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Need advice for Chicago trip

tshile

By tshile
in The Tailgate

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tshile

tshile

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Gotta go to Chicago in June/July with the wife, she has academic stuff to present. No kids. Neither of us have ever been. Looking for cool recommendations - dinners, things to visit or do, etc. 

 

thank you to anyone who takes time to make a recommendation! :cheers:

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China

China

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The Shedd Aquarium and the nearby Field Museum are two good places to go with kids.  Also you can go to the Navy Pier.

 

One of the things we enjoyed was taking a boat tour through the canals where you can see a lot of the interesting buildings/architecture.  Also fun to go up the Han**** and Sears (still named that?) tower.

 

I'll let other people give food/restaurant recommendations, but if you want "Chicago" food, the things that come to mind are Chicago dogs, deep dish pizza and steak (as Chicago has the stockyard history).

Edited by China
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TradeTheBeal!

TradeTheBeal!

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One of the great food/restaurant towns on the planet.  Italian Beef, Chicago dogs, all the pizzas, Italian ices…and that’s just scratching the surface.  
 

Big walk/bike ride on the lakeshore and Grant Park/Shedd Aquarium are mandatory for first-timers.  Top line shopping and dining on the Magnificent Mile.

 

Y’all gonna have a blast!

 

We’ll be there in June too…for the Dead & Co shows at Wrigley.

 

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CousinsCowgirl84

CousinsCowgirl84

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The Sears tower sky deck was pretty cool. The sky deck is just OK, on par with any tall skyscraper observation deck but the walkthrough/display thing they have on the bottom was really fun. 
 

The boat trip is by far the best thing I did while I was in chicago.  We waited till the last day to do it but I could have done it twice. And we didn’t go out into the lake cause it was cold.

 

The field museum was just OK…. The aquarium was decent.


we went in April so it was a little cold. August might help your ability to do some activities on the lake.

 

We ate at a few places but none of them stood out as excellent.. just OK… but I’m pretty sure that was our fault with the restaurant selection (who goes to Chicago for Mexican?)

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Renegade7

Renegade7

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Sister lives in Chicago, so I've been as well and agree with pretty much all the suggestions so far.

 

Only thing I'll add is more a comment that is remarkable how clean they've managed to keep Lake Michigan despite Chicago being, what, 3rd largest city in the country?  You have to see it a daytime to truly appreciate it, not what I was expecting at all.

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CobraCommander

CobraCommander

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I used to live there. Are you staying downtown?  One place I always liked downtown was Miller's Pub

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x880e2ca480810019%3A0x3bd131193ebc673f!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOdDJod4KdLQIgs4WjSoZif44FTMCnjoWJ2PZnm%3Dw520-h350-n-k-no!5shistoric bars downtown chicago - Google Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipOdDJod4KdLQIgs4WjSoZif44FTMCnjoWJ2PZnm&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj18b2s_-P8AhVfEFkFHemDAKkQ7ZgBKAB6BAglEAI

 

Feels like old school chicago.

 

Every neighborhood has awesome locals bars. I can probably recommend one base on where you are staying.  Same goes for restaurants. If you want to support my old Chef he has a place.

 

https://www.segnatore.com/

 

The owner also bought the California Clipper which is a great bar next door.

 

Man I miss drinking there. So many great bars.

Edited by CobraCommander
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CobraCommander

CobraCommander

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1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

If you want to get real, real fancy, arguably the best restaurant in America is in Chicago. 
 

https://www.alinearestaurant.com/

 

Or you can try the same chef’s equally insane bar. 
 

https://www.theaviary.com/
 

They do crazy **** like this:

 

 

Also do a river tour. 

This brings back bad memories for me. I did a stage at the Aviary. They have “bar food”. Both Aviary and Next share a basement prep kitchen in the same building. I was sent downstairs to retrieve a blender and I got turned around. I ended up going up the wrong staircase and into the kitchen at Next looking dumbfounded with a giant team of cooks all staring at me and laughing. I’m sure it happened all the time. 
 

Anyways, 14 hours later I decided the gig wasn’t for me. It was brutal and very demanding. Everyone working there seemed miserable. It was one bartenders last shift and he was the only one smiling. Great drinks and fun food though. 

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balki1867

balki1867

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I’ve been in Chicago for almost 14 years now.  Some of my favorite things

 

1) The architecture boat tour. I’ve done it like 6-7 times now and it never gets old

2) the neighborhoods: if you want to get off the beaten path, I’d suggest checking out wicker park/bucktown, Southport corridor, Lincoln square. I’m in old town which isn’t quite as iconic IMO. The neighborhoods are honestly the best part of Chicago; also check to see what neighborhood street rests are happening when you’re in town

3) pizza: I always opt for peaquods but some Chicagoans would fight me on this. It’s not technically Chicago-style deepdish

4) museums: others have listed a few but I’ll add in the museum of science and industry and the Chicago history museum. They are both a bit away from the museum campus (history museum in old town, science and industry in Jackson park)

5) someone in this thread mentioned Mexican food- honestly Chicago is better than many people realize— pilsen has some awesome spots

6) trendy restaurants- River north and Randolph street have a ton

7) enjoy the lake: if you’re a runner, plan a run on the lakeshore trail, or rent a bike and ride it. There’s a few bars that have beach seating too. North Ave beach gets absolutely packed during the summer- this may or may not be a good thing for you

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EmirOfShmo

EmirOfShmo

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Friday baseball at Wrigley is the nuts. Food, beer, people and beer. Oh, and there are places where you can get beer. Great experience even if you're wearing opponent gear.

Portillo's for the Italian beef & sausage sandwich. Get it wet. 

Downtown there used to be a House of Blues. Great music & a decent hotel. 

Weekends on the 'beach' usually includes some kind of event. We walked from there to a park for a 'hot dog festival'. Hot dogs in Chicago is always a good thing. 

Yeah, weekend neighborhood events are really cool. 

Chicago deep dish pizza is - meh. Wait an hour for a thick slice of cheese & sauce wasn't what I expected. Only 'deep dish' pizza I like is Detroit style. The Chicago deep dish disappoints. 

When I took my wife for the first time, we rented Segway's and took the 2(?) hour tour of the city. Pretty cool way to see it.

Yeah, we're old....

Edited by EmirOfShmo
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balki1867

balki1867

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2 hours ago, PleaseBlitz said:

During covid i got mail order takeout pot pies from Alinea. 

 


Alinea really did some awesome things during the pandemic. They used to sell box kits with instructions to cook the meals at home. Obviously a $50 meal kit isn’t the same as going to a Michelin restaurant but they found some creative ways to keep the restaurant relevant and keep their kitchen staff employed. My girlfriend and I got “Alinea to go,” on multiple occasions.

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abdcskins

abdcskins

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I went to Chicago once, my sister did a year abroad there. I recall the fantastic architecture, pretty sure you can do like a boat tour if you want - might be pretty cold but worth it. Also a really fantastic art museum, I forget the name but whatever the most famous one is. Also....deep dish pizza. Lou Malnati's is the one I went to and it wad chronic, there are dozens of options though I am sure.

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balki1867

balki1867

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+1 on the tavern style pizza. I literally get deep dish maybe 1-2x a year because it's so heavy. Tavern style is more of a traditional pizza.

 

Also if you enjoy the Architecture Boat Tour, the Chicago Architecture Center also run a bunch of walking and train-based tours of various parts of the city. 

 

Others have mentioned this, but please also get a Chicago-style hot dog.  It was one of my favorite things when I first moved here.

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