1st time in Chicago

Two of us will be flying into Chicago Thursday evening (Feb 16) and leaving Sunday night. Just realized that we will be in Chicago right in the middle of Chicago Restaurant Week; that makes me worried that it would be difficult for us to get into any good restaurants without having made reservations way ahead of time. 

We will be staying at the Fairmont and will probably not be renting a car. Saw No Reservations episode of Bourdain visiting Chicago in which he was driving all over to get to interesting places: Burt's Place, Calumet Fisheries, Silver Palm Restaurant, L2O Restaurant, Fat Johnnies Famous Red Hots, Blackbird Restaurant, Moto Restaurant, Hot Doug's, and Avec Restaurant. Is it worth our while to rent a car?

Wondering what real people in Chicago would recommend if we would like a real Chicago experience. I am very adventurous about ethnic cuisine being from Toronto, Canada, but not trying to find the best of the cuisine of any particular part of the world that Chicago has to offer; I was on a coach tour of Europe operated by Chinese people once and instead of sampling the local flavors, ended up in a Chinese restaurant in Rome, Venice, Paris, etc. However, I would be interested in ethnic restaurants that are representative of the culture of a city, e.g. Japanese food is very important in Vancouver.

I am more interested in simple food cooked well and not that interested in molecular gastronomy, foam, plating, the hipness and decor of the restaurant, or any other fancy frills. It is probably impossible to get into Charlie Trotter's restaurant, but do people think that it is worth it? I am not against fine dining, but am not focused on the fancy, ultra-expensive places which are just about hype.

Sorry for the long post with so many specific details. This forum has been very helpful. Any further help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

Here's a good place to start - viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31147

Depending on your schedule - it might be worth renting a car for a half or full day mini road trip around the city eating away at your heart's content.

A shocking omission from Bourdain's show is that he didn't sample anything Mexican in Chicago. I think at least one Mexican place should be on your list both because it's a strength of Chicago and because it's something Toronto doesn't do much of. You could visit a small neighborhood place specializing in one kind of dish (e.g. birria tatemada at Birrieria Zaragoza, carnitas at Carnitas Uruapan or other spots, etc etc) or go for a higher-end meal (e.g. Sol de Mexico if you have a car, Frontera Grill in River North if no car and you are willing to risk a long wait...) Most of the neighborhood spots would be easiest to get to if you have a car, but a few of them would be accessible by public transportation. For example, Carnitas Uruapan is very close to the 18th Street stop on the Pink Line L train.

The Great Neighborhood Restaurant list (linked within the post that Dave linked to) may give you other ideas about ethnic specialties.

I'm sure other posters will chime in with other suggestions too. have fun!

potus wrote:We will be staying at the Fairmont and will probably not be renting a car. Saw No Reservations episode of Bourdain visiting Chicago in which he was driving all over to get to interesting places: Burt's Place, Calumet Fisheries, Silver Palm Restaurant, L2O Restaurant, Fat Johnnies Famous Red Hots, Blackbird Restaurant, Moto Restaurant, Hot Doug's, and Avec Restaurant. Is it worth our while to rent a car?

Renting a car is not essential - if you're at the Fairmont, Blackbird, Moto, & Avec are all a short cab ride away & the Fairmont's close to the El system, which I'd argue is a better way to get around & experience Chicago.

I second the suggestion of Mexican, that's a strength here. Don't waste your time on Indian or dim sum, there's better in Toronto, but a visit to Albany Park for the variety of Middle Eastern, or to Uptown for Vietnamese or Chinese at Sun Wah etc. is a worthwhile investment of time.

For higher end, I'm not sure I'd bother with Charlie Trotter unless you really want to eat there before it closes & it sounds like you're not that invested. I'd personally pick Nightwood (which is currently my favorite American restaurant in Chicago, a car is helpful here, though its also reachable by cab or the El), or The Purple Pig or something fun like Yusho, for yakitori & cocktails. I'd also consider David Burke's Primehouse, if you enjoy steak or burgers, its close to your hotel. Toronto has its fair share of steakhouses, but there's nothing quite like Primehouse there that I'm aware of.

