.

To the OP: For deep dish pizza, 10 blocks (1.25 miles) directly south of Wrigley Field is Lou Malnati's, the most prevalent deep dish pizzeria chain in town. Unfortunately, I've had what I consider spotty luck at that location as compared to the ideal Lou Malnati's, but if you're not familiar with Malnati's, I suspect you'll either a) find it to be delicious or b) decide you don't like deep dish pizza.

A slightly longer walk will get you to Art of Pizza at the corner of Wellington and Ashland (6 blocks west and 6 blocks south of Wrigley). Plenty of people rank it as good or better than Lou's and sometimes I agree with them. The bigger advantage of Art of Pizza is that you can experience both deep dish and stuffed pizza there.

If you just want to go with stuffed pizza, four blocks south of Wrigley and 1/4 block west on Belmont is Giordano's.

eatchicago wrote:One man's "annoying" is another man's "fantastic".

For someone from out of town who is not familiar with the topography of Chicago, the GNR list would possibly mean nothing.

Mixteco on Ashland and Montrose is close to Wrigley and excellent.

To our Outoftowner...

Mixteco Grill offers really good creative provincial Mexican cuisine, and is one of my favorite such places in the city (despite Gary's claim that I like "suburban style Mexican with good service and dumbed down food", which I don't think is accurate). However, there are a couple of things you should know about Mixteco Grill. One is that it is not that close to Wrigley Field; it's about a mile and a half away. If you don't want to walk, you can take the #22 CTA bus up Clark Street to Montrose and then walk west a few blocks. (It's also near the CTA Brown Line stop at Montrose but that's not the best way to get there from Wrigley.) The other is that they get very busy, even during the week, and they accept reservations over the phone, so I recommend making one in advance.

When I went to Wrigley a few months ago, I ate at Deleece on Southport, which is about half a mile north of the stadium and offers moderately-priced contemporary American food. I thought it was very good and worth considering. (They also have another restaurant south of the stadium called Deleece Grill Pub which focuses more on comfort food.)

I also ate at Chilam Balam before another game at Wrigley; it was very creative Mexican too, but I like Mixteco Grill better.

I really like Giordano's for stuffed pizza; as noted above, it's on Belmont, half a mile south of the stadium. But if you've never had Chicago deep-dish before, I'd go the extra distance to Lou Malnati's, for the more traditional single-crust deep-dish style.

Enjoy your visit!

nsxtasy wrote:When I went to Wrigley a few months ago, I ate at Deleece on Southport, which is about half a mile north of the stadium and offers moderately-priced contemporary American food. I thought it was very good and worth considering. (They also have another restaurant south of the stadium called Deleece Grill Pub which focuses more on comfort food.)

I also like Deleece a lot, though I've only had brunch there. Amazingly, it isn't that crowded for brunch and I've never had to wait for a table.

Also nearby is Tunes Bar and Grill.
3857 N. SOUTHPORT - CHICAGO, IL 60613 - (773) 935-1919

nsxtasy wrote:if you've never had Chicago deep-dish before

Also, if you're inclined to order sausage
on your pizza, beware that some places
will cover the pie in a manhole-sized disk
of meat. Even as a fan of sausage, that
can be very shocking. My first encounter
with a Gino's sausage pie in grade school
had me thinking I hated the style for nearly
a decade or so, until I learned better.

Many thanks to everyone who has responded. My wife and I are big fans of Mexican food, so Mixteco sounds great. I really enjoyed the GNR list and had no intentions of causing so much trouble. This entire website, including its passionate members, is a priceless tool for any city. If only every city I traveled to had such a resource.

If the food is half as good as your passion for it, I will surely come away impressed with Chicago.

Outoftowner wrote:Many thanks to everyone who has responded. My wife and I are big fans of Mexican food, so Mixteco sounds great. I really enjoyed the GNR list and had no intentions of causing so much trouble. This entire website, including its passionate members, is a priceless tool for any city. If only every city I traveled to had such a resource.

If the food is half as good as your passion for it, I will surely come away impressed with Chicago.

Outoftowner-

Mixteco is closed on Mondays so if that interests you, plan it for Sunday. If you are a fan of Thai, do check out TAC Quick, which is easily walkable from Wrigley up Sheffield (which turns into Sheridan). One of my favorite dive spots for a pre- or post-Wrigley cold beverage is Wrigleyville North on the corner of Sheridan & Byron.

