Visiting Chicago w/8yo son

[fwissy]

Hi, my husband and I will be visiting Chicago in a few weeks with our 8yo son. We will be staying close to Millenium Park. We plan to be downtown for most of our one week stay. (museum park, art institute, navy pier, etc.) We will also visit Legoland and will be seeing Blue Man Group. I would love some suggestions of places to eat that are casual and kid friendly. Keep in mind our son is a pretty adventurous eater for an 8yo. We all love sushi and would like to have some good sushi at least once during our stay. We all enjoy different ethnic foods as well.

Thanks!

Kristie

[nsxtasy]

Sounds like a fun trip! Here are places I'd recommend:

Deep-dish pizza! You *must* have some of this delicious local specialty. Pizano's on Madison is a block from Millennium Park. www.pizanoschicago.com If you're staying south of the park, Lou Malnati's has a location at 8th and State. www.loumalnatis.com And the original Uno and Due are about a mile northwest of the park. All of these are excellent and serve the classic single-crust "pizza in the pan" style of deep-dish, which is the one I'd try first. There's a second style of deep-dish that's also popular here, called "stuffed pizza", featuring a double crust; Giordano's serves this, at a location in Prudential Plaza near the park, as well as a location on Belmont right near Blue Man Group. www.giordanos.com

Bongo Room for breakfast/brunch. They specialize in creative pancakes, such as pretzel pancakes with white chocolate caramel sauce. Tip: The standard portion size consists of three GIGANTIC pancakes, but you can order one-third and two-thirds portion sizes at a reduced price, such as if you want to try more than one dish. At Wabash and Roosevelt (12th), just over a mile south of the park. http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/bongo-room-2

Frontera Grill, for creative provincial Mexican food. Tip: Waiting times for a table can be incredibly long (90+ minutes, even for Saturday brunch) but you can avoid them by arriving 15-20 minutes before they open the doors. Or, make a reservation NOW for lunch at Topolobampo, which occupies one dining room there; Topolobampo is expensive for dinner and books up way in advance, but at lunchtime it's reasonable in price and you can still get reservations a few weeks ahead of time. Both are closed Sundays-Mondays. About a mile northwest of the park. www.rickbayless.com/restaurants

Mercat a la Planxa is perhaps our best tapas restaurant, and it's a few blocks south of the park on Michigan Avenue. www.mercatchicago.com

Portillo's has a location on Ontario, about a mile northwest of the park. It's a sit-down fast-food place where you can get two other local specialties, Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. www.portillos.com

I don't eat sushi so others will have to give you personal recommendations, but I know Oysy has two convenient locations, one a half mile north of the park and the other a half mile south, and I've heard they have good sushi. www.oysysushi.com You'll also find some recommendations at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/612007

Here are a few more recommendations that aren't (necessarily) places to sit down and eat, but worth stopping at to grab something to go:

Intelligentsia Coffee, for you-know-what for the adults. It's our best hometown coffee brewer, and they have a coffeebar right near the park at 53 East Randolph. www.intelligentsiacoffee.com

Garrett's Popcorn, for a snack to go. They have yummy caramel popcorn (with or without cashews or pecans), cheese popcorn, or a mix of the two. They have several locations a few blocks from the park (State/Randolph, State/Madison, State/Jackson) as well as a couple at O'Hare. http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/service/locator.aspx

Fox & Obel is our premier gourmet food store, with the best of everything, including prepared foods, sandwiches/salads to go, and the best baked goods in town. At the bakery counter, don't miss the cinnamon swirl rolls; also excellent are the muffins (best bran muffins on earth), croissants, loaves of bread, etc. They also have a cafe in the rear of the store where you can get anything from a cup of coffee to a complete meal cooked to order (I like the cobb omelet). A few blocks north of the park, just north of the river. www.fox-obel.com

Feel free to ask more questions, and enjoy your visit!

[delk]

The Garret's on State and Jackson is moving a half block west and across the street to Plymouth Court and Jackson in the old passport place. Passport place's windows covered over with sign's saying Garret's is moving and will be "Popping" up there. Saw this, this morning, don't know when the move is supposed to happen.

[nsxtasy]

Didn't know that - Thanks!