I second the vote for Nightwood, eat at the kitchen counter if they have room. Though be aware that while you can take a cab down, it might be tough to get a cab back unless they call one for you. Try to hit Xoco for breakfast or lunch, but avoid the peak hours between 11am-1pm to avoid a long wait.

Welcome! Good luck in the upcoming election.

If you decide to go to Nightwood, I suggest making reservations asap. I've been weighing going during Restaurant Week, and according to opentable.com, the open spots are limited. But the menu they're offering that week looks awfully good.

Have you looked into services like iGo and Zipcar? Maybe those would be better than rentals, since they have designated spots and you won't have to hunt for parking, dick around with our meter system, etc.

I wouldn't rent a car, unless there is some place that you feel you MUST go to which is not near public transportation. Too expensive for the rental and for parking, and too inconvenient. And you don't need it; there's plenty within walking distance of the Fairmont, and the rest of Chicago is easy to get to on the CTA (els - that's our subway, some of which is elevated - and buses). Check out the information on their website at transitchicago.com.

As for your choices, it sounds like you're considering a lot of places that are not all that different from what you have at home in Toronto. Blackbird, Nightwood, and Avec all serve food that falls under the general category of "contemporary American", and you can get similar food at home. I think Mexican food, recommended above, is a great suggestion - in particular, our provincial Mexican places, which are so very UNlike the conventional tacos/enchiladas served in most cities this side of the Mexican border. Check out the menus on the websites for Mundial Cocina Mestiza, Mexique, and Mixteco Grill to get a better understanding of how their cuisine differs from the ordinary. (Mundial is a block from the 18th Street station on the CTA Pink Line; Mixteco Grill is three short blocks from the Montrose station on the CTA Brown Line; Mexique is on Chicago Avenue which the #66 CTA bus runs along.) Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, which are a 10-15 minute walk from the Fairmont, also fall into this category; however, unless you can arrive at Frontera before they open the doors, the excessive waiting times there (and the impossibility of getting last-minute reservations at Topolobampo) make those places impractical. His Xoco just does not compare for creative cuisine, IMHO (again, the differences are easy to see by checking out the website menus).

I would also get some authentic deep-dish pizza, our delicious local specialty for which Chicago is so well known. The original locations of Uno and Due, where it all started, are about a ten-minute walk from the Fairmont. Lou Malnati's and Pizano's both have several locations around the greater downtown area (although not as close to the Fairmont as Uno/Due) and also serve terrific versions of deep-dish.

Regarding reservations, rather than assuming you can't get them, why not try making them now? Most of our upscale restaurants accept reservations on Opentable.com where you can see at a glance which ones have availability for any given date and time. (If an Opentable restaurant shows no availability, you can sometimes still make one by calling the restaurant, but don't get your hopes up, especially with popular places like Topolobampo and Girl & the Goat.) Of the places I've mentioned, Mundial, Mexique, and Topolobampo accept reservations on Opentable; Mixteco does so but only over the phone. The pizza places don't take reservations, although you can accomplish the same thing at Malnati's and Pizano's by phoning in your pizza order in advance; they'll seat you right away if you have a pizza coming out of the oven shortly after you arrive.

nsxtasy wrote: The pizza places don't take reservations

Except Burt's!

Pie Lady wrote:

nsxtasy wrote: The pizza places don't take reservations

Except Burt's!

. . . which essentially requires them.

=R=

Pie Lady wrote:
nsxtasy wrote:
The pizza places don't take reservations

Except Burt's!

. . . which essentially requires them.

. . .and requires a car, if you don't want a very, very pricey cab ride, or an hour+ commute each way via both CTA and Metra.

sundevilpeg wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:
nsxtasy wrote:
The pizza places don't take reservations

Except Burt's!

. . . which essentially requires them.

. . .and requires a car, if you don't want a very, very pricey cab ride, or an hour+ commute each way via both CTA and Metra.

Well, it is very close to the Morton Grove Metra stop.

=R=

Well, it is very close to the Morton Grove Metra stop.

. . . yes, but as noted, it is still an hour+ each way to/from the Fairmont, and that is under optimal conditions. The short walk from that MG Metra station to Burt's is the least of one's worries.

I'd drive, personally. Just One Woman's Opinion.

