Fine(r) dining with kids in Chicago?

[Lubis]

My wife and kids (ages 8 and 6) are coming to Chicago next weekend, staying downtown, and looking for recommendations for fine(r) dining!!

Since the kids were small, I've always brought them to restaurants in my home town (Toronto) that are not places where families with young children normally frequent. My kids are pretty comfortable in fine dining settings so I'm not worried about them squirming or getting bored.

In terms of food, they will stay clear of exotic foods but eat a lot of the protein staples that appear on many menus. The best success I've had is bringing them to Italian restaurants since they can be pretty flexible with pastas tailored for children (even though my monkeys are pretty comfortable with Tagliatelle Bolognese, Pappardelle with rabbit and porcini ragù, etc.) while still offering great meals and settings for adults.

So while kid-friendly and family-friendly restaurants are easy to find, I am looking for something that leans much closer to an adult restaurant to which we can bring well behaved children.

I might be asking for the impossible but thought I'd try. So any recommendations whether italian or otherwise would be greatly appreciated!

[nsxtasy]

As long as kids are well behaved, there's really no reason why you can't bring them out to dinner *anywhere*. Depending on their taste for particular kinds of food, of course. Based on your description of your kids, "an adult restaurant to which you can bring well behaved children" really means *any* fine or finer dining restaurant. I'm sure they'll do fine!

If you specifically want Italian food, my top choices would be:

1. Cafe Spiaggia at the north end of Michigan Avenue (not to be confused with Spiaggia, its sister restaurant next door; Cafe Spiaggia is fairly casual and moderately priced, Spiaggia is formal and expensive) - www.cafespiaggia.com

2. Vivere, in the Loop (I ate there this past week and had amazing roast duck) - www.vivere-chicago.com

3. Coco Pazzo, in River North - www.cocopazzochicago.com

There's really no need to restrict them to Italian restaurants, though. You might want to consider the following kinds of places as well:

- Steakhouse (e.g. David Burke's Primehouse - www.jameshotels.com/Chicago-Hotel.aspx?name=The-James-Chicago&page=Primehouse )

- Seafood (Shaw's Crab House - www.shawscrabhouse.com )

- Contemporary American (Cafe des Architectes - www.cafedesarchitectes.com )

- Upscale Mexican (Salpicon - www.salpicon.com )

All of the above accept reservations on Opentable.com

Of course, kids (as well as adults) often enjoy dining at least some of the time in places that are not necessarily finer dining. So you might want to consider some of those places as well. For example, you can get authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza downtown, either the single-crust "pizza in the pan" at Pizano's ( www.pizanoschicago.com ) or the double-crust "stuffed pizza" at Giordano's ( www.giordanos.com ). And go out for breakfast; they'll enjoy the huge pancakes at either location of Bongo Room ( http://chicago.menupages.com/restaura... ).

If any of these possibilities are particularly appealing, I'd be happy to go into additional detail and/or point out possible alternatives if you have trouble getting reservations. Also, "downtown" Chicago covers quite an area; if you let us know your specific hotel, we might adjust our recommendations slightly to point out which places are in the immediate vicinity.

[uhockey]

The Gage and Cafe Spiaggia are both excellent - reviews of both can be found in my blog and I'd rank them amongst the better mid-price options in Chicago. Don't make the mistake of the "real" Spiaggia though - pay an arm and a leg to get mini-plates of good food from snotty waiters who (at least in my experience) will elbow you in the head and not apologize.

Bongo Room also rocks. :-) Enjoy.

[lipei]

I work in downtown Chicago and eat out often. Three favorite mid-priced Italian restaurants that I recommend are Cibo Matto (at the Wit Hotel), Coco Pazzo (near the Merchandise Mart), and Prosecco (in River North).

[vrollings]

I would also add The Gage to your list. I have a well-behaved little 2-yr old foodie and he loves the Gage, as do my husband and me. Right across the street from Millenium Park on Michigan Ave. It is a great gastropub. You could definitely have a fantastic lunch (or dinner) there.

[Lubis]

Thank you all for the fantastic suggestions! Will report back on how we do!