Need recommendation for good meal for one on short notice

[broodingomnipresence]

HI folks,

I'm unexpectedly having to travel to Chicago tomorrow for work. I don't have friends in Chicago, but figure I might as well get a good meal out of the trip. I'm looking for someplace I can go have a great meal by myself, and where the fact that I'm doing this on short notice won't be a problem. I thought about trying to sit at the bar at Frontera/Topolobampo; is that likely to be hard to do on a Tuesday night? What other places would you recommend? Thanks!

[mrsdebdav]

Where are you traveling from? It might make sense to focus on cuisine you can't easily get in your own town.

If you want to go high end, Open Table shows availability for Trotters, Tru, Naha & North Pond, which are some of the top Chi restos (there are mixed opinions on all of them of course, but these are marquee names).

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Naha
500 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

[nsxtasy]

Our top high-end restaurants, featuring lengthy tasting menus, formal attire (e.g. jackets required for gentlemen), armies of waitstaff, and prices typically reaching $175-250 or more per person including moderate alcohol and tax/tip, are Alinea, Everest, Avenues, TRU, Spiaggia, and Charlie Trotter's. Alinea books months in advance and is closed Tuesdays, but you can probably find availability at all the others. All can be excellent, although reports have been particularly mixed lately about Trotter's. Spiaggia offers Italian cuisine, Everest is more contemporary French, and the others are contemporary American/global.

If you want to go slightly more casual (e.g. business casual attire, mostly a la carte menus) and less expensive ($90-120/pp inclusive), the best in the next tier of restaurants includes Naha and North Pond, as well as Graham Elliot, Boka, Perennial Virant. All of these are very good in that class. North Pond is particularly notable for its unique setting in the middle of the park, facing its namesake pond with the city skyline looming over the opposite shore.

From the Four Seasons, a five-minute walk will get you to Spiaggia or Avenues, a 10-15 minute walk gets you to TRU, Graham Elliot, and Naha, and the others will need a 10-minute cab ride.

All of these are very good, but I'm not sure any of them (including Sable or Piccolo Sogno) will offer anything you can't get in any major American city, with the exception of North Pond's unique setting in the park. If you're really interested in cuisine you can't easily get in your own town, consider one of the previously-mentioned places for provincial Mexican cuisine.

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Alinea
1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614

Boka
1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614

Charlie Trotter's
816 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60614

Tru Restaurant
676 North Saint Clair, Chicago, IL 60611

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Avenues At the Peninsula
108 E Superior, Chicago, IL 60611

Everest
440 S La Salle St Ste 4000, Chicago, IL 60605

Perennial Virant
1800 N Lincoln, Chicago, IL 60614

Piccolo Sogno
464 N Halsted, Chicago, IL 60622

Spiaggia
980 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

Naha
500 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

Graham Elliot
217 W. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60654

[nsxtasy]

You can sit at the bar at Frontera Grill, and order off either menu, Frontera Grill's or Topolobampo's. However, unless you arrive early (like 5:00-5:30), you can expect as long a wait as for a table, anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes or more.

You don't mention what part of the city you'll be staying in, which would be helpful in coming up with recommendations. But here are two more places I strongly recommend. If you're interested in terrific, creative provincial Mexican food but you don't want to deal with the wait at Frontera/Topo, consider Mexique (two miles west of the Mag Mile) or Mundial Cocina Mestiza (four miles southwest of the Loop, near the 18th Street station on the CTA Pink Line). If you're interested in eating in River North (near Frontera/Topo), Sable is outstanding. It has delicious contemporary American cuisine from Chef Heather Terhune (one of Chicago's best), and many items are available in half portions, so you can try a lot of different dishes, even when you're solo. (Don't miss the sweet corn creme brulee, and the corned beef rueben strudel, and the duck sausage, and...) They also have amazing artisanal cocktails. You can eat at the bar (either at the bar itself or at a table in the room with the bar) or at your own table in the main dining room. I ate at Sable again over the weekend and it was terrific; I just posted a detailed report in the Sable topic at www.chow.com/topics/704524 Mexique, Mundial, and Sable all accept reservations on Opentable.com as well as over the phone.

I'd recommend other places, such as Piccolo Sogno in River West for Italian food, or Mercat a la Planxa in the southeast corner of the Loop for tapas, but without more information about where you'll be, what kinds of food you'd like, etc, it becomes a matter of guessing. In the meantime, hope this helps!

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Mundial Cocina Mestiza
1640 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608

Frontera Grill
445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

Topolobampo
445 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

Mercat a la Planxa
638 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605

Mexique
1529 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

Piccolo Sogno
464 N Halsted, Chicago, IL 60622

Sable Kitchen & Bar
505 North State Street, Chicago, IL 60654

[broodingomnipresence]

Great, thanks. I'll be staying at the Four Seasons (120 E. Delaware Place); I can take a cab somewhere, but places not too far from there are great. Sable looks particularly good and I will think about that one. I'll have to decide if it's worth waiting at Frontera/Topolobampo. I like Mexican food quite a bit but by no means exclusively. I am always a big cocktail fan so Sable seems great for that reason as well.

[nsxtasy]

Then I think Sable would be the perfect place! It's about a ten-minute walk from the Four Seasons. (If it were raining and you wanted someplace closer to your hotel, I'd consider Cafe Spiaggia, but the forecast for tomorrow looks lovely.)

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Cafe Spiaggia
980 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[chicgail]

Sable is an awesome option for cocktails and a bite.

[nsxtasy]

Sable is also an awesome option for a complete dinner. I consider it the very best moderately-priced contemporary American restaurant in the entire city, regardless of whether you go there for cocktails, or just to enjoy Chef Heather Terhune's terrific food. I just posted a detailed report on my wonderfully delicious dinner at Sable this past weekend in the Sable topic at www.chow.com/topics/704524