Wouldn't be a Bachelor Party in Wrigleyville without taking a few hacks in the batting cages at Sluggers.

Where are you guys staying?

There's a lot of fun/solid breweries in town but they aren't all the most convenient to get to for a big group of people from out of town.

If you can rally the group to go on a half hour or so walk to get to and from, Chicago believe it or not has a massive beachfront with a ton of beach volleyball courts.

Mostly just point us to what neighborhood(s) you're staying and hanging out in and we can point you to some fun outdoor bars with good beer options and eye candy to stare at.

Just north of noble square. And ya we were planning to hit that beach for vball/spikeball

Love that area of town.

If anyone needs drunk food go to La Pasadita. It looks totally empty because there aren't really any other businesses around it, but the burritos are pretty great.

Fifty/50 is my favorite bar food (Wings especially) in Chicago, not great outdoor space though.

I'm not really sure what bars in Wicker Park area have rooftops or patios. I know Whiskey Business has a big rooftop but it gets kinda packed/sceney during the summer.

ahhhhh, this is perfect. You can easily just bar crawl Division street and then probably invade Links Taproom on Milwaukee. Chop Shop on North has a rooftop and I think that would play well with a group of that size as would eating a ton of pizza and drinking beer at Piece. You can also do Forbidden Root on Chicago Ave as well as Funkenhausen for food.

Slightly further afield, you can hit up the middle brow bungalow on Armitage and grabbing a bunch of Ubers for Revolution's Brewery on Kedzie would be a great move as well.

Beauty, thanks kdawg. We all just boarded the plane. Giddyup

Big Star's patio has a perfect vibe for a bachelor party, but I dunno how easy it'd be to get a large group in on a summer weekend night.

Cleo's is a little west of where you are staying. The scenery might not be the best, but they have a sizable outdoor/patio area. Also have a couple of bocce ball courts. Stays open super later, but I imagine the outdoor area closes much earlier.

Following up on my Omakase Yume dinner a few months back. Really enjoyed it and well worth the price. Think it was ~$250 which included a bottle of sake and some additional pieces. Favorite items were the three salmon pieces towards the middle, and some sort of cooked white fish served over a bowl of rice towards the end (feel stupid for not remembering what it was).

Probably doesn't actually need restating, but:

Went to Parachute on Saturday. Ordered the whole menu minus the steak. Everything was great. Wines were great. Cocktails were great. House ginger beer was great. Even the kid ice cream sundae was great. We didn't have grown up desserts (this time).

FWIW, they are also very kid friendly. Would recommend if you have (particularly smaller) kids to shoot for the earliest times. Probably not a place you'd expect them to have crayons and paper and a kid's menu (complete with ddukbokki!), but they do.

Tryna remember where we went.

Wrigley on Fri, followed by Cubby Bear. Paradise Park at night.

Sat we went to the beach during the day and Bottled Blonde and got bottles all night.

Overall was a great time.

What are the biggest 'musts'? Only been once and was sort of underwhelmed by what we had for the price, but possible my ordering was just off.

Menu changes frequently-ish. Menu on website isn't up to date.

I thought the unagi style trout was great, with basically a candied skin.
I always enjoy their oysters, but this trip's were the least interesting I've had there.
The tempura is always tasty but if you're at all price conscious I could see why you might not enjoy.
The bing bread I assume basically everyone gets and enjoys even though nothing fancy there.
The handmade noodle dish was incredibly simple but if you enjoy a toothsome noodle with good sauce, you'll be happy.
Tuna with tomato salad was a huge hit at our table.

Oh, the shrimp/langustines were really, really good.

I'm probably forgetting something great, honestly?

We had something like 11 plates of food + 6 drinks + tax/tip for $260, so it would be hard for me to feel like the value was off if the food were good, personally.

One of my other favorite places is Avec, so maybe I just have a "type" that makes me super happy?

On my trip, our meal at Parachute was also really underwhelming. It was clearly more well received by members of our group that were unfamiliar with the flavors or the industry. I definitely understand why it works, just the same as Avec or something like Girl and the Goat, but it definitely would not do as well in a city with a larger Asian demographic. Chicago seems like a really strange restaurant scene where the diners are certainly willing to go out and pack places that just wouldn't work in other cities.

Ok so this isn't what I remember at all...my recollection is something like 5-6 plates of food and maybe...4 drinks? For not much less than you paid? I guess my memory could be off or we could have gotten just the really expensive items but your total looks much more reasonable than my felt (could also be that we had some misses on food that made it feel more expensive). I promise I'm not usually one to be frustrated at price and 260 for dinner for the wife and myself is usually not a shock at all--this one just stood out for some reason.

On a related note: Wherewithall. Tried last night and thought it was good, but not great. It was the second evening open I believe so service was still having some issues that could probably be forgiven. The space was nice but a little cramped. Really funny moment when I walked into the non-single use bathroom marked 'urinal/toilet' and went to the urinal. There was someone in the toilet, and when I started washing my hands a very nice and slightly embarrassed woman walked out of the stall. I asked if these were unisex bathrooms (they were thank goodness) and we had a nice laugh over her not wanting to come out while I was relieving myself.

It's a '4 course' tasting for $65 with an optional $45 wine pairing. There were 3 amuses and two of them were standouts of the night (a corn beignet with bouillabaisse dipping sauce and a white water kimchi broth served cold with fermented yuzu drizzle). Overall definitely worth trying but may want to wait a bit to let some of the kinks get worked out. Our server was overall decent but didn't have a great handle on the pairings and we didn't get our dessert pairing until we had almost finished eating it (it had ice cream otherwise I would have waited).

Total was...270ish with tax which included 2 coffees as well as the meal and pairings.

Has anyone spent the night at Shedd Aquarium?

My wife and I stayed overnight at the Henry Doorly Zoo so this has given us an appetite for staying overnight at other places such as Shedd Aquarium.

Used to stay overnight at the Field Museum all the time as a kid, was one of my favorite things every year. Pretty sure they still do it but no idea if you need to have kids to go as an adult?

we never updated the new bib gourmands and michelin stars. I'm still shocked that Kyoten didn't get a star (especially when the other new omakase spots got one). I still need to go to Cabra as I will always support a place that does Peruvian cuisine


https://chicago.eater.com/2019/9/19/20873782/chicago-michelin-bib-gourmands-2020

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/9/26/20884236/michelin-restaurants-chicago-stars-2020

I thought Cabra was mediocre. In fact, with the exception of the Original girl and goat, I think all those restaurants are mediocre.

Doing Galit solo tonight, in town for just one night for a mtg in the AM - it looks phenomenal.

This is a strong and excellent decision

Yeah place feels great. Definitely feels like a good date spot. Knew I should’ve invited the leggy blonde from check-in...

fwiw i thought galit was very good, though not michelin star level.

I had the brisket hummus, kibbeh, and lamb-stuffed cabbage. All good, would def recommend the brisket hummus (the pita is awesome) and cabbage. Guessing I'd rate the kibbeh in the lower half of their menu even though it was good. Lebanese cinsault/merlot/cab blend for $14/glass was quite good also.

Yeah that was my impression of Galit. Solid, well executed, but not "I need to make another reservation now" good.