Critique my itinerary - foodie couple coming to Chicago from NYC

[foodchow]

Going to Chicago July 30-Aug 1 with foodie girlfriend from NYC. Will be staying in North Michigan Avenue but will be around town doing various activities.

Friday:
Lunch: Picnic in Millenium Park (pickup food from Fox & Obel)
Dinner: Frontera Grill (no reservation, but will come try to come on late side, 10PM)

Saturday:
Lunch: Walking along Magnificent Mile, need recommendation -- something very casual and not expensive...but interesting and good...
Dinner: On wait list for Schwa. If I don't get in, need a rec -- pricewise would like to keep it under cost of Schwa. Looking for a unique/memorable experience without breaking the bank.

Sunday:
Brunch: The Publican

Thanks in advance for your help! We eat everything, love seafood, but don't have any restrictions...

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Frontera Grill
445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

[nsxtasy]

foodchow, where did you go and how did you like each place?

[foodchow]

Friday night - put our name down at Frontera -- 2 hour wait, so we went back to hotel, showered, etc., came back to the restaurant right in time to eat. Food was excellent, everything just tasted really solid, I was very impressed.

Saturday night - got into Schwa. This place is like nothing I've ever seen. The food is really different, really inventive, but the most unique part was the service. These guys are very funny, very over the top hipster vibe. Each dish was explained in great detail, but with a very "unique" flair, i.e. "So that black sh*t on your plate is aged balsamic, it's aged in Peruvian Oak barrels for 12 years or some sh*t...." We loved it. Very, very different. Highly recommended.

Also did lunch at Purple Pig, sitting outside was very nice. And grabbed a quick bite at Fox & Obel, which was a nice, typical upscale marketplace, but definitely enjoyed.

Trip was amazing, Chicago is a great city, and people are much more laid back than NYC.

[MLG]

If you can't get into Schwa, you might want to consider Sweets & Savories. Innovative cuisine, definitely affordable. BYO. Reservations recommended for Saturday nights. It wouldn't be a bad cab ride from Michigan Avenue. Or take the red line to Fullerton and bus (#74 Fullerton) or cab to restaurant about 6 blocks west of the L stop.

Sweets & Savories
1534 W Fullerton
773 281-6778
http://www.sweetsandsavoriesrestauran...
Tuesday to Saturday at 5pm, Sunday brunch 10am to 2pm

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Sweets & Savories
1534 W Fullerton, Chicago, IL 60614

[foodchow]

Any recommendations for a quick and cheap breakfast? Not even looking for waiter service, maybe somewhere I can just grab a croissant or egg sandwich quickly...

Also, I'm a big coffee drinker -- I will be hitting up Intelligistia near Millennium Park -- any other recs for a great cup?

[adamsdad]

I like your idea of a picnic at Millenium Park. Bring a small hand towel to dry your feet (if it's hot you can soak in the Crown Fountain). If you get your picnic at Fox & Obel may I suggest one of their outstanding baguettes with a good brie (they really have one of the better baguettes in the city).
The Publican is nice for Brunch. But since you're in the midwest (The richest agricultural resource in the world) I'd like to suggest a couple places that are known for their farm-fresh ingredients:
Perennial
http://www.perennialchicago.com/
Lula Cafe
http://www.lulacafe.com/

I would also second the recommendations for North Pond Cafe. My wife and I went their for our anniversary and loved it.

If not on this trip, then your next you might try venturing a little further afield. With various notable exceptions, it's been my experience that the further you get from the magnificent mile the more culturally rich and authentic your experience will be. The best of Chicago lies in its neighborhoods after all.
You could get on the 147 bus northbound from Michigan Avenue and head to Andersonville and Edgewater where you could eat at Ethiopian Diamond, Uncommon Ground, Hopleaf, etc...

P.S. The 147 is an express bus that takes you on Lakeshore Drive so don't be alarmed when it seems you're on the highway heading out of the city.

I hope you have a great visit.

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Hopleaf Bar
5148 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640

Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant
6120 N Broadway St, Chicago, IL 60660

Uncommon Ground
1401 W Devon Ave, Chicago, IL 60660

[nsxtasy]

>> If you get your picnic at Fox & Obel may I suggest one of their outstanding baguettes with a good brie (they really have one of the better baguettes in the city).

They also have pre-made sandwiches and salads in the refrigerator case just to the right of the fish department, and you can also have items made to order in the cafe.

>> You could get on the 147 bus northbound from Michigan Avenue and head to Andersonville and Edgewater where you could eat at Ethiopian Diamond, Uncommon Ground, Hopleaf, etc...

