I've heard good things about that, but, let's be honest, Taylor is barely south side. I'm more talking at least 38th and south

Haha, fair enough, thought you meant technically south side. I'm still learning. Feels like yesterday I was posting ITT for moving advice!

I have reservations for Girl & the Goat on Monday. I have the most the most primitive taste and pretty much eat chicken, pasta and steak on repeat. My wife is a culinary gradate and works as a catering manager downtown. Everything I hear is it's a must, especially for her. Am I ****ed? Not exaggerating that pretty much everything unique I ever try is usually painful. I see they have chicken but even the pictures look intimidating.

Advice?

They have some really really good breads and butters!!

KD,

82nd and Cottage Grove isn't south side enough? That's where the other location of Uncle John's is...

Illini,

Like the man said, Pequod's is a pan pizza, that's why it seemed like a pan pizza.

farm,

Go to alinea-restaurant.com. Make an account. Click on tickets. Browse the available dates. While the FB page makes it seem like they are super scarce, in fact there are a pretty good number of seatings available if you're willing and able to plan in advance, and you don't have to deal with the nonsense of the FB process.

Jamie,

I think you'll be fine:
sugo: pappardelle . rosemary . cape gooseberries
kalbi beef ribs: sweet corn coblettes . grilled okra relish
wood fired walter's chicken: tomato. tonkatsu glaze . green goddess dressing
You might not wind up loving the place as much as the average person with a wider range, but those should be good.

+1, and I really like both of the latter.

I used to be the same way until I started dating a vegetarian. My advice is to have a few drinks and start being adventurous. Eat stuff you never would think would be good, even if it scares you. It's just food. Everything there is seriously amazing. It might sound like a really weird combination but it will taste incredible. If you can't loosen up and have fun experimenting after a few drinks then yes, you are f*cked because there is not a single "plain" dish there.

Favorite Dish: Pig's face. You must get this.

Cit, I didn't realize there was a location on 82nd. Thanks for the tip

Man up.

You'll be fine. This isn't Bizarre Foods Vietnam. There's no balut on the menu. If you're truly worried, just order a wood-fired pizza.

Oh, and order the green beans. Safe play but always a big hit.

Great suggestions so far, thanks guys.

I was eyeing the pig's face and the pictures even look appetizing. It's comforting knowing they have pizza even though I'd definitely feel dumb ordering them from their.

Johnny, honestly, if it were a matter of 'man'ing up' it'd be a non-issue. I just hate putting myself in a situation where I'm miserable while finishing a meal. Rarely do I venture off and find something that I really like.

Best pizza within walking distance of second city? My sister wants deep dish before the show

a quick cab puts you at pequods

I was in Chicago a few weeks ago for a conference and either never realized that this thread existed. It probably wouldn't have mattered much as I really didn't have any free time but it would have been nice to at least skim this before leaving.

We stayed at the Intercontinental and ended up walking to most everything while there. I know next to nothing about Chicago still but this seemed like a pretty nice central location.

I got in fairly late mid-week and being lazy and dining alone I ate at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse as it is attached to the hotel. I had the Delmonico steak and was pleasantly surprised.

Night 2 everyone went to Andy's Jazz Club for dinner. I assume this was for the Jazz and drinks, not the food.

Night 3 was a dinner cruise off the Navy Pier. Great view of the skyline. The food was good considering it was a dinner cruise but it was still dinner cruise buffet food.

Night 4 was at the Library Room test kitchen at the Frontera Grill. This was a pretty amazing experience with a great tasting menu. Some idiot in our group ordered a couple specific bottles of wine for the table and pooched the wine pairing which I would have enjoyed but given the ridiculous number of margaritas which preceded dinner this likely did not make a huge difference. Chef Jimmy's stories of travels to Mexico to sample ingredients and dishes with his sex puppet Isobel as well as his Mother and Grandmother's cooking of special dishes added a cool touch to the experience. The food was very good (probably closer to excellent if you actually like Mexican) and the overall experience was top notch. We followed this up with a stop at Blue Chicago - I am not a huge fan of Blues but this place could make me one.

By Night 5 I was pretty deep into a food coma and after four straight nights of drinking more each night than I consume in a typical two week period I should have skipped dining out. We went to the Chicago Chop House and they served up about nine times more food than I could dream of eating. I picked at prawns, scallops and smoked salmon appetizers for the table, made it through a salad and was barely able to touch my rib eye and didn't touch whatever side had accompanied it. Given how I was feeling I can't really comment fairly on the food but it struck me as typical steak house fair with large servings. I would pick another steak house on my next trip.

The conference ended the following day and I had a bit of free time in the afternoon. I caught Book of Mormon which was hilarious. Ran down to Millennium Park and snapped a bunch of pics of the Cloud Gate Bean and some of the buildings on the way there and back. Then off to MK for one last meal in Chicago. This was just two of us instead of group of ten or more for a change and we had the five course tasting menu with wine pairing which was $135 or so per person. This was easily my favourite dinner of the week, likely in large part due to being past any pressures relating to the ongoing conference.

All in all the Frontera Grill experience was awesome and I would highly recommend the Library Room to anyone. I thought MK was very solid. Blue Chicago was a blast. I would absolutely love to head back to Chicago sometime with my wife for a long weekend to hit a few nice restaurants, catch a show and see more of the city. I will have to check back on this thread before doing so. Oh, I need to try the Purple Pig too - staying right across the street and never getting a chance to check it out was a bit of a tease.

And Pequod's in the restaurant >>>>>>>>>> Pequod's at home.

