Just a PSA, Hainan Airlines has $275 one way and $470 round trip flights from Chicago via Beijing in January and onwards. For now at least. I've never seen a fare anywhere as close to that cheap to China, so I thought I'd throw it out here. Plus you get 6 days of visa free travel in/out of Shanghai.

I can't comment on how crappy the airline is though!

Also where do you guys go in Chinatown? I usually just go to Strings for Ramen and BBQ King for roast duck, but I went to Lao Szechuan the other day and was impressed. Dry chili chicken, mapo tofu, and double fried eggplant were all on point. Minus points for how small it is and the menu which is 8,235 things long.

Best roast duck imo is not in Chinatown but closer to Uptown at Sun Wah.

For dim sum I think MingHin is quite good, but the lines are usually long. Phoenix overrated as far as I'm concerned, but people keep going there so there must be something to it...if you want the 'cart' experience I prefer Furama, more out of the way so way less crowded and very consistent. For late night, I usually go to Chi Cafe.

Ended up going to Chicago Athletic Association.

Been wanting to go for a few years. Cool place. I'll definitely be back.

I went tonight and it was one of the best meals I've had in this city (tho I haven't had anything above 1 star). 80ish per person not including drinks

Carrot app was probably #1 carrot dish I've ever had. Chicken was a top 5 chicken prep, cooked perfect with a crispy skin. Everything else I had vv solid. American/gastronomic and the plates don't leave you feeling stuffed. Cool ambiance and not noisy at all. Don't wanna overhype it but I highly recommend this place for anyone looking to value-spew for a date spot considering what other 1 stars cost.

Clayton,

Glad you liked Boka! I went a couple months ago for the first time since the big renovation, and was very impressed. I'd gone to The Lobby when Lee Wolen was the chef there, and his chicken dish was really, really good. more link.

Basically was about as perfect of a roast chicken as I could imagine. Dark meat taken off the bone and stirred in a foie gras sauce? Yes please. So, no surprised that his chicken at Boka is great.

I might still prefer the old feel of the ~outdoors space at Boka, but the new spot was quite nice. Drinks are still good, even though iirc they go through a "name" bartender every 18 months ago. If I remember correctly, I'd even recommend this as a place for popping in for a drink if you're in the neighborhood. Say, for a Steppenwolf show or something, but you don't want to go to Balena? Idk.

Still, a strong recommendation, and I'll be back.

I had a burger at au cheval and was not blown away at all. Am I broken or is this #overrated?

It's a good burger. It's very satisfying. Particularly at ~1:30am. Double. Egg. No pork belly. Particularly with the fries. But the landscape is literally littered with excellent burgers these days and honestly the Au Cheval burger isn't a standout. It's just quite good. Definitely not the best thing on the Au Cheval menu.

Friend just told me that the Small Fry burger is the best he's had in the city. I haven't made it there yet. My under the radar burger is the Wolf burger at Little Bad Wolf, which I think is on the whole underrated.

What is the pro order at Au Cheval? Think I've only had the burger and the bologna sandwich

Personally - I CRAVE the crispy potato hash w/duck heart gravy, and then I usually get the foie gras w/jelly as a dessert.

Potato hash is super legit. I'm a big fan of the General Jane's chicken. The fries are also top notch. The millefeiulle dessert is really, really good. Chicken liver also very good.

All of that said, it's not like the burger or the bologna are bad. They're good!

Going to Entente tonight. New restaurant in Lakeview by a former chef from Schwa. Reviews seem very positive, pretty excited about it.

Give Entente a big giant meh.

Service was clunky and awkward. They took our reservation, told us to have a seat at the bar, then we had to ask if we were going to be seated at our table.

A couple dishes (Duck, Tres Leches dessert) were awesome, the rest were mediocre. I'd give it another shot but it's not exactly a place I'm excited to go back to.

I can highly recommend Oriole to anyone looking for something amazing... I haven't been to too many 2-3 star places, but it was more my style and I would even slightly prefer it to (pre-reno) Alinea, which I thought was awesome.

Please try Won Fun/2 Fun in the West Loop. Great schezwan food, duck is crazy good. Let me know what you guys think

Had small fry on NYE. was too drunk to properly rate it but it was quite good. Great fries

LBW burger is probably better (love that place)

+1 Oriole was incredible, best restaurant I've been to in Chicago by far (haven't done Grace or Alinea).

The location (random alley) and decor (very west loop brickhouse with some modern stuff thrown in) may be offputting to some but I liked it.

The presentation/staff was excellent and reminiscent of the nice aspects of French Laundry but without all the stuffiness, I guess something that you just expect from Michelin star places. The food was amazing, just as it was when I ate at Senza. Something like 12 courses I think.

It was quite expensive, but totally worth it for me and deserving of their 2 Michelin stars.

No reason to expand on the dishes/drinks, anyone interested should just go in blind and expect gastronomic goodness. I did the tasting menu with the mixed beverage pairing.

Going to Oriole next Thursday. Very excited for it.

Went to Girl and the Goat last night. Place still holds up and I'm always impressed how relatively inexpensive it is compared to similar restaurants that don't bring anywhere close to the quality of G+G

Any Lincoln Park people:

State Bar on Webster is offering heavily discounted Gift Cards Today only. $500 Gift Card on sale for $169.

https://stateday-chicago.squarespace.com/

This is insane, friends and I picked up a bunch, like 5k worth. Hope they don't close their doors on Friday or something

Yeah I picked up $2500 worth and I'm only Order Number 130-something. Surprised these aren't going more quickly esp because they're good on Trivia night as well.

I bought $1k worth. 2+2 meetup @ State?

I got in on this too. thanks for posting

bought the $200 one. was order number 07144

would be down for another of these. heard they have a pretty legit trivia night

their trivia night is solid but you are drawing dead unless you have a team of superstars. gotta show up early too as they get packed. its the kind of environment you would expect from the biggest prizes in the city by far.

fortunately they have some pretty sweet raffle prizes they also give away at the end of the night. a friend of mine won an XboxOne from a ticket that another table left behind, lol.