In an unrelated matter, it's kind of funny that no one has recommended that the OP try Aria, the very good resto at the Fairmont, given the current run on 'Top Chef' by current executive chef Beverly Kim.

sundevilpeg wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Well, it is very close to the Morton Grove Metra stop.

. . . yes, but as noted, it is still an hour+ each way to/from the Fairmont, and that is under optimal conditions. The short walk from that MG Metra station to Burt's is the least of one's worries.

Well, I've embarked upon far loonier runs for food that I thought might be destination-worthy, as I'm sure many others here have, as well. But yes, an hour+ each way on the train could almost be categorized as some sort of pilgrimage.

=R=

Good pizza is worth the pilgrimage. To get to dinner at Burt's few years ago, I took the Green Line from Oak Park to Chicago to pick up the Metra to get me to the 'za on time. Not bragging, just saying, it's not quite an odyssey & totally do-able.

When I was driving, it was a knee-jerk response to get behind the wheel. Not necessary and neither is a taxi.

To add to the regional specialties, I'd say Italian Beef has to get some consideration. I'd also consider Chicago style BBQ, specifically aquarium smoked rib tips. And don't forget the true Chicago style hot dog.

I realize these would all be classified as pedestrian cuisine. But along with deep dish pizza, it's what's unique to Chicago.

I'm not a fan of Burt's; I think the deep-dish is significantly better at Malnati's or Pizano's or Uno/Due. Of course, we don't all agree on this. But when you're comparing a ten-minute walk against a 1+ hour trip (each way)* by train/taxi (or train/bus) with a ten-minute walk, you're looking at spending 2-3 hours of travel time in a three-day visit just to go to one pizza place vs another that is also very good. Think carefully about that trade-off.

As for Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dogs, Portillo's offers credible versions of both, and its River North location on Ontario is only a 10-15 minute walk from the Fairmont. If you want to consider it, I recommend doing so for lunch, rather than devote one of your few dinners to it.

Since you'll be here on Sunday, you should consider one of our options for Sunday brunch. There are lots and lots of topics about brunch here, which you can find with a search. The main question is whether you want to go to (a) a place that specializes in breakfast/brunch; most of these places don't take reservations and have waits to be seated of 30-60 minutes unless you go before 9:30 or after 12:30, and the best include M. Henry/M. Henrietta, Jam, Bongo Room, Marmalade, and Southport Grocery; or (b) a place that is normally open for dinner but also serves brunch on weekends; most of these places DO take reservations and the best include Shaw's Crab House, North Pond, Perennial Virant, Sable, and Nightwood, as well as the Mexican places I mentioned above. If you want to also do brunch on Saturday, the breakfast/brunch places are all open on Saturdays (as well as weekdays); most of the reservation/dinner places don't do brunch on Saturdays, but most of the Mexican places do.

Two things.

Driving in Chicago is a lot like driving in Toronto. Having a car would seem to be an asset BUT then you have to find a place to park and feed the meters and all that stuff. You are almost better to rent the car at the hotel and return of at the end of the day than to pay the $20-30 overnight parking charges you will pay at many of the downtown properties.

I would agree with nsxtasy re. Burt's. While Metra rail will get you around the metropolitan area, its primary purpose is to get commuters in and out of the Loop. If you are traveling during rush hour, it does a great job. If you have to use it on the weekends or late at night, the time between trains is much longer and you find yourself tied to the train's schedule.

Hi I'm the owner of Calumet Fisheries. Chicago has amazing restaurants so you can't go wrong with any of the suggestions here on LTH. If you do rent a car and have a chance come visit us. We are about a 25 minute ride from downtown by either taking 94 or Lake Shore Drive( a beautiful ride), My suggestion would be to come earlier there will be no traffic and pick up a variety of our house smoked smoke fish that you can take back to your hotel and nibble on when you want a snack during you stay in Chicago. If you come at lunch time then order some of our fried seafood. You can check our menu out at www.calumetfisheries.com. We would love to be part of your Chicago experience. Some of my personel favorite places to eat eat are -SMOQUE for ribs - Catch 35 for fish- Gene and Georgetti's for steak( old school) and must stops are Garretts for popcorn - Sprinkles for a cupcake. Enjoy your stay

mkotlick wrote:must stops are Garretts for popcorn

Garrett's Popcorn is indeed a great place for a snack. They have wonderful caramel popcorn (with or without cashews or pecans), cheese popcorn, or the "Chicago mix" of the two. They have several locations in the Loop and one on the Mag Mile. If you don't get the chance to stop at those stores (or even if you do), they also have locations at O'Hare Airport in Terminals 1 and 3 (inside security). They make the popcorn on-site at all their locations, including the airport.

