jlynch9's Profile
Watch a game at Hopleaf? If not, where?
I haven't been to Hopleaf in 8 years, so I don't remember it well. Can I watch a college football game there on a Saturday night? Do they even have TV's?
If not, where can my wife and I (late 30s) go with another couple to have good food and drinks but also watch a game? Preference is for north side - Andersonville, Lincoln Square, Edgewater, Rogers Park.
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Hopleaf Bar
5148 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640
Casual catering rec in Evanston/Wilmette?
My wife and I are hosting a Halloween party for adults and kids this weekend, and we need to find a place to order food for about 30 adults and 30 kids. When we lived in the City, we used to order from Pompeii, which worked out well...their big calzoney things, some pasta, salads. Since we recently moved to north Evanston, we don't know how to replace that. Any ideas????
Thanks to all!
Has the fat lady sung at Opera?
Opera used to be one of my favorite restaurants in the city, but I've read some less-than-stellar reviews lately and I noticed Chicago Magazine dropped the restaurant from its listings. What's going on there? Is the curtain ready to come down on Opera?
Recs in West Loop/Warehouse?
Unfortunately, I've been out of the dining scene for a few years despite living downtown (credit the four kids...). My wife and I will be celebrating 10 years this month and would like to have a nice - yet not too pricey - dinner in the West Loop. One Sixtyblue is an option, and would be at the high end price-wise. How is one sixtyblue holding up? And what else should we consider? Saltaus? Butter? Otom? Anything else on Fulton worth visiting?
Idea for gift certificate near Columbia?
I'm a Chicagoan looking for an idea for a Christmas gift certificate for my mid-20s brother-in-law and his fiancee. He's a post-doc at Columbia, so that location would be good but not critical. Someplace contemporary but not overly hip would be good - ideally under $100 for two people. Any ideas?
Exceptional Place for a Picky Eater
mk and Custom House come to mind; maybe even Blackbird.
Business Dinner Near University
If you are looking for more straight-forward upscale American in a very nice setting, you might consider the Chicago Firehouse. The building is literally a renovated old firehouse done in very nice dark woods. Entrees run about $20 (steaks and chops run a little higher) and the location is pretty central and easily accessible for everyone in your group.
Wrigleyville dinner
Erwin was also the place that first came to my mind. I think it's a great call.
Leona's is sooo bad. Love the "great for recent college grads" quote - "dude, their lasagna tastes like deep dish 'za!" I think I actually said that 10 years ago, thinking that was a good thing.
Any good lunch eats around McCormick Place?
You could also walk to La Cantina Grill for Mexican at 19th and Michigan. It's a new place, and I haven't tried it, but I hear it's pretty straight-forward Mexican. Cuatro is a little trendier Latin American.
Otherwise, there's not much right around McCormick Place. While I wouldn't call it a "wasteland" due to its lakefront setting, the area immediately adjacent to it to the west is pretty dead. Luckily a short cab ride gets you to downtown or any of the major "ethnic" food hotspots.
Shanghai Terrace - how much?
Just to follow up, we ended up going to Le Lan. I had also considered Le Colonial, but my wife had a so-so meal the one time we went and, well, since it was her birthday I deferred to her request to try someplace else. Kevin and S.T. made the short list, but I ultimately doubted we could enjoy ourselves and stay in budget.
Anyway, we were surprisingly blown away by Le Lan. Why is this place not more popular? It was certainly full for dinner, but it was one of the few places where I could get a reservation at pretty much any time with only a day's notice.
The food was very good to excellent; the service was fantastic (loved the guy who came over to explain all the dishes); and the prices were great. We ultimately went a little over budget, but mostly because I ordered the most expensive entree at $35. I've already recommended this place to others and will be going back. Thanks for the recs, all.
Tasting Menu in the Western Suburbs?
As far as I can think of, you have three choices: Tallgrass in Lockport (SW suburbs), Courtright's in Willow Springs (also SW suburbs), or Vie in Western Springs (West suburbs). I don't know if Vie explicitly offers a tasting menu, but you'll see if you search these boards that it's very highly regarded.
I haven't tried Courtright's or Tallgrass, but the reviews seem consistently better on these boards for Courtright's. All of the above have very helpful websites with menus, etc. Good luck.
