Sunday night late dinner in Chicago

[AnnickD]

Hello,
This is my first post as I am usually able to find my answer with the search option... but today I tried with no luck.

We will be (4 of us) in Chicago for Easter week-end and we are going to see a show at UIC Pavilion on Sunday (April 24th) night. We would like to go for Tapas or something similar after the show, so we are looking for 11:00 PM. We don't mind taking a short cab ride if necessary (short being approx. 15 minutes). As an FYI we are staying at the Hyatt Regency downtown.

Any recommendation as to where we should go?

I already tried using the search option on Open Table and I am sure I saw Quartino last night, but today as I was about to do the reservation, it disapeared. (It could be a case where the problem is 13 inches from the screen...!!!)

Thanks for your help!!

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Quartino
626 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60654

[nsxtasy]

11:00 pm is pretty late for a Sunday night, so your choices are going to be limited. It will be worse with the Easter holiday, as some places that are normally open late (such as Avec) will be closed that day. Quartino is a good choice; even though they don't show availability on Opentable, it's worth phoning them at 312-698-5000 to find out what the story is. (Sometimes places have openings that aren't on Opentable, sometimes they are closed for the holiday, whatever - you need to ask.)

Beyond that, one type of restaurant is generally open late, and that's steakhouses; I see availability on Opentable for Chicago Cut Steakhouse, Mastro's, and Smith & Wollensky. LuxBar also shows availability; I haven't been there, but I've heard some people here say they like it. And Mercadito, the Mexican restaurant chain from New York, is also open late. Those are the places that are showing availability past 11:00 on Opentable and jump out at me as decent places.

If you want to try one of our places that don't take reservations on Opentable, I would still strongly recommend calling ahead of time just to make sure they're open late on Easter, as they may be closed or closing early due to the holiday. For tapas, Cafe Iberico's website says they are open till 11:00 on Sundays, so if you're not going to be any later than that, you might try calling to make sure they're going to be open. Also the Purple Pig (which specializes in pork, charcuterie, organ meats, and cheese) is normally open till midnight on Sundays, so that's a place you might try calling too. Another place you might consider is Miller's Pub in the Loop, a longtime favorite for late hours, with ribs, seafood, steaks, etc.

Every place I have mentioned here is no more than a 10-15 minute walk of the Hyatt Regency Chicago (EDIT: okay, maybe 20 for Cafe Iberico).

Website links:
www.quartinochicago.com
www.chicagocutsteakhouse.com
www.mastrosrestaurants.com
www.smithandwollensky.com
www.luxbar.com
www.mercaditochicago.com
www.cafeiberico.com
www.thepurplepigchicago.com
www.millerspub.com

[AnnickD]

Thank you so much nsxtasy for your quick reply! I have read a lot of your post last summer while planning my first trip to Chicago and your comments were always helpful!

I had tried calling Quartino after I posted and they are closed on April 24th.

However, I just gave a quick call to Cafe Iberico and they are open!!! So we'll go with the Tapas!

Thanks so much for your help!!!

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Cafe Iberico
737 N Lasalle Drive, Chicago, IL 60654

Quartino
626 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60654

[nsxtasy]

Sounds good!

Note - I just changed my post above to say that it might take a little longer walking from Cafe Iberico back to the hotel; Google Maps puts the distance at 1.1 miles, so if that's too far to walk you may want to consider a cab.