I got 3rd once last year, I feel like I should put that on my resume

We have a group that goes every Tuesday night. Usually have anywhere between 4-8 of us. In the year and a half that we've been going, we've won once, gotten 2nd twice, and prob get 3rd-5th around 40-50% overall.

If anyone wants to check it out we usually have open spots on our team.

What kind of trivia is it? Used to frequent trivia nights and dominate when I lived in suburbs

There's 7 rounds. It skews to more pop culture but it's all over the place.

1: General Knowledge
2: Movies/Celebs/Pop Culture
3: Sports
4: Changes every week (often movie related. Taglines, music featured in movies are both popular categories)
5: Picture round. Skews heavy towards movies as well but they mix it up now and then
6: Music ID
7: Tougher General Knowledge

Just spiked 5th place in state trivia on a night where I thought the questions were the toughest I've ever seen. 2+2 trivia night next Tuesday?

They had a new guy running it on Tuesday. That entire trivia night was ridiculous.

He had an entire round of Harry Potter trivia, including one question that apparently is only found in extended universe stuff outside the books/movies.

One question was to name this famous person with an alliterative name from this picture. Only the picture is like half the size of an iPhone screen.

Another question was to name a former member of KISS with an alliterative name, who it turns out, had only been a member of the band from 1982-1984.

We usually end up with anywhere between 32-42 points on a normal night. Tuesday we got 20.5.

Urgueth urbina? No idea on any of the other stuff

Ugueth was the only point we got in the picture round. Got very lucky to have a buddy who knew Harry Potter and we smashed the sports round (Robin Ventura FTW).

On that note, are there any good trivia nights in town that are more sports-centric? That would be a blast

Went to Duck Duck Goat last night.

Gotta say, I was very underwhelmed. Every dish was very salt-heavy. A couple of the dishes (Dan Dan Noodles, Jiaozi - Short Rib Dumplings) were very good. The main courses we got - Fried Chicken was just ok, Beef and Broccoli was good but featured very little beef. The Duck Fried Rice was terrible. Very salty and no flavor/texture beyond the salt content.

On top of the fact that the food was mediocre, we had an 815 reservation and didn't get seated until 845. Of the places that receive the hype and are always packed, in my opinion you can do better than going to DDG.

Meeting my mom in Chicago for her 60th birthday on Saturday night. She wanted to eat at Cafe Babareeba but we were unable to get a table on such short notice. Any recommendations for something similar that wouldn't be all booked at this point?

Not necessarily looking for traditional Spanish tapas but ideally same price range/shareable plates.

showerman,

Sorry this is probably way too late! All below from OpenTable.

Emilio's is pretty decent tapas and available most times tonight.

Salero has early and late reservations tonight, and is supposed to be quite good. Got a really good Check Please response.

***** Vera ***** would be my top suggestion for you. It's weirdly available all night tonight, and is simply excellent. Aside from outstanding food, they have really great menu of sherries and can add a lot of fun to a night by educating you on sherry through your meal.

Other tapas available that's good: Mercadito, Mercat a la Planxa.

Other small plates / shareable stuff that's good but not necessarily Spanish: Sumi (Japanese robataya), Taxim (fancied up Greek small plates), Bristol (farm to table American shareable), Sirena Clandestina (Latin American small plates + cocktails), avec (!!! wtf they do reservations now?).

Wow. Just discovered this thread.

90 Miles Cuban Cafe is also worth checking out if you like Cuban food (and coffee too).

The Art Institute has a really cool Medieval/Renaissance arms and armor exhibit right now. Hopefully I will get to check that out.

90 miles confirmed legit

Confirmed, great place

I once had a cuban uber driver and he asked me where I ate cuban food and I told him 90 miles. Wrong answer! According to him the owner replaced most of the cuban workers with mexicans for less money and the locations are all crap now. He says most hipsters can't tell the difference though, kind of implying I was also one of those hipsters. He also had a cuban pizza in his front seat and let me try some. It had a weird plump soft dough that I found kind off putting, but I obviously did not tell him that. Weird ride! I still like 90 miles fwiw.

Went to Gene & Georgetti with the girlfriend last night and was very surprised at how much the place beat my expectations. I was thinking it would be a pretty cool old school atmosphere but with average food; in reality we got some really good dishes. Loved the filet mignon and side of hot Italian sausage. Lamb chops and side of garlic mashed potatoes also above average. Total of $210 for 2 with tax/tip, so definitely a good amount cheaper than a lot of River North steak places.

I want to go back and get another filet mignon ASAP.

Was at Kitsune recently and thought it was pretty decent, the scallops were the outstanding dish, and I'd probably leave the ramen in favor of the hot pot if you want a broth-based dish.

Also just recently opened in Logan Square on Milwaukee, Daisies, a house-made pasta based restaurant with a small menu at the moment. Had one underwhelming dish, which was the pesto, and everything else was really good. Cocktails also solid, and prices were incredibly reasonable--would recommend.

Any recommendations for anything new casual style food/bar/brewery/entertainment etc. in downtown up through Lake View areas?

Taking an annual weekend trip into town this weekend, 4 couples. I've been there several times before and have some spots I like to return to (lunch at Sheffields, sandwich from XOCO near hotel, architecture tour) but wanted to see if any random recs from here. Thanks

this is badly in need of a bump and some new recs.

If people here haven't been going down to Pilsen lately for dinner, they're doing it wrong. I've probably been 4x to HaiSous in the last few months and each time they've killed it. The owners are the couple that got royally screwed in the Embeya scandal. Thankfully the community has responded and now they have a killer spot. It's vietnamese cuisine as that is where Thai is from. What's also cool is that all of the tables/chairs/etc are from Vietnam and specifically from where he grew up.


Also, I can't recommend highly enough S.K.Y. The chef was at Intro for a while and the GM was the GM at the Bristol for years. The food is excellent as is the service. I don't want to gush too much as the GM is a friend of mine, but people really should head down there for dinner.

Any one have recent experience with Prime & Provisions? Want to try someplace I haven't been before on my next trip to Chicago and I'm staying near it.

Good spot, I have nothing bad to say about it, but I also don't think it did anything to stand out from any other Chicago steakhouse. Have you been to Bavette's just across the river? I much prefer that.

Get out of the river north area. Fat rice, parachute, long man, sepia, billy Sunday, club lucky

one of these things is not like the other (I say that as someone who orders from Club Lucky several times per year).



Tony,

Are you only limiting yourself to steakhouses? IMO a lot of what makes the Chicago scene killer is missed by doing that. On top of what ninefingershuffle said, I'd also throw in: SKY, HaiSous, Passerotto, Bayan-Ko, Osteria Langhe among others.

I live next to club lucky, so there is some sentimentality there. Lucia’s is a good byob too. Green street meats excellent as well, as well as the ramen place below it.