Shanghai Terrace - how much?
From what I read, Shanghai Terrace is tasty but expensive. How expensive? My wife is preggers so the liquor bill shouldn't be bad. How much are apps and entrees?
Also, assuming I decide that S.T. is too expensive, I'll need another rec on short notice for Saturday night. We're catching a show at Water Tower, so in that area is good. My wife loves the Asian/seafood theme...Catch 35 was her first choice but is booked...so was Roy's. Any others where I can get by for $50-60pp excluding liquor?
Attending a conference in Chicaco next month and I'm sure we'll be hungry...
You're right to skip Trotters, particularly since your $150pp becomes at least $250pp once you add wine, tax, and tip. But you'll probably need to give the Chicago Hounds a little more to go on - Chicago rivals New York in its restaurant scene, and River North is a very central location, meaning there are probably (literally) thousands of restaurants to recommend. You might try narrowing down your budget, picking a cuisine and vibe you're after, and scanning these boards a bit to give us some more ammo.
Private party dining for 50-60 people (BYOB) on the North Side?
You might try Tango Sur on Southport. I think they do private parties, and your party would pretty much take up the entire place. I don't think they typically open until 5 or so, but they may be happy to have a party in there during the afternoon hours.
Best Late Night Eats?
For what it's worth, I think the cover story on the current issue of TimeOut Chicago is late-night eats.
Battle Beef on Ontario-- Al"s vs. Portillo's
I was beginning to think I was the only one who found the Portillo's beef sandwich to be the best of the bunch. My singular experiences with Al's and Mr. Beef were both sub-par, whereas Portillo's seems to taste just as good every time I've ever had it.
I think the bias against chains is real and, in some cases, unjust. Having just come back from San Diego, I draw a parallel between Portillo's and Rubio's (fish tacos). The simple fact that there's a lot of them doesn't necessarily make them inferior. I'm all for Portillo's.
500-700 North Clark - headed for Blues - need to eat
While it seems half the discussions on this board somehow involve Frontera Grill, it's so much the obvious choice here that I can't not recommend it. Down side is no reservations on a Saturday night, so either go early or late, or be willing to throw back a few in the bar. Address is 445 N. Clark Street. A menu is on www.fronterakitchens.com.
A decent second choice - some people like this place far more than I do - is Mambo Grill at 412 N. Clark. Where Frontera is more Mexican (authentic, regional - not burritos, etc.), Mambo is more South/Central American.
Lisle
Don't know, but I do know that neighboring Naperville has many more food options than Lisle. I did notice that a search on this board for "Naperville" yields some recs in Lisle as well, however.
Where's the Best Dim Sum in Chicago?
Phoenix in Chinatown is, I believe, generally regarded as the best dim sum in Chicago.
ANY ??? nice restaurants that don't need reservations on Sat. eve?
You say Japanese is out, but what about Chinese? Opera in the South Loop (13th and Wabash) is one of my fave places in the City, and I'm pretty sure you can get in without a reservation these days (while it always seems fairly busy, it's a big place and rarely seems *full*). If you're not familiar, the concept is high-end Chinese; their "beef and broccoli", for example, is a tenderloin filet atop Chinese broccoli with a buerre blanc sauce. The "peking duck" is duck served three ways - very nice, very fun and lively.
They also have a vegan menu in addition to their regular menu, and I think there are noodle dishes on the regular menu that are probably vegetarian.
Breakfast South Loop on Saturday??
Bongo Room is the right choice in that area. Be aware that the pancake portions are enormous - delicious, but enormous. A nice tip to know is that they'll sell you 1/3 or 2/3 pancake portions upon request (a full order is three huge pancakes). They'll even let you mix-and-match pancakes if you can't decide which ones to order.
Personally, I like to have one of the egg dishes and make a dessert out of a 1/3-size portion of one of their decadent pancake choices. Mmmmm.....
Good Italian - Elmhurst area ?
Elmhurst is not far from Oakbrook Center, a very upscale mall. There are two very good choices in the mall - Maggiano's and Antico Posto. Both are good, and having college-age sibs I can tell you that they love the atmosphere at Maggiano's (in fact, that was my college-age brother's choice for a night out). Antico Posto is a little fancier place, but not too fancy. Portions are not as huge as Maggiano's (a plus in my book) and the food is better in my opinion. A smaller, more subdued place.
