Recommended Restaurants - Chicago Mag Mile Area

[onehaehyuk]

Hi all,

So I'll be visiting Chicago during the marathon weekend next month. I will be with my girlfriend and am looking for some good places to dine. I'll be staying at the Marriott on the magnificient mile and would like restaurants closeby or at least easy to access via public transit. After reading a few pages of the forums, I've come up with a list of the following places which looked good and within our price range of around $20-35 per entree. Please help me with any recommendations and tips.

Purple Pig
Avec
Sable
Takashi
Girl and the Goat
Ralph Lauren Restaurant
Boka
North Pond

Thanks in advance!

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Avec Restaurant
615 W Randolph St Ste A, Chicago, IL 60661

Boka
1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Girl and the Goat
809 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60661

Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[HoosierFoodie]

Of the places you mentioned that I have been to.... We've been to Sable twice in the last couple of months and enjoyed it very much. Ralph Lauren, I've only done lunch a couple of times and it was good. Though, I'm not sure I'd "waste" a dinner on it. Boka is very good. Been to Takashi twice the first time wasn't that impressive (they had just opened) but more recently I thought it was excellent. North Pond is pretty solid, too.

The Naha and Graham Elliot recs are spot on. I'd consider both.

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Boka
1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Naha
500 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

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

[ms. mika]

Agree with other posts- Purple Pig is a place to go for the food, and drink some wine but I wouldn't go there to just have a drink unless it's an off hour. The food is really good though and it's a fun spot.
Also would agree- Sable is fun for cocktails and a few bites, I wouldn't make it a dinner spot necessarily when you have limited time in Chicago. If you can get in, G&TG is much better,

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Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[cynalan]

My wife and I had dinner at the Purple Pig on September 14th. I guess we must have hit an off night as I was very disappointed with the dining experience. The food was nothing special. We ordered the braised pork shoulder which was decent, but the pork sweetbreads were a disaster. We received greasy, fried, breaded nuggets that could have come from McDonald's for all I know. One could not discern the base ingredient. They were greasy and flavourless... an extreme disappointment. Our remaining course, mussels with bacon could have been had at any road house. I'm glad we didn't have to wait in line for a seat because it definitely would not have been worth the wait.

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Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[nsxtasy]

Some of the places aren't very convenient to the Mag Mile, as indicated below. (They're shown on the map to the right.) More comments about each...

>> Purple Pig

It's a few doors down from the Marriott, so the location is great. They don't take reservations, and waits at normal dinner times can be two hours. But they serve the same menu all day long, so if you go at lunchtime or mid-afternoon or even late at night, you won't be missing anything and you won't have to deal with the waits. Since it's so close to your hotel, though, you could put your name in and go back to your room for a while instead of standing around waiting.

>> Avec

It's just over a mile west of the hotel. They don't take reservations and waits are lengthy; it's VERY NOISY; you're stuck eating with strangers since they only have communal seating; and they have the most uncomfortable seating of any place in the city. I was disappointed in the food, but many others like it. But there are so many other great places in Chicago where you don't have to put up with major discomfort and inconvenience, I would skip it.

>> Sable

Just a couple of blocks from your hotel. I LOVE their food; I had dinner there a few weeks ago and it was the best dinner I've had in the city all year. ("Don't miss" dishes included the corned beef reuben strudel, pistachio duck sausage, orange-buttermilk panna cotta, and of course the sweet corn creme brulee.) Most of the dishes are available in half portions so you can try a lot more items. Prices are very reasonable; get 3-4 half dishes for around $30 and you'll be stuffed. They also have craft cocktails. And it's easy to get reservations.

>> Takashi

It's in Bucktown, about four miles northwest of the hotel. I was very disappointed when I ate there; not a single dish really "wowed" me.

>> Girl and the Goat

It's just over a mile west of the hotel. They take reservations three months in advance, but they may be completely booked up by now. I liked many of the savory dishes, hated the desserts.

>> Ralph Lauren Restaurant

I haven't been. The name of the restaurant is RL.

>> Boka

About three miles north of the hotel. I ate there at the end of last year and liked it a lot, thought they really had their act together. Not that any one dish blew me away, but it was more like they were doing everything well, good food, good service, an overall very enjoyable experience.

>> North Pond

About three miles north of the hotel. A delightful place in every way. The setting in the middle of the park is exquisite. Creative, delicious food, excellent service. One of our best local gems.

There are lots more great places that you didn't mention. For Italian food, Piccolo Sogno is contemporary and terrific; it's about a mile west of the hotel. Italian food close to the hotel is Coco Pazzo Cafe. You also don't mention our creative provincial Mexican restaurants; Topolobampo is great for a weekday lunch, Frontera Grill if you can eat early, and both are a few blocks from the hotel; otherwise I'd consider Mexique, two miles west. Mercat a la Planxa is great for tapas; it's a little over a mile south of the hotel. Additional contemporary American places close to the hotel include Graham Elliot and Naha.

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Avec Restaurant
615 W Randolph St Ste A, Chicago, IL 60661

Boka
1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614

RL
115 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

Frontera Grill
445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Topolobampo
445 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

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

Takashi Restaurant
1952 North Damen, Chicago, IL 60647

Coco Pazzo Cafe
636 N St Clair, Chicago, IL 60611

Mexique
1529 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

Piccolo Sogno
464 N Halsted, Chicago, IL 60622

Naha
500 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610

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

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

Girl and the Goat
809 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60661

Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[onehaehyuk]

Hi nsxtasy,

Thanks very much for your informative and helpful reply! Based on your comments I've bumped up North Pond and Sable (Sable was already at the top of my list since it got such rave reviews on the forum here) and am considering Purple Pig for drinks one of the nights.

Didn't really think about Mexican but it's on my radar now - might check one of the places you mentioned for lunch!

Any more suggestions are welcome to help weigh my options :)

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North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[kathryn]

When you say drinks, do you mean cocktails? If so, Sable's the place on Mag Mile to go.

Purple Pig is more of a wine bar. Don't miss out on the food either. I've been twice and been very impressed, especially with their seasonal vegetable starters.

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Purple Pig
500 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

[chicgail]

Sable is awesome for cocktails. The cocktail menu has chapters! Also perfect for really good bar food like veggie, short rib or lamb sliders or truffle deviled eggs.

Save your actual dinners for other places.

[nsxtasy]

I ate at Sable for dinner a couple of weeks ago and as I noted above, it was the best dinner I ate in the city this year. I can't think of a better place to eat dinner, if you want to go casual. Of course, if you don't want "small plates", you still have the option of ordering full portions of items. Whether I'm eating there for brunch, or for dinner, or for late night snacks, Chef Terhune's cuisine has been fantastic, every time, from the opening dishes through the middle of the meal all the way through to the desserts. I thought it was WAY better than Girl and the Goat, for example, where many of the savory dishes were good but the desserts were awful. Sable is the perfect place for everything you mention - absolutely terrific food, at a moderate price, only a couple of blocks from your hotel!

[chicgail]

Isn't it great that we have differences of opinion to share? And no one is right and no one is wrong.

In my experience the food at The Girl and the Goat was beyond extraordinary and the drinks only ok. Exactly the opposite was the case at Sable where the drinks were amazing and the food very good, but no match for The Girl and the Goat.

Everyone has to decide for themselves. So we just have to agree to disagree.