Chicago Restaurant Suggestions

Welcome to Chicago!
Crofton on Wells
Frontera Grill/Topolobmpo -- have lunch at the bar. You can bypass the line for a table and order from either menu. You catch a nice price break on Topolo's dinner prices too. Dave will take good care of you.
For steak -- we've been to all of them numerous times -- Morton's or Gibson's.
For our take on Pizza -- Lou Malnati's

We be going to The Windy City for years and have been heading up a lot this winter to see the Blackhawks. All the places below are in the River North area near Michigan Ave.
Here is where we go:
Shaw’s Crab House 21 E Hubbard. Eat in the oyster bar. Happy hour oysters on the ½ shell, 4 pm -6 pm. Killer lobster roll.
Café Iberico 737 N LaSalle Spanish Tapas Great prices and good food & drink
Smith & Wollensky 318 N State. Best bone-in Ribeye I have eaten(BIG). You can split it upon request.. Great side and deserts. On the Chicago River. Eat in the grill, more laid back. I have eaten at the big steak chains in Louisville and this is the best cook and tasting steak. Not cheap, but well worth it.
Shi Wah Chinese in China Town (New Section) Best Dim sum. Get there around 9 am, small place but the best in China town.
Portillo’s Clark & Ontario for the best Chicago hot dog.
Harry Caray’s 33 W. Kinzie, in the bar. For drinks and a great antipasto platter and to watch a game.
Frontera Grill (Dinner) XOCA(Breakfast & Lunch) Both in the same building and own by Rick Bayless. Good food, crowded. Get there early to eat at Frontera. Little pricey. Not your ordinary Mexican restaurant.
NHU-Lan Bakery & Sandwiches. The best bin mi sandwiches I have had, cheap. You have to take the Red and Brown Line to get there , but worth the trip. 2612 W. Lawrence Ave.
Have not tried but the new hot restaurant is The Purple Pig on Michigan Ave. Related to the Publican Go Blackhawks! Doug Chin P.S. All above should have web sites.

Second Giordano's.

Quartino's (State & Ontario) top Italian true trattoria (think Italian bistro) . . . typical Chicago restaurant, namely loud, crowded, with great food where you won't break the budget.

Smith & Wollensky's is good, but Chicago has so many local restaurants for steak why pick one of the few national steak chains there???? I'd even recommend Morton's above them (remember, Morton's IS a local Chicago restaurant that - after Arnie Morton closed Arnie's - he grew and branched out). There were several other local steakhouses mentioned in prior posts, and all are good - you really can't go far wrong with steak in Chicago!

Also, just personal preference, but we like Phoenix for dim sum. It's very large, and if you get there later than 9:30 on a weekend the line can go pretty far, but food is worth it!

Does one really travel to Chicago for a steakhouse? I can't fathom spending money on steak after being raised by my momma who brought the decent butchers cookies in Paducah and Mayfield farmer's markets.....the conversation for the one who does NOT wait on her anymore in Mayfield goes something like, "Ma'am, do you know how thick 3 inches is????" and swiftly degenerates to a dissertation on men's ability of depth perception and math skills.
When I go to Chicago I go to the Paramount Room(Michigan Ave) and Volo. The wee train car bar makes my cocktails, and the Twisted Spoke fixes most of the wrongs visited upon me the next day, none of which are the fault of myself of course.

Does one really travel to Chicago for a steakhouse? I can't fathom spending money on steak after being raised by my momma who brought the decent butchers cookies in Paducah and Mayfield farmer's markets.....the conversation for the one who does NOT wait on her anymore in Mayfield goes something like, "Ma'am, do you know how thick 3 inches is????" and swiftly degenerates to a dissertation on men's ability of depth perception and math skills.
When I go to Chicago I go to the Paramount Room(Michigan Ave) and Volo. The wee train car bar makes my cocktails, and the Twisted Spoke fixes most of the wrongs visited upon me the next day, none of which are the fault of myself of course.

It depends what you are there for! If you want cutting edge, then don't go to a steakhouse. If you want ethnic, hit Chinatown/Greektown/whatever. If you want "tradition" - the food the city was built on, with the Armors & Swifts living in Lake Forest and commuting down to the stockyards - then go to a steakhouse.

Chicago still has one of the top two or three butchers in the country, and the top steakhouses are housed (primarily, tho not entirely) in spaces unchanged for the past 50-70 years, and serve steaks dry-aged for 21+ days. It is nothing like what you see in Louisville, but it also is not "new", "trendy", or any of a dozen other adjectives.

Give me break! Do you think most travelers would just go for a steak. I don't even go out and have steak in Louisville. I would rather go get a bone-in rib-eye at Kingsley's Meat and cook it myself. What in the hell does your "momma crap" have to do with a few suggestions of restuarants in Chicago.
Hey longtime foodies, this is why I hate to repsond to anything on the forum because of all the non-review type BS such as this! Doug Chin

Does one really travel to Chicago for a steakhouse? I can't fathom spending money on steak after being raised by my momma who brought the decent butchers cookies in Paducah and Mayfield farmer's markets.....the conversation for the one who does NOT wait on her anymore in Mayfield goes something like, "Ma'am, do you know how thick 3 inches is????" and swiftly degenerates to a dissertation on men's ability of depth perception and math skills.
When I go to Chicago I go to the Paramount Room(Michigan Ave) and Volo. The wee train car bar makes my cocktails, and the Twisted Spoke fixes most of the wrongs visited upon me the next day, none of which are the fault of myself of course.