Chicago recs

check page 2 of this board and do a search next time. we just had a thread on this...

LINK

You sound like a pretty miserable person, feel bad for you

Just got back from Chicago a few hours ago. We stayed at Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Ave (across from the Bean).

Restaurants didn't work out as we planned and a lot of the places we wanted to go to were booked or closed. We mistakenly tried to plan on 5 days notice.

We ate at Cindy's Rooftop (on top of our hotel) on Friday night and enjoyed the porkchops and drinks. Rooftop with great food and drinks. We got priority on reservations since we stayed at the hotel. Definitely make reservations here.

We ate at Lou Mitchell's by Union Station on Saturday and Sunday morning for breakfast. First time, but loved it. Omelets are outstanding and the waffle on day 2 was amazing. Classic "at the beginning of Route 66" breakfast spot. No wait around 9 a.m., but started filling up after we got seated. On day 2, 15 minute wait when I arrived at 9:20 a.m.

We had pizza at Eataly on Saturday afternoon. I know, probably blasphemy in Chicago, but we love their woodfired pizza and don't really care for deep dish pizza (too much bread for us).

We ate at Gibson's Steakhouse on Saturday night. Great ambience and a real "old time steakhouse" feel, but the steaks were not very good. Service was good and staff was great, but food was subpar. We did bring our own wine and that was the best part of the meal. I would not go back.

Sunday morning, Lou Mitchell's again for breakfast. Waffle's are the bomb.

We skipped Sunday lunch as we walked about 8 miles roundtrip to and from our hotel to Lincoln Park down Michigan Avenue. We did have drinks at a rooftop, NoMi Garden's on top of the Hyatt off Michigan Ave. Not really high roof but decent drinks and good bartenders and good views.

Sunday night, we had dinner at Tzuco's, a James Beard Chef award winner. It claims to be a Mexican with French influence restaurant. Another dud. We had mussel appetizer and mahi mahi for main course. Fish was overcooked and mussels were bland. Again, we brought our own wine which would have been the highlight, but we got dessert. Their limon mouse was the best dessert that I have ever eaten. Very creative.

After dinner, we walked to London House and stood in line for the rooftop bar (did I say we like rooftops?). It only took about 30 minutes to make it up top, but would have been quicker with reservations. One of my favorite views in the city and a great bar.

We just arrived home. Overall, I took chances on restaurants and 2 out of 3 were duds. My mistake. Sometimes you hit HR's and sometimes you strike out. Great suggestions on the thread linked above (started at my request), so I would follow those suggestions. We planned late and dinner reservations were hard to come by due to Memorial Day weekend and one of the first weekends that Chicago has opened.

We ate at Chicago Chop House for steaks 2 years ago and it was great and we should have returned, but wanted to try something different.

Chicago Athletic Club was an interesting hotel. Had Wifi trouble on day 1 and hot water problems on days 2 and 3. Also, if you are in a park side view room, the AC does not come on if the outside temps under 55 degrees, so our room was hot from the sun on Friday and Saturday. A/C finally came on Sunday. Staff was nice and it was clean, but little hiccups meant we probably would not return. It is an old historic hotel. We did have great weather, but windows do not open, so it was 75+ degrees in our room on Friday and Saturday nights. We like it to be around 66 degrees when sleeping.

We do like that all restaurants that we have eaten over the last 2 years allow us to bring our own wine, which is a huge plus. Reasonable corkage fees apply.

Cheers and enjoy.