Chicago suggestions / meet-up

[Zander]

I'll be in Chicago the week after next, staying in the Loop.

I'm already planning a trip to Games Plus (hello, Thalmin!). In previous trips I've done the skyscrapers (Sears Tower etc), the art museum , the lake/river architectural cruise and the Magnificent Mile.

Any other suggestions?

If I have to choose between Navy Pier and one or more museum, what should I go for? If the museums, which are the best?

Who does the best pizza?

What about steak?

Deli?

Also, anyone want to meet up?

 

[Shadowbane2]

For Navy Pier, go there if you've got cash to burn an the weather is good. It's been crappy all week here, and I don't know when it's going to lighten up.

If you can, try to go the the Museum of Science and Industry. Coolest Museum I've ever been to. (and I've been to alot of 'em.)

 

[kenobi65]

Navy Pier's kind of a tourist trap, IMO. Doesn't stop hundreds of thousands of people from visiting it.

Any of the other museums can be a lot of fun, depending on what interests you. The Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium, and the Adler Planetarium are all great, and they're all fundamentally next door to one another, just south of the Loop, on the lakeshore. The Museum of Science and Industry is also very cool, though it's several miles further south on Lake Shore Drive.

Very good steaks can be had at a number of places. I love Ruth's Chris Steak House (just north of the Loop), though it is a chain. Chicago Chop House, Lawry's Prime Rib, and Smith & Wollensky's (all just north of the Loop) are also very good.

For a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, I recommend Pizzeria Uno (which invented it), at the corner of Wabash and Ohio. Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, and Giordano's all also make a good deep-dish pizza.

If you're talking about the week of 5/22, alas, my week is already looking hellacious, with work travel and running an online game some evenings.

 

[Zander]

Thanks Shadowbane2 and kenobi65.

kenobi,

I tried Ruth's Chris in Chicago once before and while it was OK, it certainly wasn't fantastic either.

I think I also tried Pizzeria Uno. I'm not sure because it was several years ago and I was taken there by my sister so I wasn't paying attention to where I was. Thought it was good though.

Sorry that we can't meet up. It would have been cool to meet someone I recognise from the boards.

Anyone else have suggestions? By the way, I arrive in town this Friday.

 

[kenobi65]

Zander,

Geez, I can't believe I forgot Wildfire for steak. It's also very, very good...my wife's favorite restaurant. (It's on Erie, between Wells and LaSalle, about a half-dozen blocks north of the river.)

When do you get in on Friday? If you're downtown, I think I could do lunch either Friday (tomorrow) or Monday.

 

[paradox42]

IMO there's not a lot of bad pizza in Chicago, because the city's known for its pizza and the competition is so stiff. Anyway I think, statistically, that Chicago and the 'burbs have the highest proportion of restaurants to population in the country, so restaurants in general have tough competition and don't survive long here unless they have something good or great to offer.

If you get a hankering for some junk food, meaning hamburger/hot dog type stuff, I highly recommend a visit to a Portillo's- there are around forty of them scattered around Chicagoland, and they don't exist anywhere else. They do, however, have great food. They do salads too, and some (those that come with "Barnelli's Pasta" in the same building) do sub sandwiches and pasta too.

Museum-wise, I have to agree that Science & Industry is extremely cool; they had Body Worlds when it came through Chicago, and they have a long-running exhibit that's still there that's about video games and their evolution (I believe it's called "Game On!" or something along those lines- I haven't had a chance to check it out myself yet). I also have to say, however, that the Shedd Aquarium is worth checking out, I was very impressed when I visited that a couple of years ago.

 

[Shadowbane2]

Museum-wise, I have to agree that Science & Industry is extremely cool; they had Body Worlds when it came through Chicago, and they have a long-running exhibit that's still there that's about video games and their evolution (I believe it's called "Game On!" or something along those lines- I haven't had a chance to check it out myself yet). I also have to say, however, that the Shedd Aquarium is worth checking out, I was very impressed when I visited that a couple of years ago.

I'd also add the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum (Chicago's Smithsonian) to that list. Most of the museums mentioned are just blocks from each other.

 

[Zander]

When do you get in on Friday? If you're downtown, I think I could do lunch either Friday (tomorrow) or Monday.

Phooey! (Can I say that here?) I got in today, Friday, but too late for us to meet up - it was already pushing 5pm by the time I reached my hotel. Double phooey because Monday is not possible either: I have to work from early morning (be at work at 8AM) to late (around 8 or 9pm).

I'm free all day on Thursday and possibly Wednesday afternoon/evening as well. Any good?

I went to a steak restaurant called Kinskie tonight. It was even better than Ruth's Chris IMO but still not as good as steak can be. I'll give Wildfire or the Chicago Chop House a try later this week. Coming from the UK, the home of deadly beef, I'm suffering from steak deprivation.

 

[kenobi65]

Phooey! (Can I say that here?) I got in today, Friday, but too late for us to meet up - it was already pushing 5pm by the time I reached my hotel.

Yeah, by then, I'd fled for my home in the suburbs. It's pretty nutty near my office right now; I work just west of North Michigan Avenue, and I think there must be 10,000 high school students wandering around, on their senior class trips.

Double phooey because Monday is not possible either: I have to work from early morning (be at work at 8AM) to late (around 8 or 9pm).

That's all right, because I now have a meeting over lunchtime on Monday, anyway.

I'm free all day on Thursday and possibly Wednesday afternoon/evening as well. Any good?

One or the other should be. I'll need to check my calendar when I get back into the office on Monday morning. I think that Thursday is better than Wednesday, but I could be mistaken. I'll post again on Monday.

I'll give Wildfire or the Chicago Chop House a try later this week.

If you can only do one, I'd suggest Wildfire. My wife also says they make a mean martini (not my drink of choice, so I wouldn't know).

And, at least the weather's gotten better for you. Today was the first day in 9 that it didn't rain.

 

[thalmin]

When are you thinking of coming out to Games Plus? I won't be in on Saturday, but I am on Sunday.