GL avoiding all the NATO Chaos this wkend my fellow Chicagoans

Was out and about today didn't notice much

hi yall

gonna be in the second city for the wknd of june 15-17. super excited since this is my first time there for fun. ive been to chicago maybe 8 times, all for business and have had my share of deep dish pizzas (lou b, ginos, giordanos) and steaks (gibsons) there. however my gf has never been there and i wanted to take her to some of the yummy stuff. seems like avec is a cant miss (dont mind waiting) and deciding between lou b or pequod (since ive never tried it) for pizza (heck may just do both!). not sure where to go for hot dogs though. a coworker of mine who is a diehard cubbies fan and also native swears by portillos. i hear hot dougies is good but dont have a car.

i shot an email to Alinea even though i know it's a long shot. what does everyone think of frontera nowadays? L2O?

anything else i should really check out? my girlfriend's main purpose is to check out the bean (don't ask) and really dont have anything planned at the moment. the architecture boat tour sounds very interesting.

don't do portillos. It's a tourist trap. Hot doug's will be tough on the weekend, especially saturday. If you don't want to wait 2 hrs then I'd say go to franks n dawgs on clybourn

I've heard good things about the boat tour and the weather has been fantastic last couple weeks, although I dunno what it will be like in june

tried to do the boat tour with gf last weekend and it was sold out... keep that in mind if you're thinking about it you can buy tickets online

avec is good but not same caliber as Girl and Goat, Publican, GT Fish and Oyster, etc

girl and the goat looks really delicious! so does publican. G&G however is all reserved the weekend im going to be there. i will give them a call

eh, different sort of place. avec is much more rustic restaurant and the food will frequently appear simpler on the plate. given the price point of avec, lack of pretention, and general vibe, many people will prefer avec over the larger/newer popular midrange places. if you're not looking for a scene, and you're just looking for great food, avec is a very good recommendation. had one of everything off the latest menu a couple weeks ago and while i didn't like it as much as some of the prior menus, it's still very good.

If you want good pizza -- try Pequods in Lincoln Park (Clyborn/Webster).

I'd also recommend the Segway Tours as a great way to see a lot of the city in a short period of time. You'll see Buckingham Fountain, Museum Campus, Soldier Field, Millenium/Grant Park, and a few other things in a matter of a few hours. Plus segways are fun as hell.

yea from the looks of it avec sounds perfect. my friend that lives in town always complains about how she hates chi food (from SF/SoCal) and i think she may like this place.

i think pequods is the pizza place this time around. i def want to try it esp after seeing what everyone said. segway tours sounds awesome as well. thanks!

a general Q: is it better to rent a car or just hail cabs?

then she's either just moved here or hasn't tried at all IMO

just hail cabs and work the L lines. most places that you'd want to go to aren't that hard to get to

Hail cabs. Parking is a bitch particularly downtown, and cabs aren't that expensive.

Given the weather, you might want to try out one of the river kayak tours instead of the normal boat tour (which is good). Obviously a lot of variables there. I haven't tried out the kayak tour but intend to this summer. FWIW the train-based loop architecture tour is great too.

Lot of great options for short trip to Chicago. Not sure I'd recommend Hot Doug's unless you really are pooing yourself to spend a huge fraction of your trip standing in line waiting for a hot dog. Given most of the hot dogs aren't "Chicago Hot Dogs" and are more weird/unique things, generally not worth it. Franks n Dawgs has compounded this issue by being similar and not having the lines.

Can't overstate how good the Pequods jalapeno pepperoni pan pizza is.

Kuma's is obviously great burgers and unlike Hot Dougs has a bar to grab a few beers while you wait.

Portillos is touristy but **** it, the standard Chicago hot dog there is good, easy to procure, and if you're staying downtown isn't a pain in the ass to go get.

Another Chicago food item that is often overlooked is Italian beef. Available in lots of places (Als, Portillos, Mr Beef, etc), you know you've got a keeper of a chick if she's in to getting meet drippings down to her elbow from a sweet peppers + giardinera beef.

i have to say that Portillos is my favorite italian beef in Chicago. Not a fan of the giardinara of Al's Beef and the juice at Mr. Beef doesn't have enough spice to my liking

hmmmmm

does this mean you're the girl of my dreams partygirl?

Wow this is so awesome <3 I def want to try pequod now and will try to do the kayak tour. Think I will go to portillos for hot dogs (they do have a branch here in socal half hour away from where I live but i never go). Thanks a bunch!

oh yeah, forgot to mention that avec is literally half as expensive as other comparably awesome places. I've been there twice and both times I spent ~$50 and got drunk and had a ton of great food

I was by no means dissing avec, it's a great spot but I thought the food wasn't quite as tasty or interesting but still awesome and I love the vibe it's like you're a guest at their house

+1 to Portillo's Italian Beef and fries. Also people swear by their chocolate cake shake if you are into that.

FYI Pequod's is pan pizza which is different from deep dish. Some like it more (I don't) but if you've already been to Lou Mals et al. then you should probably go to Pequods to diversify. Also if you are going to be by the bean you should check out the Art Institute if you are into museums.

I just tried a few places in the west loop:

1. Au Cheval - Really enjyoed it. The salmon rillettes and the General Jane's Chicken were dynamite. I had heard the bologna sandwich (with fried egg) was great, I just thought it was ok. Recommend this place overall for sure

2. Nellcote - Definitely more of a scene place. Some good stuff (rubochon potatoes, ribeye), but nothing was amazing. Cocktails were just ok for me too. The space is very nice though, and not expensive at all

+ large number to the au Cheval fried chicken being awesome.

Thanks a bunch. I do want to check out the art inst. I've walked by around the area but never went in.

Yea I think my girlfriend prob wants to try the deep dish more but man Pequod's sounds like the best choice by far. Maybe we can try two pizzerias: Lou Mals and Pequods?

You won't go wrong if those are the two deep dish places that you have. I'd also throw art of pizza out there as well. Most importantly AoP has it by the slice

Portillo's seems to be getting **** on for being "touristy" but it's consistently one of the best hot dogs you can get, plus the chocolate cake is indeed amazing. I make my mom buy it every year for my birthday. (BTW, the secret ingredient in it is mayonnaise.)

If you do Kuma's get there 15-20 minutes before it opens (11:30 on Saturdays, 12:00 on Sundays) to avoid a much longer line, and skip breakfast. And yes, it lives up to the hype.

Liked it a lot more before knowing that secret

Ate at Charlie Trotter's tonight. Took over 2 hours to get there from the suburbs (usually a bit less than 1h away, ugh). The food was fantastic, much better than Next's El Bulli imo. Favorites were the salmon, himachi, duck, venison, and an unbelievable chocolate cake thing. All were great and felt like the total portion was right on.

The original sommelier from 25 years ago came back for the final few months and gave us an awesome tour of the kitchen and the wine cellars then talked to us about his background for like 15 minutes -- finished PhD in comparative literature, knew a ton about wine, and figured getting flown to Europe for wine tastings and such was worth at least trying over becoming a professor.