Taking the el (CTA Red Line to Berwyn) will be just as quick and get you just as close to Andersonville (it will still be a ten minute walk). However, while there are places I love in Andersonville (such as M. Henry for breakfast), there are many interesting restaurants all over the city, including the downtown areas as well as outlying neighborhoods. There is so much good food here, I don't think any one neighborhood is more special than any other; I think you can make just as good a case for the wonderful food places in Bucktown, the South Loop, Lincoln Square, the West Loop, River North, Evanston, etc. If you have a month, you could explore the entire city. If you're here for a weekend, there's plenty to see in and around downtown so you may not want to spend a good portion of your time here in travel to distant neighborhoods like Andersonville, unless you already have some other reason for going there or you feel that some particular place is an absolute must. Obviously that's up to you to consider when planning your itinerary.

[foodchow]

Thank you for those brunch recommendations; I think sampling some good Midwestern farm cooking would be an excellent idea!

[nsxtasy]

Here are some tips on getting to those places (which I've been to for brunch; you can read my reports on brunch at both Perennial and Lula in the topic at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/364403 ).

Perennial is in Lincoln Park. The quickest way to get there from downtown, other than cab, is on the CTA #22 or #36 bus. Or hop a cab, which should be $5-7 plus tip. If you're looking for something to do after brunch, Lincoln Park Zoo is a block or so from the restaurant and it's free.

Lula is in Logan Square. Take the CTA Blue Line to the Logan Square stop, which is just north of the statue in the park; the restaurant is just south of the statue. If you're on North Michigan Avenue, the easiest way to get to the Blue Line is to catch the Red Line at Chicago/State or Grand/State, take it downtown (trains will be marked "to 95th/Dan Ryan"), get off at Jackson, and walk DOWNSTAIRS from the subway platform to the connecting tunnel to the Blue Line one bloack away, then take the train marked "To O'Hare". A cab to Lula would be around $15 including tip.

A BIG advantage for Perennial for Sunday brunch is that you can make a reservation in advance on Opentable.com I believe Lula is first come, first served, and can get busy with long waits, especially if the weather is nice and you want outside seating. As with most brunch places that don't take reservations, you can avoid long waits by arriving around 9:00 a.m. (when Lula opens); much past 9:30 and the waits get long.

As noted above, North Pond also specializes in local and seasonal ingredients. If you don't get there for dinner, they do Sunday brunch and they take reservations for it on Opentable.com

[LdyDanica]

If you don't get in at Schwa you might consider hitting the Metra and heading to the burbs. There is a great little Irish pub in Downers Grove called Ballydoyles. It is only a couple of blocks from the Main Street Metra stop. The food is traditional Irish cooking and the prices are very cheap. There is live entertainment several nights a week and they have one of the only bottle organs in existence. If they are slow enough have someone show you the secret passageway if not see if you can spot it yourself.

http://www.ballydoylepub.com/

[nsxtasy]

>> Dinner: On wait list for Schwa. If I don't get in, need a rec -- pricewise would like to keep it under cost of Schwa. Looking for a unique/memorable experience without breaking the bank.

Go to North Pond. The food is excellent and the unique location in the middle of the park is exquisite. For a Saturday night, make your reservation NOW. www.northpondrestaurant.com

>> If you don't get in at Schwa you might consider hitting the Metra and heading to the burbs.

If you do that, two of the very best casual fine dining restaurants in the city are only a block from Metra stations in the northern suburbs. Michael, in Winnetka, is near the Indian Hill station on the Union Pacific - North line. www.restaurantmichael.com Inovasi, in Lake Bluff, is near the Lake Bluff station on the same line. www.inovasi.us Metra info is at www.metrarail.com

[foodchow]

North Pond sounds good -- location sounds great. Food seems a bit on the "safe" side and expensive, but definitely will consider. Thank you.

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

[nsxtasy]

>> Food seems a bit on the "safe" side and expensive, but definitely will consider.

I hate menus like North Pond's, because they don't really describe the dishes; they just list a few major ingredients, so you really don't get an idea of what is done with them. FWIW, what's a bit different about North Pond is that, when a dish is described as "A, B, C, D" it is often not a single item that contains those four ingredients, but rather, a main item of A surrounded by three side items of B, C, and D. What I've found is that I may not swoon over every single item on the plate, but there's almost always at least one or two of those items that are to die for. Hope that makes sense.

North Pond is definitely in the contemporary American style, featuring local and seasonal ingredients, not molecular gastronomy (not like Schwa or Moto), but done extremely well. (In NYC terms, think of Craft, rather than Per Se.) Chef Bruce Sherman is a multi-year finalist in the James Beard Award category of Best Chef - Great Lakes.

North Pond is considerably less expensive than Schwa, if you don't go crazy on the wine. Schwa is $110 for the food (tasting menu), not including tax/tip or corkage (BYOB). At North Pond, the tasting menu is $85 and the typical 3-course a la carte averages $60.

North Pond is about two miles north of the north end of the Mag Mile. You can take a cab to the cab stand at Lakeview and Deming, or for $2.25 you can take the CTA #151 bus from Michigan Avenue and get off at Roslyn and Stockton.

