Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Oysters & champagne could make for a lovely lunch! Thanks for your input- at this point I think the plan is to decide on lunch over dinner at the Publican, hehe. So we'll scrap the rez at Topolobampo (but good to know they do have a lunch-style menu). I will update when all is said and done (and eaten). Cheers!

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Wow those noodle dishes have me salivating. I'm so happy for all of these suggestions- I'm moving to Chicago in a few months so eventually I will try all of these places. Thank you!

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Aha- I had wondered about this. Thanks for the heads up. Lula had definitely piqued my interest, I will put that in my pocket in case we need to get away from the madness downtown.

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

So maybe line up at Frontera, and barring a timely meal head over to the purple pig? This may be the plan. Thank you!!

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Thanks- this looks like a good option. The only thing I"m concerned about is that their menu seems pork/charcuterie-centric, and we may saturated after the Publican! I'm sure we can find some good nibbles there.

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely get there for pickle soup, whether it's this visit or not.

ajaw in Chicago Area

Friday Lunch w/Dad - Delicious, not heavy, passable wine list?

Hello Chicago Hounds,

I am making last-minute plans to do a lunch with my Dad in Chicago on Friday. We will be stuffing ourselves at the Publican for a late dinner on Thursday and will surely wake up a touch hungover. So, lunch should have lighter options (or be small plate friendly). Dad doesn't drink beer, but wine is an absolute must (how else will we chase away the fog of the previous nights' excesses?). BYO would be acceptable too.

Neither of us are from Chicago, and we won't have cars. He's staying near the loop, I'm staying in Lakeview. So, anywhere that's accessible by public transit would be ideal. He may head straight to ORD from lunch, I'm in less of a hurry, so if it's off the beaten path but somewhat "en route" to ORD that would be cool too.

Frontera grill would be my first choice. How early would you have to get there to sit down at lunch on Friday? And what kind of wait are you facing if you're not there as soon as they open? I see I could get a rez at Topolobampo too... if we took that would we be locked in to a larger/heavier lunch than at Frontera?

Chinese is a favorite hangover lunch food of ours too- any suggestions for somewhere fresh, not overly greasy, authentic that has a passable wine list/BYO?

Finally- we're polish but we rarely eat our ancestral food. I don't think we'll be interested in one of these smorgasbord type spots. I see a lot of praise for Podhalanka, but I didn't see Zupa Ogorkawa (pickle soup) on their menu which is my all-time favorite polish dish. Anyone know of a spot that does this well?

Thanks for reading!

ajaw in Chicago Area

Need Recc for Fun/Delish Daddy-Daughter Dinner in SF

Thanks for all the great suggestions, my list is getting longer and I'll definitely try to hit all these places eventually! We've finalized our weekend of dining after both mine and my dad's research- we are doing Quince, Laiola and Zuni. I'm hungry already, it should be lots of fun!
Thanks again for the great reccs!

ajaw in San Francisco Bay Area

Need Recc for Fun/Delish Daddy-Daughter Dinner in SF

We'll only be in the city for the weekend unfortunately, but it's still a possibility. Dad's on board with Laiola it seems, but is interested in trying Fifth Floor now (especially since we are staying at the hotel palomar, no reason to skimp on the booze if all we have to do is carry ourselves to the elevator!). So I suppose the reasoning has become one *fancy* night and one *fun* night.
Can't find tons of feedback on fifth floor, but it seems scattered-ly positive. The menu looks nice for sure.

ajaw in San Francisco Bay Area

Need Recc for Fun/Delish Daddy-Daughter Dinner in SF

Thanks nosh, Dad's been to Chez Panisse before (I'm dying to go) and I do think lunch at the upstairs cafe is very possible this time around. It's high on my list and I really like Berkeley in general. Canteen is an intriguing suggestion, I'd read so much about their brunch (my dad is not a breakfast guy at all) that I didn't really get to the part where they excel at dinner too. It sounds right up our alley, I'll put it on the shortlist! Thanks!

ajaw in San Francisco Bay Area

Need Recc for Fun/Delish Daddy-Daughter Dinner in SF

thanks for all the tips chutney, laiola sounds interesting and i look forward to hearing more about aziza! it's so hard deciding but at least he visits twice a year, so hopefully i'll check off all of these places by the time i graduate!

ajaw in San Francisco Bay Area

Need Recc for Fun/Delish Daddy-Daughter Dinner in SF

Laiola might be just right. I'll run it by my dad. What about Aziza (vs. Laiola)?

Edit to add: Does Laiola have a wine list by the bottle, other than the sparse selection listed on their website? That might be a dealbreaker...

ajaw in San Francisco Bay Area