[ot] Weekend trip to Chicago-restaurant reviews as requested

[pensiv]

I highly suggest picking up a Visitors Pass for the CTA train/bus system. This is the cheapest way to get around town. Our transit system is one of the best in the world.

from the transitchicago.com site:
Visitor Passes (1-Day, 2-Day, 3-Day and 5-Day): Purchase passes by calling 1-888-YOUR-CTA (weekdays only). Visitor Passes are also available at Visitor Information Centers, Hot Tix, and Sears Tower.

 

[Mark]

Looks like you've got a lot of good advice. If you could give us some more info on what sort of things you like to do, perhaps some more specific advice could be given?

 

[BOZ]

i've lived in chicago all my life, but i'm such a homebody. i'll have to try all these things that people listed someday.

 

[Eridanis]

A non-gaming-but-geek-related mecca is The Stars Our Destination, a science fiction/fantasy bookshop located in Evanston, the town directly north of Chicago (cf. www.sfbooks.com). Their selection has decreased a little in the past few years, given the business realities of chain store & online competition, but it still has a very wide selection of new and used SF/fantasy/horror books and magazines. Definitly stop by and give Alice some business - it's a worthwhile stop.

If you like comics, then check out Graham Cracker Comics' downtown location; it's a block from the Art Institute, on Madison, if I remember correctly. It was a lot better when it was Comic Relief in the mid-90s, but it's still worth a quick stop-by if you like comics and are there already. Not worth a special trip for.

 

[Eridanis]

Forgot to second the motion that you make a trip out to Games Plus. I'm not sure what the games stores are like where you live, but in my travels through almost all 50 states, Games Plus is the best game shop I've frequented. Compleat Stratgeist in New York has a similar selection, but crammed into half as much space. It's definitely worth a special trip, and it should only be a 45 minute drive out of the city on a non-rush-hour day, I would imagine (I always travel there from the suburbs myself).

 

[BOZ]

A non-gaming-but-geek-related mecca is The Stars Our Destination, a science fiction/fantasy bookshop located in Evanston, the town directly north of Chicago (cf. www.sfbooks.com). Their selection has decreased a little in the past few years, given the business realities of chain store & online competition, but it still has a very wide selection of new and used SF/fantasy/horror books and magazines. Definitly stop by and give Alice some business - it's a worthwhile stop.

are you referring to Something Wicked? i thought Stars our Destination was on belmont. mebbe i'm wrong - never been there but seen it from the outside before.

If you like comics, then check out Graham Cracker Comics' downtown location; it's a block from the Art Institute, on Madison, if I remember correctly. It was a lot better when it was Comic Relief in the mid-90s, but it's still worth a quick stop-by if you like comics and are there already. Not worth a special trip for.

i thought comic releif went out of business! you mean there's another comic store in the same spot? but if it's not as good as CR was, then i might not bother with it.

 

[Eridanis]

are you referring to Something Wicked? i thought Stars our Destination was on belmont. mebbe i'm wrong - never been there but seen it from the outside before.

i thought comic releif went out of business! you mean there's another comic store in the same spot? but if it's not as good as CR was, then i might not bother with it.

Stars used to be on Belmont, but rents were too high and parking too limited, so she moved to Evanston in 2000. CR did go out of business, but GC, which has eight locations in the suburbs, took over their storefront and stock. Doesn't seem as friendly now, but maybe it's jsut colored by the fact that when I went to college three hours outside of Chicago, I always looked forward to making a trip there when I came to the city.

 

[BOZ]

i went to art school downtown, and i visted comic releif at least once weekly. i guess i'm go to the new shop one day just to check it out... but the one i go to now (and game at) is a lot closer to me, in skokie.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Was Graham Crackers the store that started in Elmhurst, opened a second location in Geneva and then closed the Elmhurst store (sold out to someone I think...)? I remember a Graham Crackers comics opening in Elmhurst in like 82 or 83, but then when I came back on leave on time in the late 80s it was gone from Elmhurst, and another store was in its place.

 

[Eridanis]

Was Graham Crackers the store that started in Elmhurst, opened a second location in Geneva and then closed the Elmhurst store (sold out to someone I think...)? I remember a Graham Crackers comics opening in Elmhurst in like 82 or 83, but then when I came back on leave on time in the late 80s it was gone from Elmhurst, and another store was in its place.

Could well be. GC also has locations in Wheaton, Bloomingdale, Naperville, Geneva, St. Charles, and three or so others I can't recall. Stumbled on the one in Bloomingdale when we first moved back to Chicago. Unfriendly staff, decent selection.