Chicago Visit/Frontera

[marcusnaz14]

I am heading to the Chi for the weekend.
I have reservations for Frontera Grill, anyone have dishes they would reccomend?

Where is the best place to get a true Chicago Dog?

Any places that I should also hit up (I dont want Pizza)?

[blondie60614]

As for other places you should try, can you be more specific?

For a hotdog, I would recommend Hot Dougs on California

I don't have any recommendations on dishes at Frontera- The food is very good, I don't see how you could go wrong. I do think the place is over-rated, FYI

[Amata]

Note that Hot Doug's is closed right now, because Doug broke his leg. Check the website before going there to see if it's re-opened.

http://www.hotdougs.com/

[nsxtasy]

Hmmm... Frontera Grill doesn't accept reservations in advance, only on the day of dining. Perhaps you have reservations for Topolobampo, its sister restaurant next door? Either way, you can find recommendations for specific dishes at www.chowhound.com/topics/430394

You can find recommendations for hot dogs at www.chowhound.com/topics/364427

You can find recommendations for quintessential Chicago cheap eats at www.chowhound.com/topics/372986

[timNYC]

Frontera actually does accept a limited number of reservations. I recently made a reservation for my upcoming trip. You can check out the policy on their website.

[nsxtasy]

The website says "Though our dining room is mostly seated on a first come first serve basis, we take a limited amount of reservations for all size parties. Please call to check availability."

That's interesting, I never knew that. I had only heard about same-day reservations.

[wak]

Its a new policy. If you call early in the morning - 9-10 am - you can make reservations for small groups. Although you have always been able to make reservations for groups of 5 or more.

I just think the whole thing is silly. I don't know exactly what benefit they get from this policy. The food is good, but no better than many other Mexican restaraunts in town. That said, I had some sort of slow cooked goat dish served over an empanada last time I was there that was quite good. I have also had the Grass Fed Rib steak which was one of the best steaks I have had in a while. I thought the enchilada were only so-so.

As far as other recommendations go - search around the board. There are tons of suggestions.

[nsxtasy]

But the "call early in the morning for same-day reservations" policy has been around for a while. This whole "reservations in advance" (i.e. NOT same day) is news to me.