562809 Mon Oct 06 14:52:26 -0700 2008 5 7 Chicago Area 0 4086148 Hey, Chicago Hounds! The whole family is headed up to Chicago for the 2008 Thanksgiving Day parade as my lovely niece Katy (yay!) is the drum major for her high school band (go wildcats!). Anyway, we've got quite a mix of 15 old/young, foodies/indifferent, budget-conscious/spend-it-if-you-got-it and we all need a spot to land for Thanksgiving dinner. We'll be staying at the Palmer House (sigh...) and need some reccs downtown. Ideally, they'd serve traditional fair and lots of booze. I don't mind making this motley crew dress up in some decent duds, either...likely a character-building experience. This is lots to ask but anyone out there have any suggestions? Thanks, Stephanie Mon Oct 06 14:52:26 -0700 2008 230909 stephanielb 1 4086186 Chicago Firehouse has a Thanksgiving buffet that's good. I can't recall the exact price, but think it was in the vicinity of $25-30. Food is pretty good, drinks/wine extra. It's a bit of a stretch to call its location "downtown", but it's about a 20 minute walk or very short cab ride from the Palmer House. Mon Oct 06 15:08:41 -0700 2008 4086148 11383 Masonville 1 4124199 Hey Stephanie-- Get down to army & lou's or just order your entire Thanksgiving Dinner--it's reasonable, nice, homey--and tastes like your Grandmother made it. ArmyandLous.com 773-483-3100. Thu Oct 23 11:14:10 -0700 2008 4086148 234629 SoulFoodIsGood 2 4124413 Please note that Army & Lou's is about ten miles from downtown Chicago... Thu Oct 23 12:25:23 -0700 2008 4124199 55363 nsxtasy 1 4124454 Places are just starting to announce their arrangements for Thanksgiving, and listings are starting to show up at: Metromix (the Chicago Tribune's entertainment website) - http://chicago.metromix.com/facets/events/type.listing.event.dining_event?offset=1&page_size=100&keywords=thanksgiving opentable.com (an internet website where you can make restaurant reservations) - http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=3&ref=551&pid=1 More and more listings should be available in the next week or two. I see that Lockwood, the new restaurant in the Palmer House itself, is offering a buffet Thanksgiving dinner. The restaurant has received generally good reviews since its opening a year ago, and obviously you can't beat it from the convenience/location standpoint. However, at $50-65, it's not inexpensive. Details are in the Metromix listing at http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/dining_event/thanksgiving-at-lockwood-loop/687712/content I don't know how wedded you are to the "buffet" concept, but I suspect that in the downtown area, places not doing a buffet may be somewhat less expensive. Just to cite one example, I would normally consider David Burke's Primehouse (an outstanding steakhouse in the James Hotel) to be a more expensive restaurant than Lockwood, yet their a la carte Thanksgiving dinner is shown in opentable as $39/person. I've had the a la carte Thanksgiving dinner at Lawry's, the restaurant known for their prime rib, and it was quite decent. Both Burke's and Lawry's are a long walk or a short cab ride from the Palmer House. Park Grill is also shown in opentable as having a special Thanksgiving dinner, and it's only a few blocks from the Palmer House at the Michigan Avenue entrance to Millennium Park. There are also suggestions in the discussion at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/565252 Thu Oct 23 12:38:53 -0700 2008 4086148 55363 nsxtasy 1 5152083 Stephanie, where did y'all end up going? Tue Nov 03 09:29:35 -0800 2009 4086148 147713 speyerer