Suggestions for a girls weekend?

Hi all, we took a family trip to Chicago this past summer and you were all so helpful in helping us choose where to eat and it was very much appreciated!

Now, I am taking my 16 yr. old daughter and a couple of friends to Chicago over fall break (3 nights/4 days-- Th, F, Sat, Sun) and we are searching out eateries again! We will be staying north of the loop near the Oak Street Beach area.

The girls want to eat at some different places--not too exotic or expensive, but fun and a bit unique. It would be dinner out except for Sunday, that would be lunch. Also, not terribly far or time consuming to get to would be nice. We will have bus/El passes again for transportation.

I've been thinking maybe something like--- Lao Sze Chuan, Iberico, Bari's, other suggestions?

Hi joby,

How nice that you're coming back for another visit! I just went back and looked at your report from the summer trip and I see that you guys went to Lao Sze Chuan then. It's certainly worth another visit, but if you wanted to try another place in Chinatown you might check out Mandarin Kitchen (look in the Great Neighborhood Restaurant section for discussion). Or, since you'll have a Sunday lunch free, how about dim sum at Phoenix?

You mentioned Bari, which does indeed make great sandwiches. But there's really no place to eat the sandwiches there -- you just get the sandwiches at the back of a small grocery store, and there's no nearby park where you could sit, even if the weather is good then. (Also, I don't know how late they make the sandwiches -- if you go there it should probably be on your day when you want a lunch out.)

Iberico sounds like a great choice for you guys, and not far from your hotel. I remember you weren't so taken with the Indian/Pakistani food you had last time, so I won't recommend the Pakistani places catering to cab drivers like Baba Palace (probably the least expensive option in your hotel area).

Instead, how about taking the Red Line north to Matsuya on Clark for Japanese (I think Addison would be the closest stop), or to Argyle Street for Vietnamese (I'll let someone else recommend a specific place)? Or, transfer to the Brown Line, get off at Kedzie and go to one of the Middle Eastern places in Albany Park. Semiramis is the nicest in terms of decor; other possibilities are City Noor Kabab, Salam, Al-Khaymeih... all good places for a dinner.

Greektown would also be easy for you all to get to by public transportation. Or, I see in your trip report that you liked TAC Quick -- another meal there, perhaps, or at another Thai place?

joby wrote:--not too exotic or expensive, but fun and a bit unique.

For one of your meals, I suggest you take them to Grand Luxe Café. Here's my earlier post about it:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4811&highlight=

Enjoy your visit.

I would HIGHLY recommend Hot Chocolate for a Girls' Weekend. They have restaurant.com gift certs that are usable on Sunday. You guys can eat family style top save $$ and the desserts are simply to die for.

Bucktown is a fun neighborhood to walk around with cute shops and it's only 2 blocks from the Blue Line stop.

http://www.hotchocolatechicago.com/

A girls weekend out! I'm jealous!

The places I go with my girlfriends for fun are usually loud and tend to be places where you get lots of things and share (like the suggestion of Iberico above). I'm going to suggest Quartino -- which is kind of a hot spot right now and right in the heart of River North. It's Italian and very loud and noisy but in a fun convivial way and the two times I've been, I've been served by an Italian waiter, which might be a good time for a girls weekend! The website has their menu and you'll see that it's very "nibbly" in the sense that you can try a bunch of things. The bellinis are quite tasty and I think you all would enjoy yourselves.

One caveat -- get a reservation!

Hope you guys have a good time!

Quartino
626 N. State Street

www.quartinochicago.com

One of my favorite places, to which I have gone on occasion with "the girls," is Andalous, a great Moroccan restaurant. It can be reached by the red, brown, and purple el lines/Belmont stop. I can recommend the lamb tagine with prunes (Fes tagine) and chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives (Meknes tagine) -- but everything there is great. Desserts are often scented with rose water, and are delicious.

It's exotic without being too exotic -- and, thanks to years of French occupation, they have French fries.

It's a great restaurant. (The last time I went, I'd actually just gotten back from two weeks in Morocco, and I was still impressed.)

Have a nice visit.


Andalous
3307 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60657-1639
(773) 281-6885

www.andalous.com/

I hoped that I would get some great suggestions and I have! Thanks to all who have responded! It all sounds interesting. That's one of the great things about this board--there are sooo many varied opinions. Lots of possibilities.

Amata, we were thinking about Bari on Sunday at noon'ish (I think they close at 1 pm on Sunday's ?). Maybe on the way to Union Station?

