Checking out Chicago through very interesting places to eat at over a weekend: Suggestions?

[khyber pass]

Two of us ( a mid-30s couple) are visiting Chicago for the first time. We live in big cities (New York and DC), and love food. We shall be there only for the weekend, and would like to try out the best (/most interesting) food places in Chicago (not at the really high end) that would take us to diverse neighborhoods, easily accessible by public transport. We do not care too much about ambience. We have 4 meals to plan for, and maybe some bites along the way. Maybe a BYOB place for one evening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[gomexico]

I don't know where someone would start, to answer your open ended question. So, I'll suggest you scroll through the many excellent discussions prior to yours which give very specific recommendations/reviews that, I've no doubt, will fill your dining card for the time you're in the city. You can also access google maps (or another map site) to locate neighborhoods you'd be interested in visiting and match that to the geographical classifications in the excellent food sections of both the Chicago Reader and Metromix Chicago websites for some detailed suggestions.

[chicgail]

Like gomexico said, maybe you can narrow it down.

Where are you staying?

How much time are you comfortable traveling for food?

Can you say more about your budget? I know you don't want really high end -- which would include Alinea, Spiaggia, Everest, Trotter, Tru, maybe a few others in the up to @$400/person range -- but can you narrow it down a bit?

Are you more interested in mid-priced neighborhood gems (e.g. Sola, Perennial, Mado) or inexpensive ethnic holes-in-the wall?

If the latter, we can recommend excellent and authentic Thai, regional Mexican, Indian/Pakistani, Chinese, Vietnamese. What about gastropubs? Farm-to-table? Burgers?

Chicago is also known for deep dish and stuffed pizzas (both created here), as well as Italian Beef and Hot Dogs.

There are a number of threads on this board that cover most of those categories ad nauseum. You may want to search and browse them. If you give us a little more information, we can probably make specific suggestions.

[khyber pass]

thanks for your replies. So i went back to the discussion board, and here's what we have lined up for this weekend. would really like your comments and suggestions:
we are staying in the Loop, on West Adams St, btw.

Saturday: brunch at Wishbone
Late afternoon pizzas at Lou Malnati's
Dinner (if possible after the pizza): at Red Apple. But my partner isnt too hot on polish food and he is looking for a BYOB too, so any suggestions? Was thinking we could do Hop Leaf (tho not byob)

Sunday: Brunch at Bistro Campagne, Lincoln Park
Late afternoon italian sandwiches at Portillo's
Indian Dinner at Indian Grill

Unfortunately we're leaving on Monday, so there's really no time to check out the other sumptuous sounding places. But was wondering if lunch or dinner at The Gage should be a must-try instead of some of the places that i've mentioned up there...

[delk]

There is plenty of non-Polish food (ham, roast beef, boiled and baked potatoes, baked and fried chicken) at the Red Apple.

[Eldon Kreider]

The Polish-American buffet, such as Red Apple, is a distinct genre from Polish food and stems from people with Polish ancestry who (or their ancestors) mostly arrived in America before the great depression. Think about the differences between Italian-American red sauce restaurants and modern Italian. The Red Apple to me is to real Polish food as Maggiano's is to Italian including an emphasis on quantity over quality. You can get a huge amount of food for a modest price but don't delude yourself into thinking you have had good Polish food. Deep dish pizza followed by Red Apple sounds like a huge starch and fat overload.

Red Apple is a pretty long bus ride from where you are staying and not close to el lines.

[nsxtasy]

I don't think I would want to squeeze a late afternoon meal in between lunch and dinner. Especially not deep-dish pizza, which is very filling.

If you do want deep-dish pizza, Lou Malnati's closest locations (on Wells and in the South Loop) are not that convenient. Pizano's on Madison is much closer; so is the Giordano's location on West Jackson. Call ahead with your pizza order to avoid waiting 30-45 minutes while seated for your pizza to bake.

Wishbone is good for breakfast, but the pancakes at Bongo Room are far more interesting.

Bistro Campagne is in Lincoln Square, not Lincoln Park. It's not bad, but there are so many good French bistros that are close by, that I wouldn't bother making a trip all the way up there. From your hotel, you could walk to Brasserie Jo ( www.brasseriejo.com ); Kiki's Bistro ( www.kikisbistro.com ) and Bistro 110 ( www.levyrestaurants.com ) are not much further.

Rather than Indian Grill, which is similar to Indian food you can get anywhere, I'd suggest having some of our creative provincial Mexican restaurants. Frontera Grill ( www.rickbayless.com/restaurants ) is excellent but closed on Sundays; I'd hop on the CTA Pink Line to 18th Street and go to Mundial Cocina Mestiza ( www.mundialcocinamestiza.com ).

I would also consider Cafe des Architectes ( www.cafedesarchitectes.com ), in the Sofitel, for Sunday dinner. They have some of the very best contemporary American food in the entire city. Sundays through Tuesdays they offer their "neighborhood friends menu", 3 courses for $29. But even other nights, their normal $42 prix fixe is still a good deal.

[khyber pass]

thanks nsxtasy for the inputs. also, any nice byob place that u can suggest?