FYI, neither place feels like it's "in the mall". In fact, the mall's restaurant row is on the back side of the mall and feels in many ways removed from the mall itself.
In Chicago for One Night
I'd look into Topolobampo (www.fronterakitchens.com, follow the link to Topo). Topo is four-star regional Mexican, of which there are very few anywhere in the country. The menus are online - probably the best-priced four-star restaurant in Chicago (on par with Blackbird, which is a great restaurant but IMHO probably similar to many three-star restaurants in NY or LA).
Alternative to Cheesecake Factory?
Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Ave is the closest I can think of - in location and style - to Cheesecake Factory.
HELP! Frontera Grill v. Nacional 27
While I think the food is better at Salpicon than N.27, both are very good and N.27 might be better for a group of 5. Salpicon is more intimate. Still, I've been to all 3 (including Japonais) with groups and the best time was had at Japonais. It's pretty hard not to have fun at that place.
Need dinner recs for dinner with parents and their business associates
Frontera Grill. Usually doesn't take reservations but with that large a party I think they will.
Steakhouse and pizza suggestions
Depends what you want in a steakhouse. Gibson's is tops for the whole scene - it's in the glitziest nighlife area of town and is known for great steaks, huge martinis, and the over-the-top characters that go along with that image. If you want a much more subdued scene where the steaks take center stage, you have a lot of choices. I'd suggest Chicago Chop House. Ruth's Chris and Smith and Wollensky are good, of course, but they're not really Chicago steakhouses, are they?
For pizza, if you've never been to Chicago I'd go for the original Pizzeria Uno (or its sibling Pizzeria Due a block away). It is NOT the same as the Pizzeria Uno chains and frozen pizzas that have sprung up around the country(they changed the recipe for mass marketing). The real thing is unbeatable in my opinion, and it's really the first and original deep dish. Lou Malnati's is also good, but the original (and best) location is just outside the City limits up north. Giordano's stuffed spinach is also very good, and they have a number of locations so might be easiest to find.
By the way, if you order a deep dish sausage, be sure to ask if it's crumbled sausage or one ginormous sausage patty that covers the entire pizza.
food ideas near Congress Plaza Hotel...read on
I have a few ideas, but first - are you SURE you want to stay at the Congress Plaza? They've had a ton of labor and management issues recently. You should expect to see picketing labor unions outside the front door, although there won't be many people picketing anymore as this has gone on for years now. In any case, I've had acquaintances stay there recently and regret it. Don't mean to scare you, but you might consider something else nearby.
In any case, some ideas for eats:
Breakfast at Orange (Harrison and Clark) - about $15pp, what I'd call "whimsical"; i.e., fruit sushi ("fruishi"), pancake "flights", etc.
Breakfast at Bongo Room (Wabash and Roosevelt) - if you're in the mood for a decadent carbo-load breakfast; banana creme anglaise pancakes, oreo cookie pancakes, etc. Portions are ridiculous but can be ordered in 1/3 or 2/3 sizes (a full serving of 3 is just silly). Less than $15 pp.
Lunch at Oysy (9th and Michigan) - they have Japanese bento boxes for about $11 that are great. It's a very modern Japanese place - mostly sushi but I've been very happy with their cooked fish items as well.
Lunch at Heaven on Seven (Wabash and Washington) - southern, Mardi Gras, etc.
Dinner at the Park Grill in Millennium Park (Michigan and Madison). Don't miss the Millennium Park scene, but you need reservations. Well worth it - fish dishes are very good. Not outrageous but expect $80 min., over $100 with a bottle of wine.
Dinner at Catch 35 (Wacker and Clark)- my favorite seafood downtown. Much of the menu is done with an Asian accent, though no raw fish. A little more expensive - probably $120 for dinner with wine.
As you may know, most of Chicago's best restaurants are not right downtown. I'd suggest heading back to your hotel, cleaning up, and grabbing a cab (very easy on Michigan Ave.) somewhere fun for dinner. You might like Green Zebra (vegetarian) or some ethnic cuisine (India House for Indian, Vermilion for Indian/Latin fusion, Opera for modern Chinese).
Best resource to search for restaurants by type, geography, etc: www.metromix.com.
Good luck!