Iberico was closed when we went this summer and we were disappointed. I think it will be on "the list" this time. I "think" Saturday will be the loop train tour (again--the other girls would enjoy it) and shopping. Maybe Iberico that evening.

Chinatown is a definite. Neither of my daughter's friends have been to a Chinese eatery other than what we have here at home. They also want to shop around while we are there, so we will be spending some time there.

We are thinking about going to a show while we are in the city, maybe Thursday or Friday. The Steppenwolf theatre looks interesting. The DCA theatre looks interesting too. The girls are each paying for their own trip, so ticket cost is a factor.

Other possibilities: photography museum, Art Museum (free 5-8 pm), LP zoo/conservatory (we were there this summer, but it is so nice and the animals never behave the same way).

The girls thought it might be fun to do one of the "haunted tours", but they seem to get mixed reviews and seem pricey--thoughts?

Also this summer, we were on a bus that went a long way down Clark St. (by the Graceland cemetary) that area looked like it had lots of eateries and places to pop in and out of.--suggestions?

As always, thanks so much for the responses!

If the girls are into more, uh, hip and alternative theater, and you don't mind a late show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is fantastic and cheap ($10.50 on average).

It's close to a handful of good restaurants, not terribly far from the red line (and right next to the clark street bus), and just a lot of fun for most teenagers and young adults.

I'd suggest pairing it with either TAC or one of the Uptown ethiopian restaurants, like Ethiopian Diamond. It's also near Turkish Cuisine, which is quite nice.

Another good alternative is one of the city's many improv shows, like IO (Improv Olympics), ComedySportz, Second City, etc. All near the El, all reasonable, all lots of fun.

You can also check out HotTix, which has half-price tickets available for a lot of the city's shows. You can check out what's available when you get in and pick tickets up in the Loop and near the Water Tower/MCA.

It'd be nice to grab some sandwiches from Bari to eat on the train, or while waiting at Union Station. Amata is right that there isn't really anywhere suitable near Bari to eat, so it's a better choice for a picnic lunch.

It doesn't have as much youth appeal, but if they're slightly geeky kids they'd probably like the Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tours. It'll run somewhere in the $25-30 per person range, so it won't give you any savings over the ghost tours, but it'll probably be a better tour

If you really want to splurge, there's also the $26(?) chocolate buffet at the Peninsula. I've never been, and people have been mixed on whether it's worth the price, but for a chocoholic it might be fun and worth it.

Joby, Chicago theatre is very rich and varied and doesn't have to be expensive. I love Steppenwolf; it has a very "Chicago theatre" flavor, but there are many storefront places that can give you a really fabulous show on the cheap. Try http://www.chicagoplays.com/ or the http://www.chicagoreader.com/listings/static/listings.html#CRITCHO has a lot of reviews (not everybody agrees with them, but they can give you a feel)

Joby -- you're referring to the #22 Clark Street bus, which is actually a pretty good and inexpensive way to see much of the northside. There are many neighborhoods to get off and explore that the #22 plows through. If you haven't picked any breakfast spots -- you might take a look at Metromix.com or the citysearch site for chicago and see what might be interesting that's near the Clark Street Bus.

It will also take you within a block of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, which I also recommend for a very fun evening -- and it has the added benefit of being a late night offering so you can you do the dinner and then head out to the theatre and although it is a young crowd, it's always a very friendly one. Plus it's an experience to go -- tickets are bought by the throw of a dice and before you even get to do that, you get to sit around a room watching all your fellow theatre-goers with their pals and smell really yummy brownies baking which as I recall are quite inexpensive. It's a very homegrown fun atmosphere and the sketches (30 plays in sixty minutes!) are quite entertaining.

shannon

The Chocolate buffet at the Pen is solid, not outstanding, but your daughter and her friends might really like it, especially if they want to get a little dressed up one night. Combining that with some sort of spa activity in the late afternoon, for example, might be fun - but also might be out of the girls' price range.

One thing though is that if you go for an earlier seating, they really do push you to get you out of there (both for you to stop eating and so they can seat somebody else), so I would book for 9:30pm.

The girls all liked the idea of the Chocolate buffet UNTIL I told them the price--thier response was "if only it was 1/2 that"!

Thanks for the play websites. Everyone wants to go to a really good show that is less than $20. Now to choose....

I looked over the Restaurant.com site. Not many of the places recommended on here are listed. Seems there are lots of "only valids...". Have any of you had much luck using the restaurant.com coupons?

Any other recommendations along the #22 Clark St. bus route--eateries, unique shops, etc.?

