Anyone want to go watch Ryder Cup tomorrow?

**** yes I do.

Went today. Insanely crowded but a pretty sick time. Just take the earliest Metra out that you can.

Friend has table for 4 for Next - Kyoto, 10/4 at 10:15.
Looking to sell at face value, $585.
Alcohol pairings not included but can be added at the restaurant.
Please PM me if interested.

25 yr old going to chicago for first time with gf. would love some dinner recs/any advice in general (we doing too much, missing must sees)...i know theres a bunch in this thread but i dont know the dif hoods at all.

sat- intercontinental mag mile check in; walk mag mile; cocktails and appetizers at signature lounge hancock tower; looking for din rec in this area, preferably pizza.

sun- CAF river cruise; lunch and watch games at ditkas; second city show at 730--looking for dinner rec in this area, something open after the show at 930ish..we like italian if theres any good oen around

mon- Hyde Park; museum of science industry; lunch rec in this area pref sushi; pregame before going to monday night bears v lions (bar or tailgate without a car?)

tue- no plans but "we" want to dress up and get a nice dinner...any recs for a nice date night? jazz club, theatre etc. and if you had one choice for a nice dinner where would u go? not baller dinner but maybe 100 per person without booze.

It's tough to know exactly what you mean by 'area'. Are you looking for somewhere you can walk to from Second City? Either way there are plenty of Italian options within 30 second walk of Second City, the top two being Topo Gigio (closes at 9:30) & Trattoria Roma (closes at 10).

If you want sushi within walking distance of the MSCI you are SOL. The best sushi option in Hyde Park is Sit Down, it's about 2km from MSCI, but thankfully you'll find a line of taxis waiting for you outside. If you are going to get a cab, I'd rather just get one downtown but that's your call, Sit Down is perfectly fine.

Can't advise whether to bar or tailgate other than to say if you choose a good bar you will have enjoy a great atmosphere, especially as Chicago is full of people who grew up in Michigan.

For Tuesday, Chicago is the home of the blues. You have The Blues Bar & Kingston Mines opposite from each other. Blues is a dive bar, Kingston is much bigger but still pretty divey, they are both great and I'd recommend going, there won't be many other people dressed up and if you're looking for some sort of intimate place where you can stare in to each others eyes and whisper sweet nothings to each other you should go elsewhere. There is plenty of great theatre in Chicago, I use this link and it rarely goes wrong.

If you're looking for Chicago Deepdish, my recommendation is Lou Malnati's on Rush & Cedar (about 5-10 minute walk from Hancock.)

If you prefer thin crust, my first pick would be La Madia on Grand and Clark (about 15 min walk from Hancock, or a quick cab ride.) Other thin crust options include Quartino, Osteria (or Pizzeria) via Stato, or Bar Toma. Bar Toma is one block south, one block west of the Hancock, but I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it's any good. It's Tony Mantuano's place (famous for Spiaggia and The Purple Pig), so it's probably good, and slightly overpriced.

To me best bar close to Soldier Field is Krulls 18th and Michigan

partygirl, iumike, daniel ocean...thanks a lot for your responses. ill def be using all your info. pretty set on Sit Down and Lou Malnitis for two of our meals.

Lou Malnatis is one of the best things I've ever eaten. The "Lou" is probably the best pizza on earth. They have really good salads too.

I love Lou's but Pequod's is better.

Go downtown to Wrigleyville, huge party scene and great food

UC,

Yes, but Pedquod's is not convenient to the location he asked for.

imall,

lol at people who call Wrigleyville "downtown."

Haven't seen any suggestions yet for this, so I'll try to throw a few out there.
Chicago is a great steakhouse city, my rec's for those would be either David Burke's Primehouse or Mastros, both close to your hotel location. If you're not sick of Italian food by Tuesday, try Spiaggia. For a more American (I guess) menu, check out Sepia. It's in the west loop, so not too far a ride from your hotel. None of these places are so fancy that they are jacket required, but you won't feel out of place dressed well.

I mean, steakhouses are fun and all, but if someone is in this city for the first time, I'm not telling them to go to a steakhouse. My personal rec for a restaurant would be to go to the Bristol. That will give them a much better feel for chicago dining than any steakhouse would.

for drinks and food near 2nd city, take a short trip to farmhouse on chicago ave. Really good burgers and nearly everything is midwest based on the menu (including the beer).

cit, haha. Even better is him saying that there's great food there. I was almost expecting a john barleycorn rec as well

I kinda went to the savoy on monday night. When I say kinda, I got a lot of takeout from there to bring over to a friend's place. I was very impressed with the food on the whole.

The savoy is predominantly a seafood place with some land based dead animals as well. They also have a cocktail and liquor list, but I didn't get into that.

The portions were extremely good as they did the job in getting you full without making you feel like a pin cushion. I will say though, the entrees are good, but I'd almost want to stick to the light fare section as my entree and go with a lot of appetizers and things from the raw bar. The tuna tartar was very good and I really enjoyed the crab cakes. I thought the salmon from the light fare section was spot on.