[foodchow]

Might just have to try North Pond then! In keeping with the NYC analogy, it reminds me of Union Square Cafe, which I loved, even though it's nothing out of the ordinary other than very fresh high quality ingredients cooked excellently...

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

[TAsunder]

Was just at North Pond. The location is really terrific and the building itself is gorgeous. Food-wise, It was good, not great. The food looked great and there were a lot of things to taste on each dish. As time passes, however, I find more reasons to critique the food and service. I think they have overly complicated dishes for a place that extolls the virtues of seasonal flavors. Just in general, it felt like they were trying too hard. Good ingredients masked by excess. Maybe I'm a traditionalist in this regard... I would rather eat at a place like Chez Panisse for local, seasonal food.

A few minor service issues that are kind of nit-picky, such as delivering entrees to the table when one or more people weren't at the table.

It's still very good, but I would not go out of my way to visit it. If you have to stretch your schedule or budget, it's probably not worth it. If it fits in nicely, maybe worth a visit.

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

[chicgail]

An Irish pub in Downers' Grove is a pretty long stretch from Schwa. Traditional Irish cooking vs. Schwa? Doesn't exactly compute.

I have a couple of other recommendations that you might also appreciate. None of them are in the Central city, but then neither is Schwa. These aren't much further, but they are all in "neighborhoods" and all in your price range.

Bonsoiree, not too far from Schwa does an exceptional job of creative food preparation. On Saturday they have a BYO prix fixe by reservation only "underground" dinner tasting. You will appreciate it.

Mado is a small mom and pop (well, a young and hip mom and pop) farm to table operation. Also BYO They do their own butchering and use everything. The food is excellent. and you won't find much else like it.

Browntrout is one of my new favorites. Casual, comfortable and excellently prepared locally farm raised food with really nice wine and cocktail selections.

Check out their websites.

Also, it you're going to Publican, you may not want another gastropub, which Purple Pig is. I haven't been to PP yet, but it has gotten excellent buzz.

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Bonsoiree
2728 W Armitage, Chicago, IL 60647

Mado Restaurant
1647 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Browntrout
4111 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

[foodchow]

Thanks for these recommendations. I would like to stay a bit closer to the central city, as I will have to factor in cab costs.

Bonsoiree in particular looks excellent, although it is kind of getting out there on the map...looks almost twice as far from Mag Mile as Schwa...not sure how far this is in real life versus what it looks like on map...

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Bonsoiree
2728 W Armitage, Chicago, IL 60647

[nsxtasy]

>> not sure how far this is in real life versus what it looks like on map...

Chicago uses a street numbering system centered at State and Madison in the Loop, with about 800 house numbers = 1 mile away from the downtown area, a little less than a mile downtown.

Michigan Avenue is 100E (meaning it's 100 house numbers, or about 1/8 mile, east of State Street), and the Mag Mile extends from about 300 North Michigan to 1000 North Michigan (at Oak Street, which is 1000N, or about 1 1/4 mile north of Madison Street).

Bonsoiree is at 2728 W. Armitage, and Armitage is 2000N. So if you're on the Mag Mile (100E) at Chicago Avenue (which is 800N), Bonsoiree is just over 3.5 miles west and about 1.5 miles north.

Schwa is at 1466 N. Ashland, and Ashland is 1600W. So if you're on the Mag Mile (100E) at Chicago Avenue (800N), Schwa is about 2 miles west and about 1 mile north.

I would guess that a one-way cab for two people including tip would be around $15 to Bonsoiree and $10 to Schwa or North Pond. I could be off but probably not by more than a few bucks.

[vrollings]

I would recommend the Purple Pig for lunch Saturday - it is at 500 N Michigan and has outdoor seating. The food and wine are yummy and affordable. For dinner Saturday, you could go to Graham Elliott. It is lots of fun and inventive - super casual dress code, but upscale food and cocktails. In fact the NYTimes just had an article on GE the other day as he's in charge of all of the food vendors for Lollapalooza, but I digress. Enjoy your trip!

[ms. mika]

Just a couple comments-
On your Friday night 10pm dinner at Frontera- hopefully you know they close at 11pm, so you might want to arrive a bit earlier.

Also for a suggestion for lunch on Sat on the Mag Mile- I would suggest The Purple Pig. It's a fairly new small plates place that has really great food, however it doesn't take reservations and is fairly small but we've been a few times for lunch and gone early and haven't had a problem. Take a look at the menu- it should fit what you're looking for- interesting food, not too expensive and on the Mag Mile!
http://www.thepurplepigchicago.com/

[foodchow]

Good point on Frontera -- will try to get there before 9 then!

Purple pig looks excellent -- I know we were trying to keep this lunch on the very inexpensive side, but I think Purple Pig might just be able to sneak in there...