For baked goods, the Fairmont is a five-minute walk from Fox & Obel (you'll need to go down one level to walk across the Columbus Avenue bridge; there are stairs on the river side of Upper Wacker at Columbus). It's our premier gourmet food store, with the best of everything. They were named one of the ten best bread bakeries in the country by Bon Appetit. I especially recommend their rich "cinnamon swirl rolls", the best bran muffins on the planet, their rustic raisin-nut bread, croissants, etc. They have other great departments too, with excellent prepared foods in the deli department, pre-made salads and sandwiches, etc; in the rear of the store is a cafe where you can have anything from a cup of coffee to a complete meal cooked to order. (I like their cobb omelet for breakfast.)

North Pond is an excellent choice for a Sunday brunch.

I'm steering clear of Fox & Obel these days due to their apparent financial situation. They fired their head baker and I wouldn't be surprised if food quality was falling throughout the store. Of course I have no first hand experience of this, just saying.

bean wrote:North Pond is an excellent choice for a Sunday brunch.

Thanks. More info: North Pond features excellent contemporary American cuisine from multiple James Beard Award finalist Chef Bruce Sherman. What makes it a uniquely Chicago experience is its exquisite location in the middle of Lincoln Park (the park itself, rather than the adjacent neighborhood of the same name). It faces its namesake pond, with the city skyline looming over the opposite shore. The renovated building once served as a warming shelter for ice skaters on the pond.

bean wrote:I'm steering clear of Fox & Obel these days due to their apparent financial situation. They fired their head baker and I wouldn't be surprised if food quality was falling throughout the store. Of course I have no first hand experience of this, just saying.

I've been there since then and the food quality is as good as ever, including the bakery department. I urge anyone who has enjoyed Fox & Obel and wants it to survive to keep going there to see for yourself, rather than warning people away based on no recent experience.

Despite my love of trains, I also agree you should drive to Burt's. Once you're done, you are pretty much required to go back the way you came because there are no connecting trains to take you anywhere else and nothing within walking distance to do in Morton Grove. I'd use the Metra for day trips when you plan on staying in your destination town for awhile.

While the public transit system is excellent (well, at least adequate) here, you should be aware that the safety of neighborhoods can often vary from one block to the next. Most residents are aware that there are just some sections of streets that should be avoided (drug spots etc.). For the most part, Chicago is a relatively safe city,and I am not trying to scare you, but being from Toronto, you are probably used to both the up and downsides of urban living. If you are in doubt (especially at night), and you are exploring off the beaten track, take a cab.

Now that the warnings are out of the way, please explore Chicago's many ethnic neighborhoods. So many people miss out on what the city has to offer, because they limit themselves to the tourist areas. There are literally thousands of restaurants in this city and many are very good. With a few glaring exceptions (like Portuguese), there are excellent examples of just about any cuisine on earth. As mentioned, there are great Mexican, Thai, Middle Eastern (especially Assyrian), Korean, Vietnamese, Eastern European and African establishments. I would pick a cuisine, then ask for some suggestions. For upscale American, North Pond is an excellent choice. It is a great place for brunch (but make reservations now), and its location in the park puts you within walking distance of the zoo, the historical society, the lakefront and the Lincoln park conservatory, as well as some nice shopping areas.

edited to remove reoccurring repetitive redundant repetition

Not to further derail, but I'd suggest a car is mandatory unless you really like waiting for buses and hanging around at train stops, let alone in the winter and (always possibly) terrible weather. From memory, I don't think the CTA holds a candle for convenience or safety to its equivalent in Toronto. Further, I consider Chicago an exponential city: it takes exponentially longer to get anywhere by public transportation than it does by car, which easily erodes whatever benefit is gained by not needing to park. And even then, you'll save so much time getting from point A to point B that ponying up a few bucks to park won't be that bad. For that matter, most GNR type stops feature ample street parking nearby.

