Ended up going with a group of friends instead. The event was really fun, would highly recommend to any wanna-be beer snobs out there. Tons of breweries I had never heard of and plenty that I had. Event was well organized and the lines moved very quickly. Not sure if you can get your $40 worth without chugging and hustling (which is the opposite of what you want to do with craft beers) but there were literally like 150 different beers to try so the selection was wide ranging. The three hours went by soooo fast but you could tell everyone their was really feeling the alcohol by the time 9 pm rolled around.

Oh god, and the women there were INCREDIBLE. People watching was awesome. And by people I mean women. Some people really got dressed up for this. I fell in love about a dozen times.

So I noticed Portillos has a few locations in California and Arizona now. Does anyone know if they are expanding nationally? You'd have to think they would successful as they basically print money here in Chicago.

Anyone been to Toro sushi lately? Been wanting to try it for a while but their number seems to be out of service right now

Yea I go pretty often. My favorite sushi place in Chicago. Get there early because they close the wait list early and don't bring a big group

'Not a great play or anything, but certainly good.' is underselling it. It's really ****ing good.

A cross between the Mike Leigh film Another Year, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. A drama, but very funny. Went to Balena after, which was pretty awful.

Dean,

It's quite good, and at least it didn't star an affectless teenaged female character, but it had the other recent Steppenwolf standby: incredibly entitled middle aged male that the play never does a good job actually complicating or making seem like his point of view might be wrong.

The acting was good, and there's some super funny stuff, particularly in the first half of the play.

Sorry you had a bad experience at Balena. I definitely found it uncomfortable when I showed up the first time and didn't realize it was going to be a scene and all the men would be wearing shiny shirts unbuttoned to their navels, but I found the cocktails good and the pasta nice.

What a s****y weekend (in terms of weather). Going to watch Anderson Silva massacre Stephen Bonnar at The Tap Room tonight in case any of you guys will already be there.

Planning to eat at Cemitas Puebla beforehand.

I am going to be in Chicago this evening.I am going to dinner at Girl and the goat and am looking for something to do after.I am staying at the Fairmont hotel.Will be me and my girl and we are up for anything Cool.Any suggestions?

Would probably suggest drinks at the bar at Maude's (across street from gatg) before or after dinner. Standby recommendations for activities would be blues club or comedy or something like that?

That sounds good drink at Maude's. Blues club would be cool. Any suggestions?we are also looking for some great Thai for lunch tomorrow ?

I utterly love opart's. It's right under the western brown line stop. Some of the best noodles I've had

N9ne sucks, Saigon Sisters is great

Hey, how bout a soldier field seating recommendation?

I'm looking at the SNF game Nov 11 vs Houston.

Andy's Thai Kitchen (brand new) or TAC Quick

I always get a chuckle at tac quick about their "secret" menu that they instantly give you along with the white person menu they also have

Haven't been to ATK (great reviews), or TAC since Andy left to have his own place. Would assume that ATK is now more consistently good than TAC? I'm a huge fan of Spoon, Sticky Rice, and Opart.

Kingston Mines is the standard recommendation for blues. It's good.

reno,

Do you mean in the statdium? If so, it's a pretty standard stadium except one of the sides has a larger section of whatever they call club level with access to indoors, restaurants, amenities/whatever. The seats you would expect to be good are good.

Definitely doing this soon:

http://www.chicagobrewbus.com/home/

Went to briciola this past Tuesday. I have to say, this is a real nice spot. $3 corkage with a lot of good Italian food. The chef is pure Italian and was a blast to talk to.

I've never really been into Indian food until I started going to Paprika in Lincoln Square, but I'm looking to expand my horizons. What are some of your favorite Indian places in the city, both on Devon and outside of Devon?

knives,

I'm a really big fan of Uru Swati on Devon. It's vegetarian and basically all street/simple food type stuff. So lots of fried stuffed things, big flavorful sauces, and the like.

Another vegetarian place on Devon is Udupi Palace. It's a more normal feeling restaurant with less of a street food feel, but has all the normal Indian staples you'd expect.

Cumin on Milwaukee in wicker park is very solid

Cumin (Wicker Park) and Marigold (Andersonville)


Revolucion, a Mexican steakhouse located at approx. 3400 N Broadway, is set to have their grand opening on Wednesday. Been waiting forever.

Pretty sure Marigold is currently still not open while it moves from Broadway to Clark. Never really been super happy with my meals there (have found food lukewarm and under spiced, as well as expensive).

Jaipur in south loop is pretty good.

On Devon, you can't go to the shiny places. Those are not very authentic. You gotta go to the 'hole in the wall' places like Hyderabad house etc. to get authentic Indian food. But then most of the people who grow up here, including my kids, cannot handle authentic Indian food.

Citanul,
I am glad you like south Indian vegetarian food. The stong asafetida flavors are not for everyone. Udupi is a region in southern India where this cuisine comes from but most people here do not associate it with what is considered traditional 'Indian' food.