Stuff to do In Chicago

[guids]

I hate lou malnatis, well not hate, but it doesnt stand up to giordanos. Chicago chop house (oysters half shell for app) is great for a decent meal.

[IUmike]

Young Tail- Check out Clark St. just south of wrigley, there's a bunch of sports bars, bars w/dress codes, whatever you're looking for, they all have young tail. John Barleycorn's and Mo's Cantina are 2 of the more popular ones.

While your near Wrigley for food, check out Tango Sur. It's an Argentinian steak house, BYOB, definitely not your run of the mill steak joint. I'd recommend the para uno platter... 2 short ribs, small strip, blood sausage, black sausage, and sweet breads. It is located on the corner of Southport & Grace.

Pizza- Gino's and Lou's are both deep dish and both delicious, especially Lou's sausage pizza, which has essentially one large patty of sausage over the top of the entire pizza. Giordano's is known more for stuffed pizza and also delicious, just a slightly different taste, because they use ricotta.

I look forward to hearing a good trip report.

[z28dreams]

Above suggestions are pretty good. There are tons of these Chicago threads out there - I'll see if I can dig them up.

Quick & Dirty recommendations:

Pizza - Giordanos hands down, especially if you want deep dish. I actually dislike Gino's.

Steak - Chophouse is a great recommendation

Nightlife - Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park area are your best bets. Rush & Division is more touristy, etc.

General attractions - Navy pier sucks - big tourist trap w/ overpriced shopping. Best are probably art museum, shedd aquarium, museum of science&industry. Planetarium & field museum are kinda blah.

Live music - tons of good venues - for blues - check out Buddy Guy's Legends or Kingston Mines. For Jazz, check out Green Mill or Hothouse. For a small venue, Doubledoor is good.

[KSPD]

[censored] hot dogs, Portillo's for their combo.

Italian beef, thin sliced piled thick on a hoagie. Smack dead in the middle is a hot italian sausage. Get it with cheese and the hots and the whole thing is dunked in the au jus before wrapped up and served to you.

[Rogue5]

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Pequods jalapeno and pepperoni pan pizza

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That sounds awesome,I'll be eating one of those for sure.

For a hot dog I think I'll just grab one for lunch wherever I end up around that time.

Chophouse sounds good, I could go for a good steak.

for bars I think I'll probably end up by Wrigley, since I was having second thoughts about seeing a game, and if I'm planning on being there anyways then I'll probably catch the game.

Thanks

[mbillie1]

I don't know the address, but Red Light is my favorite Chicago restaurant... I saw that just as a tourist though. Also The Twisted Spoke hamburger joint is absolutely killer.

[pokerbobo]

I'm catchin some flack for the Portillos dogs....It would just be easy to find for a out of towner.

Best Dog in Chicagoland is arguably Gene n Judes. Actually in Elmwood Park area....too far to drive from Downtown for a hotdog though.

Another Upscale place to eat. Nick's Fish Market. There is also a Ohare airport Nick's (great food)

[oddjob]

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I'm catchin some flack for the Portillos dogs....It would just be easy to find for a out of towner.

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screw that. portillos is great. you think the others do anything different to their chicago dogs? aside from, maybe a different pickle or relish. i'll say it. i love portillos.

their chili dogs are fan-frickin-tastic. their beefs delicious.

i grew up on this [censored] in the suburbs, and you might find a place that has a better beef, or combo, or hot dog, or whatever. but i agree with you. easy to find, and guaranteed to please.

[elwoodblues]

Sears tower is cool, but the best view in all of Chicago (in my opinion) is the Hancock tower at night. Go up to the bar, spend $15 on a mixed drink and enjoy the view --- truly breathtaking.

If you are into architecture, there are lots of tours that you can go on (both bus and boat.)

For food --- there are a lot of good options. Nick's Fishmarket is a solid choice.

[mattsey9]

I don't live there anymore, but I was back for three days last week at a conference. Here's my breakdown on what I did during my stay.

Tuesday Night: Arrived in town and met friends at the Blue Water Grill. We ordered a bunch of sushi for an appetizer and followed it up with some great seafood. I hadn't tried it before, but I would recommend it to anyone who asked. My wife's Chilean Sea Bass was particularly good.

Wednesday: Lunch at Mr. Beef. This is an old favorite that I used to hit constantly when I lived there. It's not my first choice, but as Dizzy Dean would say "It's amongst 'em." Dinner was at the Friendly Confines. We got there at 4:30 for a 7:05 start to make sure we'd get prime bleacher seats. Rich Hill's opposite field shot in BP insured that I went home with a ball for the second time ever (Jose Oquendo in St. Louis was my first). A brat, some peanuts and a fully Krausened Old Style was my selection while my wife went with the nachos and a frosty malt. Heaven!!

Thursday saw the end of the conference, so we blew off the closing remarks to go to Giordano's. This was my wife's call and it was worth it. They had a personal sized stuffed pizza with pepperoni for $6.95 that made two meals for me. You can't go wrong there or with Gino's or Malnati's. My personal Chicago favorite is Pequod's. I ordered it constantly when I lived there. Carmelized Crust FTW.