favorite byob places

[lilmomma]

let me know. I live in north suburbs, so those places in particular, but I'll take recs in the city. I love spicy ethnic or soup based foods.

[vrollings]

These are all in the city. Two great BYO's that meet both of your criteria are Bill Kim's restaurants - Urban Belly and Belly Shack. Irazu is another good BYO - I beleive the food is Costa Rican. Two outside of your ethnic and soup constraints, but still very good are Terragusto (rustic italian) and Sweets & Savories (upscale American, for lack of a better categorization). Enjoy!

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Terragusto
1851 W Addison St, Chicago, IL 60613

Sweets & Savories
1534 W Fullerton, Chicago, IL 60614

Urbanbelly
3053 N California Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

[Querencia]

Tango Sur. Look up menu on "chicago restaurant menus".

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Tango Sur
3763 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613

[dlpens]

I live in the northern suburbs and have found that on various days individual restaurants offer free corkage such as Carlos's Central Cafe in Highland Park on Tuesdays. Michael's Restaurant in Winnetka also had/has a free corkage day.

Other restaurants such as Stoney River in Deerfield offer really reasonable corkage fees - ten dollars. I normally call restaurants in advance to find out about their corkage policies and I find that many restaurants offer very reasonable corkage of $15 or less. Good luck.

[mmilanam]

I'm not familiar with the suburbs, but these are my favorites in the northside. (Trying to keep it closer to you):
- Duck Walk - on Belmont in Lakeview; Thai; casual and small, but good
- Mixteco - Mexican, mole sauce is the best I've ever had
- Caro Mio - wonderful Italian in Ravenswood area
- Mytho's Tavern - on Montrose, not really sure what the neighborhood is called, get the Pastichio
- Addesso - on Broadway in Lakeview, Italian, also good for brunch

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Duck Walk
919 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

[geg5150]

A fave is Semiramis -- Lebanese in Albany Park. Easy to get to from the 'burbs and parking is easy. Love it!

For a special occasion place, I can't recommend Bon Soiree enough. www.bon-soiree.com

Pick up a copy of BYOB Chicago at most liquor stores, it's a great resource.

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Bon Soiree
Chicago, Chicago, IL

[Eldon Kreider]

Most Thai restaurants on the north side are BYOB. For starters try Spoon Thai, Rosded or Sticky Rice on or near Western Avenue.

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Spoon Thai
4608 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625

Sticky Rice
4018 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Rosded Restaurant
2308 W Leland Ave, Chicago, IL 60625

[ferret]

Yolo in Skokie and Wholly Frijoles in Lincolnwood are both Mexican, BYOB and great (different styles, Yolo has some great moles, Wholly has a broader menu).

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Wholly Frijoles
3908 W Touhy Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712

[amoncada]

90 Miles To Cuba on Armitage Avenue in West Bucktown for really good Cuban, plus it's BYOB and totally fun. Yep, they will serve up a pitcher of Mojitos sans the liquor. The enclosed heated patio is quite fun...diner beware, it can get pretty noisy on the weekend evenings. It is especially busy with holiday parties at the moment...must have been 8 separate birthday, Xmas, and bachelorette parties going on last Friday night. Weeknights and lunch daily is more subdued.