Best Neighborhood to sample Chicago eats?

[Civil Bear]

Hi All-

My wife and I will be visiting your fine city for a few days this summer, and would like some help choosing where to stay. Hotwire is listing the hotels downtown at over $300/night, so we thought we would look at other options. Our goal is to try some Chicago traditions like DDP, hot dogs, Italian beef and steak, as well as see some of the tourist attractions. Places that look interesting so far are:

Lou Malnati's - DDP
Gene & Jude's - HD
Portillo's - HD
Johnnie's - IB
Chickie's - IB
Harry Caray, or any other Chicago only place that serves dry aged steaks

The best value's on Hotwire right now are in the following areas:

Hillside/Westchester
Lombard/Oak Brook/Downers Grove
Northbrook/Glenview/Mt. Prospect

So the questions is, which of these areas would be best for chowhounding local traditions and establishments, as well as proved adequate access to the Magnificent Mile district? We would like to use public transportation when practical, but we will have a car.

[Shaggy]

Have you tried Priceline? I'd be shocked if you bid on a hotel in the Rivernorth/Mag Mile area and paid over $160 for a four star hotel. My wife and I have used priceline, set at four stars, twice in that specific area downtown and stayed at the Intercontinental and Sofitel, both good hotels, for $160 range.

[Civil Bear]

Thanks for suggestion. I used to use Priceline quite a bit but got burned by them using their mobile ap. Their customer service dept in India refused to consider my case and were actually quite rude and condescending in their replies. Needless to say I will not be using Priceline again and caution anyone planning to use their mobile ap.

[Civil Bear]

Thank you all for your help. For some reason I never considered using Kayak for hotels. Unfortunately most places are already booked for my dates, but I was successful reserving the House of Two Urns in Wicker Park just two blocks from the Blue Line. Since this thread has deviated from chow, I will go ahead and start a new one.

[nsxtasy]

Sounds like a great location as a basis for sampling Chicago eats!

[camusman]

Some favs in or near Wicker Park, just to get the ball rolling:
Big Star (tacos)
Violet Hour (craft cocktails)
Le Bouchon (French)
Irazu (Costa Rican)
Tierra Caliente (tacos)
Papa's Cache Sabroso (Puerto Rican)
Bang Bang Pie Shop
Wormhole Coffee (espresso)
Mindy's Hot Chocolate (desserts)

[dmjordan]

We have stayed at The Willows Hotel before which is about a block from Diversey and Clark. I think that is considered the edge of Lincoln Park. Just putting in several random dates, I cam up with $142-179 night.
Not sure why you are only checking Hotwire. I went to Kayak and found Palmer House Hilton ($160), Silversmith Hotel ($169) and Hotel Sax ($183).

Good luck!

[nsxtasy]

Another place right near the Willows Hotel is the Days Inn Lincoln Park, where friends of mine have stayed.

I see below that you're all set in Wicker Park, but maybe this tip will help others.

[nsxtasy]

The three Hotwire areas you mention are all in the distant suburbs, 30-60 minutes from downtown by car, and significantly longer than that in prime commuting hours or by public transportation. Each has *some* worthwhile restaurants nearby, but if you're looking to check out the best of Chicago's food scene, you would be much better off spending a bit more to stay in one of the downtown Chicago neighborhoods, rather than in the suburbs where you would be spending a big chunk of your vacation time just traveling downtown and back. There are also a lot of outlying city neighborhoods with plenty of interesting food - you can read about them at www.chow.com/topics/437740 - but by and large they have no nicer hotels, so you'd still want to stay downtown, such as in the Hotwire neighborhoods called Magnificent Mile, River North, Loop, Gold Coast, etc. Hotwire usually has hotels with 3 to 5 stars in these neighborhoods for around $150/night, and you can often spend substantially less than that - WAY less - by using the "name your own price" feature on Priceline. You may want to check out information about hotels on Hotwire and Priceline (including winning bid amounts) at www.betterbidding.com (If you decide to stay in the suburbs anyway, note that downtown prices for parking can vary wildly; you can view parking prices downtown for a given arrival and departure date/time at http://chicago.bestparking.com ).

Some of the places you mention, such as Lou Malnati's and Portillo's, have locations all over the city and suburbs, including some close to the downtown hotel areas. But many of our other interesting, more creative cuisines are found primarily or exclusively in the city. For dry aged steaks, I recommend David Burke's Primehouse, which is in River North.

Oh, and the Miracle Mile is in Los Angeles, California. The Magnificent Mile is the mile of North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, north of the river.

[Civil Bear]

Thank you for your help, and I was able to correct the Magnificent Mile faux pas. Unfortunately Hotwire isn't offering anything under $300 right now in the downtown neighborhoods for my dates in September. Thanks also for the links. I'll check them out.

[camusman]

In addition to the good advice above, consider a bed and breakfast in the Wicker Park or Bucktown neighborhoods, which have many excellent restaurants.

[GourmetWednesday]

I have a hard time believing you can't find a hotel downtown in the $200s or less; perhaps you need to check other sites. There are some lower end chains, like Comfort Suites and Hilton Garden. If confined to the suburbs, I would recommend looking at Evanston or Oak Park, both which border Chicago, are on the elevated train lines, and have some local flavor and fun restaurants. Another possible option to cut costs would be to stay near O'Hare. There are some local chains nearby (Harry Caray's, Gino's, Gibson's, Rosebud, Carlucci), and the blue line train would connect you to downtown, possibly with a second transfer depending on where you wanted to go. Once you confirm where you are staying, please post again, and we'll be happy to give more specific restaurant recs, which is more in accordance with the purpose of this page.

[jbw]

Have you checked the Essex Inn on S. Michigan for under $300? O'Hare hotels as mentioned above can also come in under $200, depending on dates and availability, as mentioned above an excellent choice if you don't mind using the Blue Line as your major point of departure.

[Civil Bear]

Thanks! That may be the way to go as I see Ray's Bucktown B&B, The Ruby Room, and House of 2 Urns all have availability for under $200/night. Plus they offer free street permitted parking. Do those neighborhoods offer good public transportation to other chow worthy destinations (particularly the types mentioned above)?

[camusman]

Most of the Wicker Park B&Bs are close to the Blue Line train, which goes straight to downtown.
But I agree that Kayak will give you much better downtown hotel results than Hotwire.
It would help us to know exactly when you will be here, for both restaurant and lodging recs. Note that the moderators tend to frown on too much focus on lodgings rather than food.

[danimalarkey]

Longman & Eagle, in addition to being a great dining destination, also has a few rooms on their second floor. All very stylish with really thoughtful amenities, my only critique is that the bathrooms don't afford much privacy. That may or may not be a factor for you -- take a look at some of the pictures online. Prices are very reasonable and it's very convenient to public transportation -- and it's located in a neighborhood full of great dining/drinking options.

http://www.longmanandeagle.com/sleep/

[Querencia]

I have directed family members several times to Homewood Suites with happy results. It is very convenient to Michigan Avenue, a zillion restaurants, the Red Line subway, and many bus lines. Every room is an apartment with two separate sleeping areas and an equipped kitchen. There's an indoor pool. A full breakfast is included, as is a "Manager's Reception" at 5 PM that is actually a complete meal. A niece with three teenagers filled up her kids with free food and used the money she saved to take them to see Wicked and a ball game. (Apologies to chowish restaurants here...).