Had one delivered last night anyways

Or Piece, which isn't the BEST pizza, but it's a lot of fun and they have an excellent beer selection. If you really like walking, it'd take ~30 minutes?

Piece is a fun place and the pizza is decent, but they don't have stuffed, as lycosid was asking. Also, as a pro tip for just pizza, especially as a quick eat, I prefer Santullo's NY style a couple of doors down.

Closest to Second City, your best bet is probably Lou's on State for stuffed, but the time that will take with how packed it'll likely be, yeah, just do Pequod's and cab it over to Pipers Aley.

Also, I mentioned Lyft as a cab alternative earlier ITT, here's the website where you can download the app: http://www.lyft.me

Heh, forgot about the second part.

Lyft looks like a good way to get a lot of things lifted that you might not want lifted.

Meh. $1M liability insurance.

I guess I don't really see the significant risk of getting in the car with this on-record stranger over one with a chauffeur medallion. Do we really wanna get into the creepy:normal ratios of cabbies?

Appreciate all the advice, had a pretty solid trip.

Got in around 11 on Thursday and couldn't check in until 3, so spent my time wandering along the museum campus and down into Bronzeville a bit. After checking in I went up to the Grant Park/Millennium Park area and strolled the park until dinner at Gage, which was great, awesome rec. Then I walked along the shore to Navy Pier to see Cyrano de Bergerac at the Shakespeare Theater. I enjoyed the show, but am really glad I didn't spend any more time at the Pier; it seems like the exact place I can't stand.

Wanted to catch an Architectural Boat Tour on Friday, but they were sold out all day, which was fine because I ended up spending about 5 hours in the Art Institute and still left whole exhibits untouched. I'm a big fan of impressionist painting and they had a nice collection of Monets so that was a big draw. Also really enjoyed the miniature rooms and the Okinawa photography exhibit near the exit. Lou Malnati's for lunch was fantastic, but had to meet the family for dinner at some sports bar (BlackFinn?) which was whatever.

Had to plan my Saturday around a UC football game, and a mild transportation disaster got me into Hyde Park too late to visit the Museum of Science & Industry beforehand, which I was really looking forward to. That was unfortunate, but the Promontory Point/Jackson Park/UC campus was gorgeous, so I still had a nice circuituous walk to the stadium. As soon as I got there the sun disappeared and we had the worst weather of the weekend (now with freezing rain!). I can't complain since it was mostly quite nice, but of course the weather is miserable when I'm sitting on a metal bench for 2 hours. Lunch at the game and dinner at another god damn sports bar, so food tourism kind of going out the window.

Finally caught the Boat Tour Sunday after a not great breakfast at Corner Bakery. Weather was better today than Friday, so it worked out well and the tour itself was maybe my favorite part of the trip. After that, I went up to Lincoln Park and went through the zoo then back along the shore (some guy was swimming?). My sister and her bf wanted Chicago-style pizza for dinner but I couldn't swing them for Pequods. We went to Mama Milano because it was close, and it was good but not deep dish, so fail. Saw Let Them Eat Chaos at Second City, which was really funny. Afterwards, we went to a jazz bar called the Backroom which was so obviously a tourist trap, but the band was good so it was fine.

Had an awesome Mexi-chocolate waffle at Waffle for breakfast Monday before heading down to Chinatown for the afternoon. The closest thing we have to Chinatown in Richmond is a few Vietnamese places in a strip mall, so it was cool to walk through the area. Afterwards, had a 3pm dinner at Lou Malnati's (it was right by the station) before catching my plane.

I had a lot of fun even though I felt more like a tourist here than in any other city I've visited, but I think that's kind of unavoidable in a city like Chicago. Did some google mapping today and I walked about 11 miles the first day and not less than 35 over the five day period.

Again, I really appreciated all the recommendations itt. If anyone's gonna be in the Richmond VA area and needs some advice on what to do or where to go, feel free to pm me for recs. I'd love to return the favor.

Nice sounds like you had a good time. And yeah, Navy Pier is easily the most overrated part of Chicago.

Thanks buddy. Going November 1st, anything we should know ahead of time? Can't wait to check it out.

Awesome, glad that worked for you.

I haven't been in a while, but my advice is probably best as "have fun." Unlike other multi-star places, there's a lot more handling your food or playing with your food than you'd probably expect. There's definitely people who are dressed up and acting stuffy at their tables, but that doesn't mean you have to. It's my impression that the staff thinks the food is both amazing and a lot of fun and cool. I tend to agree, and think it should be approached that way as opposed to super reverently and overly seriously.

I'd probably also recommend beverage pairings as opposed to a bottle of wine or similar other options unless you're really not a beverage person (or maybe even if you think you are), because: a) They do add something b) You're already blowing a zillion dollars, don't skimp on the beverages just to save a bit more.

In town this weekend and have some time to kill, does Chicago have any really good men's clothing stores? Something along the lines of epaulet out of NY if anyone is familiar with that. $200 sweaters, $500 shoes--stuff in that price range.

I don't know what epaulet is, but Oak St (next to Mich Ave) is full of smaller boutique type shops and also has Barney's. Most on Oak St are pretty big and expensive brand names (Tom Ford, Tod's, Moncler, etc.) but there is one called George Greene which sells a variety of brands (still expensive).

There's a Saks Men's store on Michigan Ave as well as Neiman Marcus.

Others I've heard of are Haberdash on State St, Apt No 9 on Damen Ave, Scoop on Milwaukee Ave. These 3 seem much more catered to younger people and have more reasonable prices but I haven't been to any of them in years.

Where can the best bloody mary be found? I've had a bunch of really good ones but nothing that I can definitively say was the best