A couple more questions--

If one were to choose a Greek restaurant for a Mom & 3 teen girls that:

1. has very good food (especially for those who have never had Greek)
2. is cost conscious
3. is fun for a girl's weekend

What might be the best choice(s) for this?

Another question-- if one were to choose a theatre outing for the above group, would any of the following theaters be better than the other--

Griffin Theatre Co., 1225 W. Belmont
House Theatre of Chicago, 3111 N. Western
Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells
Letting Go Theatre Co., 2936 N. Southport
Corn Productions @ Conservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln
Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashford (the biggest problem w/ this is the late start time of 11:30 pm)

Any other suggestions?

I'd go for Santorini or Venus. At the former, my wife and I have had some of our most satisfying greek meals by ordering a big assortment of appetizers and then sharing an order of the lamb paidakia or scharas (thin sliced grilled lamb, ordered by the pound).

Usually fairly reasonable, and gets more reasonable the more people are there.

Venus is geared towards that type of sharing, too, with a large menu of appetizers to pick from.

For your theatre excursion, a lot may depend on the show being presented. "Floss" at the Cornservatory is a fun show that you and the girls would probably enjoy. (It's not too far from Spoon Thai if you wanted to work that in your itinerary!) The House Theatre is in sort of an odd location -- kind of underneath an overpass -- and may seem uncomfortable at night. But, I have seen a couple of great House Theatre productions.

These are only a couple of observations. The local theatre scene is extremely varied and vibrant. It's a fun experience. Personally, I use the Reader's "short list" to get an idea of what is out there that is recommended.

Have fun!

-Mary, The GP

joby, I think the theatre question is a hard one to answer without knowing what shows will be on the weekend of your visit. Except for the Neo-futurists on Ashland , whose late night show is always the same, or never the same, depending on how you want to look at it. (I also think that Too Much Light... would be a fun choice for you and the girls -- how about a nap on Friday afternoon to get ready for it? Besides, I believe one of the core members of LTH is an alumnus of that show ...)

Before I forget, I wanted to add a note about getting sandwiches at Bari. You should leave a little extra time if you are going to do that before catching a train on Sunday afternoon, because the line for sandwiches at noon on Sunday during FOOTBALL SEASON is particularly long!

Okay, Greek. I'm always recommending Santorini, but I know you guys are on a tight budget and maybe the prices at Santorini are a little more than you want to pay. Greek Islands is probably less expensive; it's the best known place in Greektown, full of big groups and waiters shouting Opa! with flaming cheese -- the whole scene. But (and I know others here feel differently) I don't care much for their food. Well, maybe I order the wrong things.

Here's what I would recommend instead, that you guys go to Artopolis. Artopolis is a very attractive cafe on Halsted, with some Greek things on the menu but also non-Greek items. You can look at their menu at chicago.menupages.com (the regular Artopolis website, artopolischicago.com, seems to be down at the moment). I think you guys could share and try a number of things -- maybe one order of chicken riganati, one order of yuvetsaki, the kefte sandwich, a half-order of the greek salad, a spanakopita and a tiropita -- getting a taste of a number of Greek dishes without spending a vast amount of money. Well, the beautiful desserts on display in the bakery part of Artopolis may tempt you to add to your order just a little bit!

Here's the Reader's theater listings with a number of recommendations and capsule reviews, I agree that you should pick a show you want to see and find food around it, rather than try to pick theater by location.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/listings/s ... ml#CRITCHO

joby wrote:Corn Productions @ Conservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln
Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashford (the biggest problem w/ this is the late start time of 11:30 pm)

Corn Productions' Floss! is a hilarious send-up of Stomp, Riverdance and all those other dance-based shows - but the actors really can dance.

And If you want to see Too Much Light, the Neo-Futurists' show that's been around 18 years, it's not always late - it runs at 7 p.m. on Sundays. But they have other shows at more conventional times Thursday - Saturdays. Tomorrow night I'm going there to see their newest, Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck! If it's anything like every other full-length show I've seen there, it'll be thought-provoking, incredibly well-researched, and really, really funny.

Thanks for the feedback!

Here are some of the theatre offerings when we will be there that the girls thought looked interesting--

"Dead End" Griffin Theatre Co., 1225 W. Belmont

"Hatfield & McCoy" House Theatre of Chicago, 3111 N. Western

"Hothouse" Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells

"The Shape of Things" Letting Go Theatre Co., 2936 N. Southport

"Tales From Mom's Crypt 9--Beneath the Planet of the Tiffs" Corn Productions @ Conservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln

"Too Much Light..." Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashford (the biggest problem w/ this is the late start time of 11:30 pm)

Amata, I'm glad you warned about Bari's--we will be there on a football Sunday. What time would you recommend we arrive at Bari's? I think they close at 1 pm on Sunday's. (we need to be to Union Station by 3 pm).