I ended up picking up a lot of food for my friends and I. Granted, there was no tip involved as I was doing takeout, so it came to a more than reasonable $36 a head. So, I'd imagine that with tip it would've been $40 per if we had actually sat down.

I'm pretty sure Spiaggia is jacket required.

For a nice date night where you want to get a little dressed up I would recommend Steppenwolf (theater) and dinner at either Boka (seafood, cocktails, trendy) or Balena (pasta, woodfired pizza, grilled food, trendy). Both places where a girl in a cute cocktail dress would feel appropriate. Bristol, Hot Chocolate, Violet Hour, and more are a short cab ride away from the theater, but honestly both Bristol and Hot Chocolate I'd feel a little out of place dressing nicely.

Gotta agree with KD, I wouldn't really direct someone to a steakhouse unless they were here for a bachelor party or from a part of the country where they have crappy steaks. It's a great steakhouse city and the steaks I've had at Primehouse and Mastros have been very good (though re: Mastros, doesn't serving a steak on a sizzling hot platter mean it's still cooking, and will wind up overcooked?), but it just wouldn't be high on my list of recommendations.

So, I think if I had to put it all together, what I would recommend would be:

Violet Hour (opens at 6, get there right about at the open)
Steppenwolf (Tuesday shows are at 7:30, current show is 2:15)
Balena (right across the street from Steppenwolf)

If you're still feeling like heading out for more, either Kingston Mines for blues, or the Green Mill for jazz.

I went to the savoy a few weeks ago and loved it - that's coming from someone who is generally not a huge seafood fan. Also, there was like no one there on a Saturday night and we had really great service. Scallops, crab cakes, tuna tartare (iirc), and I think an heirloom tomato salad were all really great. Also we met the chef and he looked like he was 21. Pretty impressive. Hopefully people start going there and they stay in business.

This

I've never had Pequods. I'm excited to try it.

Pequod's is way overrated. There, I said it.

I really like Pequod's but I think I might like Art of Pizza more

Pequads crust is like heaven.

Man, I honestly thought I was all settled in to my feelings about deep dish pizzas in Chicago until I recently went to Gino's and found the corn meal crust really not disgusting at all, and kind of nice. I basically have moods for getting anything that isn't Edwardo's. (numbers below do not imply ranking.)

1. Giordano's - only acceptable if you're getting a stuffed spinach pizza, imo.

2. Lou's - bunch of great pies: the Lou, the sausage, and the vegetarian are all very good.

3. Art of Pizza - they put more salt on the crust than other places, and the crust tends to have a great crispiness. I'm not in love with any particular topping set they produce, but haven't had anything bad, just everything is good. It does make me sad that they sell bbq wings instead of hot wings, though.

4. Pequods - For me, the best "deep dish" pizza. The crust is awesome (though sometimes, rarely, it gets screwed up and undercooked), with burned/caramelized cheese running over the edge. While others will recommend other sets of toppings, you cannot go wrong with pepperoni + jalapeno or spinach + garlic. Be warned that the former is legitimately spicy.

5. Gino's - The corn meal crust isn't really what I think I'm ever in the mood for, but it's not bad pizza at all. Of the things I recently ate, the various standard meat pizzas were all the best.

There's not much discussion (particularly recently) of non deep dish pizzas in this thread, so maybe we can get some going given the recent slew of openings. Note: I lumped together a bunch of stuff above as "deep dish" when in reality there are deep dish (thin crust, lots of cheese), pan (thick crust, standard amount of toppings and cheese), and stuffed (usually done like deep dish, but with crust then toppings then crust then tomato sauce on top).

So, what are people's thoughts on non-deep dish pizzas? Favorites? Some contenders:

1. Coalfire - as the name suggests, coal oven fired pizzas.
2. Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co - pizza pot pies.
3. Bricks - thin crust with "crazy" toppings.
4. Great Lake - pain in the ass to deal with, farmer's market fresh ingredients.
5. Spacca Napoli - Neopolitan style thin crust usually eaten with fork and knife. Tends to be a bit wet and uncrispy, but that's how they mean to do it.
6. Antica Pizzeria - another Neopolitan place.
7. Apart Pizza - not a large menu, but some nice stuf in a sort of New York style. Everyone who works there appears to be high all the time.
8. Pizzeria da Nella Cucina Napoletana - one of the several places the original chef from Spacca Napoli has gone on to make pizza.

Of this list I have to say that Great Lake makes really amazing pizzas, but there has to be some room in my heart for an ability to just get either the pizza I want (instead of the pizza they tell me to get, as they only offer like 3 varieties a night), or a goddamn pepperoni pizza. While it's not a pie you can toss in a box and split with friends for a football game, Spacca Napoli is probably my go-to for just a nice pizza. For what it's worth, the Pequod's and Art of Pizza thin crust options are really good too.

Any hidden pizza gems out there?

Malnati's thin crust is very underrated imo.