Chicago Trip Report (Long)

We ate WAY too much and our trip was fantastic! Thank you all for your help...

Arrived at Avec for an early dinner Thursday at 4:00pm and there were only a couple of other groups there. No crowds! With the exception of a young hostess who looked like she just rolled out of bed, every thing was wonderful and, surprisingly, less expensive than I thought it would be. We sat at the bar and ordered the roasted mackerel, fois gras "blt", chorizo stuffed dates, and three cheeses (valdeon, torta de casar & comte--the creamy torta was our favorite). Thinking tapas, we expected servings to be much smaller than they were--a theme that would continue the entire trip. The mackeral, which has to be *extremely* fresh to be good, was delicious, as were all the dishes. Three plates between the two of us would have been plenty, but we just couldn't help ourselves. Four dishes, two cocktails and two beers and tip, was less than $100.

On Friday, the Wicker Park Food tour that I almost regretted booking was, actually, a real highlight of the trip as well. Kind of thinking it would be goofy, it somehow wasn't. The guide was a fun kid, maybe late 20's or early 30's, who was incredibly knowledgeable about the history, culture, architecture, politics and "scene" of WP and Bucktown. While the food was fine, the star of the show really was him and the walking tour--although the iced chocolate drink from Hot Chocolate was *amazing.* I can't knock it; it really was fun!

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Hot Doug's that morning, but in retrospect, had we eaten before the tour, we probably would have exploded. There will just have to be a "next trip."

Dinner that night was at Spoon Thai and, again, we ordered way too much wanting to try everything. The catfish custard, larb and lotus blossom salads were brilliant, and being able to spike our Thai tea was a bonus. My only comment is that the translated menu doesn't have prices listed, and although we *tried* to order $50 worth of food to use a restaurant.com $25 off $50 gift certificate, we were unsuccessful!

Saturday breakfast was dim sum at Shui Wah. Note to readers doing research for an upcoming trip: when you walk down Archer, it will be on your right, BUT turn into the open courtyard behind the mosaic mural and walk *between* the two strip malls to get to the entrance. If you go in through the "front" door, you're walking into and through their kitchen. Oops! Not a problem, they graciously walked us through to the restaurant. We were the only non-Asians there, but ordering was easy and food just kept coming. Again. Highlights were the pork dumplings, deep fried taro and pan fried turnip cake. We probably ordered twice what we should have (9 dishes total) and the bill was only $32. We took the leftovers with us to the Field Museum, but the taste just didn't hold up cold.

Dinner that night was at Gage and the food there was excellent, too, We restrained ourselves (actually, our ever-tightening pants did) and chose to split the duck egg on mushroom toast (mmmm gooey egg sauce), sea scallops with a fresh corn sauce, and roasted elk, which tasted like a sweet filet. All exceptional.

Sunday we had planned on going to the Maxwell St Market, but our feet and legs were too tired from all of our walking, so we grabbed a burger at Miller's Pub by our hotel. The Greek Burger came well seasoned with a thick slice of warm feta on top and was quite respectable.

Most nights we stopped by the Exchequer Pub for a few cocktails before heading back to the hotel. Drinks were relatively inexpensive and the vibe was fun and casual. Miller's Pub was closer, but the bar was always filled and drink prices higher.

Thank you all for your help in planning this trip. What a fun and friendly city Chicago is!

watermusic in Chicago Area

Chicago Itinerary Help

Ms Chow-Signatures was just for the view. Would you recommend one of those other in particular (and in the same area)?

watermusic in Chicago Area

Chicago Itinerary Help

Thank you EK and BRB re: Blue Line. Will check on that. And late night taco's sound good, too! Do they normally stay open late? Read somewhere about a place on Ashland, maybe? But the one on a certain side of the street and not the other?

watermusic in Chicago Area

Chicago Itinerary Help

Thank you so much everyone!

As for "Clark Street bars", I just meant finding a bar for a few drinks on our way back to the hotel, while walking down Clark Street from Portillo's. And hell, we don't mind suburbanite, or necessarily dirty for that matter. And we're also 40ish, so low key neighborhood bars are fine; pool table a bonus; smoking permitted somewhere around it (I know Chic is all no smoking), even better. Will recheck the map, too. Thought Clark Street crossed the river into the loop. If not, I know there are lots of places on State/Hubbard.

BRB, if you think we can make it back to Wicker Park after Hot Doug's, it's on (and I love you;-)! Public trans there and cab back. Will there be cabs in the area or will I have to call one? The Wicker Park Food tour is something I kind of wish I hadn't booked. It's an organized walking tour of WP food establishments. Probably playing on tourists fascination with Taste of Chicago (which, until reading these boards I, too, thought would be wonderful). Nonetheless, it's booked and I'm sure it will be fun.

Yep, have the translated menu and recommendations for Spoon, and recommendations for everywhere else (these boards are awesome) and can't wait for the trip.

Has anyone seen the ComedySportz (comedysportschicago) show that's playing midnights on Saturdays this month? It looks totally raunchy ala "The Aristocrats" so I didn't put a direct link here.

Any other recommendations "while you're in/at..." would be would be much appreciated. Always trying to squeeze some other little fun or tasty thing in!

Thanks again for your help!

watermusic in Chicago Area