Vitesse98 wrote:From memory, I don't think the CTA holds a candle for convenience or safety to its equivalent in Toronto.

The CTA is not unsafe, by virtually any measure. But neighborhoods do vary, and a normal level of precaution and awareness applies, just like in any big city.

As for the trade-offs, it's really up to you to decide where you want to go and how you want to get around, with trade-offs of time, money, and convenience. The CTA goes all over the city and is usually extremely convenient, but it is indeed time-consuming if you are going to places that are far from downtown. Cabs are very expensive when you're going a long distance, whereas rental cars are generally expensive to rent and to park, even if you're not going a long distance. There may be some cases in which you want to rent a car (for example, to go to Brookfield Zoo in the burbs), other cases in which you want to take a cab (e.g. short rides to North Pond or Mexique), other cases in which transportation is convenient door to door, and still others in which you'll find places close to your hotel that are about as good as similar ones further away. My suggestion is that you come up with a tentative itinerary for your visit, including places you'd like to go and how you would want to get to each and any similar alternatives. Depending on what you're doing when you're not eating, you may want to combine visits to several places that are located close to each other.

Oh, and here are a couple more recommendations for you, close to the Fairmont. If you are a coffee lover, our local esteemed roaster, Intelligentsia Coffee, has a coffeehouse on Randolph Street that's a 3-5 minute walk from the Fairmont. A block south of there on Washington is another excellent bakery called Toni Patisserie. I know there are many good French-style bakeries in Toronto (my favorite is La Cicogne) but Toni is there in case you get the urge while you're here.

The only time I've ever been on a train or bus and not wished I was in a car is Wrigleyville on game day. Everything else, the mind boggles at the amount of time I've wasted just sitting or standing around. (Though I do get a lot of reading done!)

And sorry, the CTA is definitely unsafe (though not to say actively dangerous) by the standards of Toronto, just as Chicago is unsafe compared to Toronto. And while the CTA itself is neither here nor there, safety-wise, I know plenty of folks who have run into the most trouble waiting for the train or bus. Though I guess that goes back to a neighborhood by neighborhood case. Regardless, if someone is in town for just a few days, and clearly price is not really an issue (first post mentions L2O/Blackbird/Moto/Charlie Trotters, others have suggested North Pond), then just get a car. If you want to take a more leisurely (that is, time consuming, if anecdote-fostering) tack, take the train. I would just personally hate to come all this way and then have to cut my wishlist down by half once the realities of getting from point A to point B sink in.

I've spent a lot of time in Toronto, and I can only say that I disagree 1000 percent with your characterization. Both cities have public transit systems which are safe and convenient, but take significantly longer time than driving to go long distances, outside of prime commuting hours when the reverse is true. (Toronto rush-hour traffic is as horrendous as Chicago's.)

And if I were going to the places you mention - L2O/Blackbird/Moto/Charlie Trotters and North Pond - I would absolutely NOT get a car. They are all within 3-4 miles of the hotel. You can take four cab rides per day (two round trips) from the hotel by cab for about half the price of a rental car and parking, and you'll probably be able to hail every cab in under two minutes, WAY less time than it would take to valet or self-park. I usually take the CTA to get around, especially downtown, but if money is no object and an elegant experience is the objective, cabs are the way to go. NOT renting a car for short distances in the greater downtown area, which is way more expensive and way less convenient than cabs.

Ok, I think the OP has plenty-enough information to decide on whether or not to rent a car and how Chicago may or may not compare to Toronto.

Please, let's get back to the recommendations about where to eat.

Thanks,

=R=
for the moderators

I'd recommend some combination of Big Star and Tierra Caliente, for two sides to Mexican in Chicago, possibly followed by Violet Hour. And brunch at Publican, especially since they take reservations (that are generally not hard to land). And a cab would be a good choice for all of these!

Aroy Thai and Cemitas Puebla would be my two non-upscale must hit and rather unique to Chicago spots. Zaragoza is a great rec as well.