TAC Quick
3930 N. Sheridan

Wrigleyville North
3900 N. Sheridan

Enjoy!

Outoftowner wrote:Many thanks to everyone who has responded. My wife and I are big fans of Mexican food, so Mixteco sounds great. I really enjoyed the GNR list and had no intentions of causing so much trouble. This entire website, including its passionate members, is a priceless tool for any city. If only every city I traveled to had such a resource.

If the food is half as good as your passion for it, I will surely come away impressed with Chicago.

Out of town person,

Thanks for the positive comments regarding LTH. Just so you know, our middle name is Trouble, so don't worry too much about the back and forth that invariably ensues a new post.

I think the GNR list is a great way to start, though it might be more helpful if it was organized by neighborhood (I'd consider doing it with the blessings of the mods).

As to your original post - as far as deep dish in the Lincoln Park area, my recommendation, way above Giordano's or even Lou's is Pequod's. Everyone I have taken there from out of town has loved it. It's not a GNR, but it might shoulda been a few years back. Or even now.

Pequod's
2207 North Clybourn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614-3011
(773) 327-1512

Mixteco Grill doesn't have its own website but you can find info and a sample menu here.

Again, especially since you may go there on a weekend day (Sunday), I strongly recommend making a reservation beforehand.

nsxtasy wrote:Mixteco Grill offers really good creative provincial Mexican cuisine, and is one of my favorite such places in the city (despite Gary's claim that I like "suburban style Mexican with good service and dumbed down food", which I don't think is accurate). However, there are a couple of things you should know about Mixteco Grill. One is that it is not that close to Wrigley Field; it's about a mile and a half away. If you don't want to walk, you can take the #22 CTA bus up Clark Street to Montrose and then walk west a few blocks. (It's also near the CTA Brown Line stop at Montrose but that's not the best way to get there from Wrigley.) The other is that they get very busy, even during the week, and they accept reservations over the phone, so I recommend making one in advance.

The GP wrote:If you are a fan of Thai, do check out TAC Quick, which is easily walkable from Wrigley up Sheffield (which turns into Sheridan).

TAC Quick
3930 N. Sheridan

Worth noting: the above spots are BYOB.

Outoftowner, I'd like to chime in about the terms deep dish pizza which is being used too loosely here.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza is NOT Stuffed Pizza. Giordano's is stuffed. Malnati's is deep dish. Art of Pizza serves stuffed and does not serve deep dish at all. It's "pan" pizza is a doughy, bready pizza with a ton of rubber cheese on top similar to Connie's.

Deep Dish pizza is cooked in a pan, with the dough pressed into the pan (and is not usually as thick as some people think it is especially Malnati's). In fact, the thickest, breadiest deep dish I can think of is Pequod's. The crust is usually dense, sometimes buttery, a little oily and a little crunchy. It also has the sauce (sometimes chunky tomatoes) on top. Stuffed has sauce on top as well, which leads to it being compared to deep dish. If you've had Pizzeria Uno outside of Chicago, it's not a shadow of the original deep dish recipe. You will be shocked at how much better the real thing is. Or at least should be!

And speaking of Pequod's for deep dish - I love it. But there are many that HATE it with a passion. I would not recommend this to someone trying their first deep dish (sorry Habibi!).

That being said, some of the most notable deep dish places are:
Lou Malnati's (probably my favorite when it's at it's best - I like the buttercrust)
Pizzera Uno/Pizzeria Due (the original deep dish recipe)
Gino's East
Pequod's
Pizano's
Burt's Place (Morton Grove)(they sort of have certain unwritten rules you must follow or no pizza for you!)

Notable stuffed pizza:
Art Of Pizza
Giordano's
Bacino's
Nancy's

Personally I like deep dish a lot more than stuffed. I also love our thin pizza here (cut in squares) that is sometimes called tavern style. There are these type of joints all over the city. Good luck.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Worth noting: the above spots are BYOB.

Thank you for adding that - it's very important!

Outoftowner, the two biggest places in Lakeview to buy alcoholic beverages are Binny's, which has a location on Clark Street 3/4 mile south of the ballpark, and West Lakeview Liquors, on Addison a bit more than a mile west of the park. A web search turns up a Rayan's Discount Liquors at 1532 West Montrose, which is kittycorner from Mixteco.

Hi,

Most of the posts related to the how GNR's are offered to new people has been moved to Site Chat available to registered users.

Regards,
Cathy2 for the moderators