Downtown Chicago

[hockeymom3]

We are visiting downtown Chicago for the first time shortly. We would like a recommendation for a steakhouse and a Italian Restaurant. Willing to take a recommendation for any other fine dining establishment.

[GraydonCarter]

I enjoyed every meal at the Felix Hotel restaurant, Elate.

http://www.elatechicago.com/

[nsxtasy]

For the steakhouse, we have a lot of good ones; I consider David Burke's Primehouse the best. www.davidburkesprimehouse.com

For the Italian restaurant, I recommend all of these and would go to whichever is closest (downtown Chicago covers a large area):

Cafe Spiaggia (Gold Coast) - www.cafespiaggia.com
Coco Pazzo (River North) - www.cocopazzochicago.com
Piccolo Sogno (West Loop) - www.piccolosognorestaurant.com
Cibo Matto (Loop) - http://cibomatto.therestaurantsatthewit.com
Vivere (Loop) - www.vivere-chicago.com

The menus at the first three of these are a bit more conventional. The menus at Cibo Matto and Vivere are sort of a mix of contemporary American along with conventional Italian cuisine. All are excellent.

[nsxtasy]

>> Willing to take a recommendation for any other fine dining establishment.

- Haute cuisine - Alinea, Everest, Charlie Trotter's
- contemporary American - North Pond, Cafe des Architectes, Naha, MK, graham elliot
- Mexican - Topolobampo/Frontera Grill, Salpicon, Mundial Cocina Mestiza, Mixteco Grill
- French bistro - La Sardine, Kiki's Bistro
- Latin fusion - Carnivale, Nacional 27
- tapas - Mercat a la Planxa, Cafe Iberico
- pan-Asian - Red Light
- Chinese - Shanghai Terrace