Coming to Chicago from San Francisco

My sister and I will be visiting Chicago for three days and would like any recommendations of great places for dinner (or lunch). In S.F. I choose Zuni, Oliveto in Oakland, Boulevard, dim sum on Clement...how about your town? We are staying in a hotel at Wacker/Michigan and going to visit a nephew at U. of Chicago (and want to take him out too) Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi anna,

I'm a former resident of the Bay Area and your list of SF/Oakland favorites certainly resonates with me. I think in Chicago you should go to one of the high end Mexican places (e.g. Chilpancingo, Topolobampo) and look into Blackbird or North Pond for another evening. You can get dim sum recommendations from folks on this board, but dim sum and most Asian places here may suffer a bit in comparison to SF. The exception, I think, is Thai: TAC Quick, Spoon, or Sticky Rice would be worth visiting (do a search here for those names and the links to Erik M's translations of their Thai menus). The Thai places, though, are not very close to downtown but are easy to get to on the el. (Or will you have a car?)

Don't bother trying to find a place to eat down by the U of C! Your nephew will be desperate to go eat in another neighborhood, believe me.

As a counterpart to dim sum out in the avenues, what about exploring some ethnic cuisine which is better represented in Chicago than in SF? Puerto Rican, Greek, Polish, ... ? Or neighborhood Mexican places, which we have in abundance, doing lots of different regional specialties? If any of these sound intriguing, just ask for more information.

Enjoy your stay,
Amata

[EDIT 4/06: note that Chilpancingo is now closed]

I agree that Rick Bayless's restaurants are classic Chicago dining options for a first visit, although I personally do not love either of them. I also think North Pond is a lovely choice and a wonderful Chicago setting. Blackbird is also great and you can check out the hot West Loop restaurant row.

I have enjoyed taking out of town visitors to Spring (the chef is one of Chicago's best) and Crofton on Wells. Some of the new hot places in town include the vegetarian Green Zebra (owned by the chef from Spring) and the seafood-focused Scylla.

Have a great trip!

Thank you for the suggestions! If you could direct me to a couple of good neighborhood Mexican places or Indian places I would appreciate it.

anna wrote:Thank you for the suggestions! If you could direct me to a couple of good neighborhood Mexican places or Indian places I would appreciate it.

Before starting to list such places, it would do well to know whether you'll have a car. Some of the places are fairly far-flung and not easily or quickly reached with public transportation. Others aren't too hard to get to without a car.

Antonius

Thanks, yes, we have a car!

Anna:

Here are some links on neighbourhood places that specialise in one aspect or another of Mexican cuisine. These are all places that are easiest to get to by car. This is just a start.... more later... once you get a sense of what kind of things you're interested in, we can offer advice on logistics...

And again, this is just some of the interesting Mexican stuff...

Birria:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=31325#31325

Carne en su jugo:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=37258#37258

Carnitas:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=8805#8805
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1786#1786

Fish tacos:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=33762#33762

Guerrerense (cecina de venado, cabrito al horno):
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=19710#19710

Oaxaqueño:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=5534#5534
(also http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=32261#32261)

Seafood:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=27813#27813

Poblano:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=13523#13523

Also, check out extramsg's website in connexion with his eating tours of Chicago for lots of information, reviews, photos...
http://www.extramsg.com/

Antonius

And I almost forgot the Maxwell Street Market!!! (Discussed in many places -- here are a couple; extramsg discusses it too):

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=6217#6217

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=10401#10401

Antonius

Since you also mentioned Indian food, I would absolutely recommend a trip to Devon Avenue, which is the heart of Indian and Pakistani culture in Chicago, and an area that I think too few visitors of Chicago are advised to visit. It's fun, vibrant and there are a number of great dining choices --my favorite is Tiffin. It's a great area to walk around as it's always full of people, there are interesting stores, groceries, music and restaurants. Depending upon traffic, it could take you a half-hour to get to Devon (about 8 or so miles). To get there, you could take Lake Shore Drive North until it ends at Hollywood, continue straight on Hollywood, then a right at Clark and left at Devon and within a mile, you'll know you're in the right spot (Devon is 6400 North). Hopefully, my directions are simple enough. Also, here's a previous thread discussing Tiffin:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... ght=tiffin

anna, Antonius gave you a great bunch of links for Mexican places. I have a couple more, with grouping by neighborhood.

The Maxwell St. Market is definitely worth going to, if you are free on a Sunday morning. If you can get there around 9, it won’t be as insanely crowded. You can get tacos made with handmade tortillas, birria, empanadas, huaraches, seafood cocktails, Salvadoran pupusas, etc. There are also stalls selling fresh produce and dried chiles (not to mention bootleg videos, tube socks, and all manner of junk.) The market is on Canal Street north and south of Roosevelt. Don’t park in the Dominick’s parking lot, they tow.

Here are two more links on Maxwell Street.
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1394
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3799


Pilsen

If you can’t get to Maxwell Street but want to check out one of the Mexican neighborhoods of Chicago, I’d recommend going to Pilsen. Several of the places Antonius linked to are along 18th Street, in about a six block stretch (from about a block east of Racine to about a block west of Ashland)

The two places Antonius mentioned for carnitas bracket that stretch of 18th Street (and there are at least three other carnitas places in between):

Carnitas Don Pedro
1113 W 18th

Carnitas Uruapan
1725 W 18th

[a picture of each place is near the top of this thread:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2906 ]

The place Antonius mentioned for birria is also on 18th:

Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlán
1322 W 18th

Other food choices include Nuevo Leon – a big, general restaurant, norteño style food.
1515 W 18th Street
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=31711#31711

[Or Polo – a small hole in the wall place, also norteño, with handmade flour tortillas. Only open for breakfast and lunch.
1454 W 18th St
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 17357.html.
EDIT 4/06: Polo has closed ]


Antonius has no sweet tooth so he forgot to mention the wonderful, elegant bakery BomBon, across the street from Nuevo Leon.
1508 W 18th St
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=9318#9318

There are also some good cafes in Pilsen. Mi Cafetal is next door to Nuevo Leon, and also offers a few Mexican dishes (tortilla soup, roast pork sandwich, tamales).
1519 W 18th St
http://chowhound.com/midwest/boards/chi ... 48403.html

Café Jumping Bean is a very cool place, though with no Mexican food on the menu.
1439 W 18th St
http://mmeiser.com/plone/photos/040703% ... art:int=20

If you are walking around the neighborhood I’d recommend going a block west and a block south of Carnitas Uruapan on the western edge of this food list, to visit the Mexican Fine Arts Museum. Your visit to Chicago will probably coincide with their annual Day of the Dead exhibit. Free admission, closed Mondays.
http://www.mfacmchicago.org/index.htm
1852 West 19th Street
312.738.1503

Beyond Pilsen

The Guerrerense place Antonius linked to (La Casa de Samuel, with cecina de venado, cabrito al horno, huaraches, etc) is part of a Mexican neighborhood further south and west of Pilsen. [I’ll just mention one other place near there, El Nuevo Kappy’s, with excellent tlacoyos, quesadillas, and enchiladas potosinas:

2759 W Cermak
773-847-3200
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2958
EDIT 10/06: Kappy's has closed ]

Have fun in Chicago!

Amata

A&A thanks for the great links!

So many thanks to all, especially A&A, I am very excited by all the possiblilities. Anna