As for Greek--the girls all love Greek salads, baklava and want to try some other foods too. We want good food, nice atmosphere and are on a tight budget.

I always appreciate the opinions/suggestions so much on this site! Thanks!

joby wrote:Amata, I'm glad you warned about Bari's--we will be there on a football Sunday. What time would you recommend we arrive at Bari's? I think they close at 1 pm on Sunday's. (we need to be to Union Station by 3 pm).

Oh, if the train's not till 3 it should be fine to get there at 12. I was worried that you might need to catch a 1:00 train or something.

It looks like Bari's is a go then!

Thanks for the Artopolis suggestion, Amata. I'll discuss the Greek dining with the group.

Thank you gleam, Amata, the GP, nr706 and Mike G.

joby wrote:It looks like Bari's is a go then!

Thanks for the Artopolis suggestion, Amata. I'll discuss the Greek dining with the group.

Thank you gleam, Amata, the GP, nr706 and Mike G.

If you are looking for Greek, I would suggest a place like Greek Islands or Santorini (if you are interested in fish) rather than Artopolis. Considering the "Girls Weekend Out" aspect of the trip and the fact that you've got some young girls with you, Greek Islands is much more of a busteling scene and had a much wider menu selection than Artopolis, which is a good enough place, but a bit sedate and more of a coffee house atmosphere, although they do serve food.

I would second that suggestion for Greek Islands. In addition to the bustling happening atmosphere, they also have a great affordable Family Style option which consists of a variety of their menu choices including 2 appetizers, a meat dish, 3 other main entree's, and 2 desserts I believe. It's a great option if everyone wants to try a variety of different Greek foods. The portions are more than enough to keep you satisifed, and it all tastes great! I'm not a huge fan of Greek food, but I really liked the menu items they put on there.

Well, hopefully this weekend the group will all get together and we'll come up with an itinerary, probably to be refined as we go.

It's really nice being able to get suggestions/opinions and run ideas by locals that are familiar with locations, traffic, bus/train routes, etc. It really can help visitors.

Feel free to continue with suggestions as they come to mind! I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Perhaps it's a bit clichéd, somehow, but I've always liked Parthenon. I don't have a lot of experience in Greektown, but I've visited a handful of places (never Santorini, notably) and I thought Parthenon was a good experience each time I went, you get a good bang for your buck, and the gyros are top-notch. All the other food is good too.

Joby, a friend of mine is directing Lend Me a Tenor at Piccolo Theatre in Evanston; if I know him there will be lots of slapstick and low humor; just the thing for a bunch of girls. Otherwise, Too Much Light is probably your most "Chicago theater" experience, since it involves a lot of improv.

My own experience at Greek Isles wasn't that good, but there are lots of suggestions in this thread Should you choose to go there, I wouldn't go on a Friday night, as the crowds detract from it a bit.

Thanks for the suggestions Aaron and Mhays--more food for thought.

I think definites are, for food: Bari's, D'Amato's (for snacks), Iberico, Lao Sze Chuan, Ann Sather's (for cinnamon rolls). Leaning towards Artopolis for Greek.

Activity thoughts are: LP Zoo/Conservatory, Art Museum, Clark St. for shopping, Contemporary Photography museum, Chinatown, Loop train tour, shopping State & Michigan areas, Theatre (show to be decided), Mass on Sunday, and still looking for something for early Sunday afternoon.

We are also thinking about Jamba Juice and Garret's popcorn--just for fun.

Hoping for nice dry weather too!!!

Thoughts/suggestions?

Here's an ez one: girlie shopping, Italian ice, Austrian coffee and pastry, and more on Southport followed by Urinetown (the musical at Mercury) then dinner at Tango Sur, Uncommon Ground, Deleece, or whatever. El Gato Negro is nearby and has shows as well, but may well not be appropriate.

JeffB, Urinetown looks to be a good show but too expensive. El Gato Negro seems to be way too racy for the girls who will be going!

We want a show in the under $20 range, so that limits some of our choices. Im sure we'll find a good one with some digging.

For theater, what about Second City. That's real Chicago, should be perfect for 16 year olds, and shouldn't be much more than $20 (they sometimes have half price tickets at Hottix box offices).