[nsxtasy]

Well, we have a few high-end places that are BYOB: Schwa ( www.schwarestaurant.com ) and Bonsoiree ( www.bon-soiree.com ). But I think a better deal is Sweets and Savories ( www.sweetsandsavoriesrestaurant.com ) in the west end of Lincoln Park, which has a 3-course $29 prix fixe deal along with the BYOB. You'd have to transfer to get there by CTA ( www.transitchicago.com ). And most of our ethnic restaurants are BYOB, such as Double Li in Chinatown ( http://chicago.menupages.com/restaura... ).

[chicgail]

Khyber pass, I agree on many of nsxtasy's recommendations. But not all.

Here's how I would go:
Saturday brunch at Wishbone (it's a filling, savory and delicious southern/NOLA meal). If you go, go to the Wishbone on Washington in the West Loop. It's significantly better than other outlets. The suggestion of Bongo Room is a good one, but only if you feel like a sweet pancake meal, rather than savory. Bongo will also have a long wait and they don't take reservations.
Saturday late afternoon -- maybe hot dog or Italian beef at Portillos, but be willing to forgo it if you're still full.
Saturday dinner -- Bonsoiree is excellent, but expensive for BYO. Schwa can be good, but it's hard to get a reservation. I like the idea of Sweets and Savories. Another good option would be Terragusto, an Italian restaurant with locations on Armitage and Addison.

Sunday Brunch -- I happen to love Bistro Campagne and think it's one of the best bistros in Chicago. Consider also Hot Chocolate or Takashi, both in Wicker Park or Perennial on Lincoln Avenue across the street from Lincoln Park. All three are closer to the city center.
Sunday dinner -- I would definitely go with regional Mexican over Indian, but then I am not a big fan of Indian and the Indian neighborhood is a pretty good trip north from the center of the city. Another good option is Thai: Spoon, Sticky Rice or TAC all have authentic and excellent Thai food. They're BYO as well.

[nsxtasy]

chicgail and I are usually pretty much in agreement - in fact, I think her advice is usually great - and on the few occasions when we are not, it's usually due to something easy to pinpoint objectively, such as she has done the recommendation of Bongo Room if you enjoy sweet pancakes, and Wishbone if you enjoy savory dishes. Once again, I agree with most everything she's said here.

Regarding Sunday brunch, I've actually had the Sunday brunch at Perennial (just a couple of weeks ago in fact), Bistro Campagne, Hot Chocolate, and also Bistro 110, another French bistro off Michigan. The ones I liked the best were Perennial and Bistro 110, and Bistro Campagne almost as much. I think it would help to look at their brunch menus on their websites to see if you prefer the American food at Perennial vs the French bistro food. I liked being surrounded by all the huge street-level windows at Perennial. I also enjoyed the way Bistro 110 is laid out in a series of small rooms with traditional decor; Bistro Campagne is similar but it's a little more striking when you see that up a few flights in a Michigan Avenue high-rise than in a small ground-floor storefront. I liked all three of those brunches. I was disappointed in the brunch at Hot Chocolate. I have only eaten dinner, not brunch, at Takashi, and it was one of the most disappointing meals I have had in the past couple of years (it wasn't bad, but it just didn't wow me in any way).

We really have quite a few excellent French bistros (including the new one that just opened in Evanston). I should have also mentioned La Sardine, one of the best, which is in the West Loop, about a mile west of your hotel. Again, Bistro Campagne is also good, but if I were staying in the Loop, I'd easily pick the nearby La Sardine unless I were going to Lincoln Square for some other reason.

[khyber pass]

thank you both (chicgail and nsxtasy) for the recommendations, will follow most of them...let's see how much we can cover!

[chicgail]

Khyber, you really do have some great recommendations and while there are slight differences between nsxtasy and myself, you can't go wrong either way.

Let us know where you go and what you think.

[khyber pass]

yes am confident i do have the best suggestions here. will write back for sure once am back on my actual experience there. thanks guys!

[khyber pass]

hi, got back from chicago over the weekend and we did manage to squeeze in two of the recos given above: thai spoon which was simply excellent and the price was to die for. we went back twice to this place! sunday dinner was at cafe des architectes, with their neighborhood friends menu...the portions were a lot and tasted gorgeous and clubbed with the elegant ambience the place was a wonderful pick. we were at wicker park on sat evening and there chanced upon cafe absynthe, which was a cool place to wind down at. to sum up, thanks for the suggestions and most importantly we had a great time!

[Eldon Kreider]

Were you at Thai Spoon, south of the Loop, or Spoon Thai in Lincoln Square?

[khyber pass]

Thai Spoon, south of the Loop. sorry for the late reply.

[chicgail]

Glad you liked Thai Spoon. I've eaten there and understand what you appreciated about it.

But if you liked Thai Spoon, for your next visit, if you have the time, you might want to put Spoon Thai on your list. It's well outside the main tourist areas in a neighborhood called Lincoln Square and is easily reached by public transportation. Spoon Thai is related to Thai Spoon (owned by a family member I believe) and is very well regarded as authentic and excellent Thai food - far better than Thai Spoon - BYO and very inexpensive.