pre-dinner show at the Cadillac Palace?

We are going to a show at the Cadillac Palace (Anything Goes - don't know anything about it, but gf wants to see it), and was looking for ideas. Nearby on my list I have:Sepia, Grace and Blackbird. Obviously, Grace would be great, but doubt we could get in.

An after show spot would work too, but our default place would be Purple Pig...

TIA

Especially post theater, I'd go to Avec.

I second Avec. Also, Anything Goes is fantastic, enjoy

Thanks, looks great!

mdpilam wrote:We are going to a show at the Cadillac Palace (Anything Goes - don't know anything about it, but gf wants to see it), and was looking for ideas. Nearby on my list I have:Sepia, Grace and Blackbird. Obviously, Grace would be great, but doubt we could get in.

Just to note, the places you mention are all about a 15 minute walk away, in the West Loop. Not infeasible, to be sure, but if you want to keep it closer, it's only about half as far to the theater from Atwood Café (contemporary American), the Florentine (Italian), and Vivere (Italian). Also, these restaurants in the Loop are more accustomed to timing meals so that theatergoers can be done at a designated time.

As for Grace, aside from the reservations issue, I don't think they would be able to serve dinner in time to make a show, although you could always ask to find out for sure. (Our recent dinner there took over three hours.)

Wherever you go, for pre-theater dining, I suggest you mention what time you would like to be finished, when making your reservation as well as upon your arrival.

For post-theater dining, the places you mention don't seat after 9:30 weekdays, 10:30 weekends. The Purple Pig and Avec are both open late, as are GT Fish & Oyster, Quartino, and Café Iberico.

We had a very good experience with Atwood last time we went to the Cadillac but we also stayed at the Burnham so it was very convenient.

Avec isn't an great choice pre-theater because they don't take reservations. As others have noted I'd go there post-theater.

Correct. I noted that as well.

I tend to like a pretty light meal before a show, so our frequent choice is Bin 36. A flight of wine and some appetizers does the trick for me.

I have gone to Avec pre Opera. You can usually snag a table around 5:30.

Just wanted to say a quick thank you for those recommending Avec, it was excellent! We dined post-show (liked the show too!), and got seated right away, but in between two couples.

We ordered: greens and beet salad, chorizo stuffed dates, English pea ricotta crostini, salumi pizza, and the braised pork shoulder. Everything was very good, but the dates (more like a meatball) were awesome, not to mention the ciabatta that went with it. The pizza was top notch as well, but it was pretty rich with the creme fraiche so we ended up bringing half home. The pork was succulent and tender, with perfect amounts of crispy edges, but we were so full we ended up leaving half of it. We had to try the ricotta filled crepes with rhubarb, and loved that too.

All in all, this was one of our favorite meals in Chicago so far (along with Purple Pig & Piccolo Sogno). Service was excellent as well. The only negative was the noise, it was super loud.