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Give me your Chicago rec’s.

PorscheGuy

By PorscheGuy
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mdleast

mdleast 8515

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Had a GREAT time in Chicago! Too much to post here but wanted to let you all know about one discovery in particular that we found.

Seems to be a local place. Really good, consistent product at each location (though not very ample parking...though we had a larger SUV). Highly recommend if you’re in Chicago!

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JimmyHoffa

JimmyHoffa 1188

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On 7/20/2019 at 6:27 PM, Underdog said:

I think they've ruined it with all the buildup in and around the stadium, seems to have lost it's cozy neighborhood feel to it. 

 

On 7/20/2019 at 8:48 PM, ChiTownDoc said:

Ruined only compared to what it was...For sure but still beats every other park out there for neighborhood feel.  

Back to the city.  Wish my liver luck.  

 

My sister lives in Chicago (no pics assholes) and I have been going to at least one game a year at Wrigley for the last 20ish years. It's better and worse. 

The inside of the stadium is so much better than it was especially the bleachers. Sure it was great to take a piss in a trough and have the only beer options being Old Style or Old Style but it was DIRTY and badly in need of a makeover. Yes it was cool that there wasn't a replay board, the parties on the roof tops when you could actually see the game but they have done a good job of updating it without ruining the old ballpark feel. There still is nothing better than sitting in the bleachers in the sun on a Thursday or Friday 1:20 start drinking beer and playing moundball with perfect strangers, grabbing beers at Murphys pre and post and just soaking in the amazing amount of trim that places attracts. 

The outside doesn't  have nearly as neighborhood feel as it once was but it isn't awful and most of what they have added makes sense. I do miss running across the street to grab McDonald's after having a dozen beers and watching all the players hop into their cars in the players parking lot literally right outside the 3rd base line but it is what it is. 

 

 

 

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Mach 1

Mach 1 1677

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Posted
On 7/20/2019 at 4:06 PM, mdmost said:

This place is still magical, 20 years after the last time I visited.

 

82D9F26D-42F9-4C33-BEDA-3B47159E972A.jpeg

Great pic.  IIRC there is a catwalk right above this to get the announcers in and out of the booth.  I saw Harry Carey stumble around up there trying to (I assume) get out and take a piss.

This also reminds me of a bachelor party I attended at one of those rooftop bleachers off left field, now being blocked by the Wintrust billboard.  Doesn't seem like a fit here, so I'lll add it to the strip club thread.

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ztejas

ztejas 44132

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On 7/22/2019 at 3:22 PM, JimmyHoffa said:

 

 

 

My sister lives in Chicago (no pics assholes) and I have been going to at least one game a year at Wrigley for the last 20ish years. It's better and worse. 

The inside of the stadium is so much better than it was especially the bleachers. Sure it was great to take a piss in a trough and have the only beer options being Old Style or Old Style but it was DIRTY and badly in need of a makeover. Yes it was cool that there wasn't a replay board, the parties on the roof tops when you could actually see the game but they have done a good job of updating it without ruining the old ballpark feel. There still is nothing better than sitting in the bleachers in the sun on a Thursday or Friday 1:20 start drinking beer and playing moundball with perfect strangers, grabbing beers at Murphys pre and post and just soaking in the amazing amount of trim that places attracts. 

The outside doesn't  have nearly as neighborhood feel as it once was but it isn't awful and most of what they have added makes sense. I do miss running across the street to grab McDonald's after having a dozen beers and watching all the players hop into their cars in the players parking lot literally right outside the 3rd base line but it is what it is. 

 

 

 

I'm too young to have been to the "old" Wrigley but I agree that it is still very charming and has an old-school park feel. The layout alone is enough to distinguish it from any modern park. The surrounding neighborhood is very cool and adds to the experience.

1 hour ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Pilsen .  Amazing   Luna   
 

100 shot challenge   Complete   3 guys 9 girls   

 

parliament.  Lmk any good bar in town.  Free drinks. Done 

Sir have you been drinking tonight? 

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Parliament

Parliament 14592

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It might be too geeky for most, but this intrigues me very much:

https://freetoursbyfoot.com/chicago-tours/walking-tours/chicago-pedway-tour/

On the Chicago Pedway tour, we will be indoors for most of the tour navigating and exploring the Chicago Pedway System. The Pedway is a series of mostly indoor tunnels, bridges, and paths throughout downtown Chicago.

Construction of this labyrinth began in 1951 to simply connect the Red and Blue line subway/’L’ train stops. Now it connects over 50 buildings, 40 blocks, and 5 miles of pathways.

While on this tour, we will see Chicago’s famous architecture while peering out of the windows of intricate lobbies, amazing examples of art, and we’ll discover some of the best “secret-eats” in the city- all while enjoying the comfort of the temperature regulated pathways!

I have reservations at the Eurostars Magnificent Mile for December 22 and 23.  It'll be far more fun that the ensuing Christmas shit show with my family,.  (My family is just like me, and that is why I dislike them.)

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ChiTownDoc

ChiTownDoc 21341

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9 hours ago, ztejas said:

I'm too young to have been to the "old" Wrigley but I agree that it is still very charming and has an old-school park feel. The layout alone is enough to distinguish it from any modern park. The surrounding neighborhood is very cool and adds to the experience.

Sir have you been drinking tonight? 

Love checking out new bars in this city.  Maybe love it too much.  

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ChiTownDoc

ChiTownDoc 21341

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2 hours ago, Parliament said:

It might be too geeky for most, but this intrigues me very much:

https://freetoursbyfoot.com/chicago-tours/walking-tours/chicago-pedway-tour/

On the Chicago Pedway tour, we will be indoors for most of the tour navigating and exploring the Chicago Pedway System. The Pedway is a series of mostly indoor tunnels, bridges, and paths throughout downtown Chicago.

Construction of this labyrinth began in 1951 to simply connect the Red and Blue line subway/’L’ train stops. Now it connects over 50 buildings, 40 blocks, and 5 miles of pathways.

While on this tour, we will see Chicago’s famous architecture while peering out of the windows of intricate lobbies, amazing examples of art, and we’ll discover some of the best “secret-eats” in the city- all while enjoying the comfort of the temperature regulated pathways!

I have reservations at the Eurostars Magnificent Mile for December 22 and 23.  It'll be far more fun that the ensuing Christmas shit show with my family,.  (My family is just like me, and that is why I dislike them.)

It’s really cool.  Enjoy

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HookEm

HookEm 2509

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My wife and I are headed up to Chicago the weekend before Thanksgiving for two nights. Staying at The Thompson. Any late fall recs? Will it be too cold for the boat architecture tour?

Planning to hit 2nd City on Saturday night. Other than that no major plans.

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Mo Horn

Mo Horn 8937

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Posted (edited)

In Chicago right now visiting our son. Went to brunch at the Brickhouse right next to Wrigley yesterday. Good price and good food, plus fun to walk around the stadium We're doing a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner tonight... Ema. Great city. 

Update: Ema was really good. I didn't realize it was Mediterranean tapas. Small shareable plates. Got a lot of different things and they were all very tasty. 

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ChiTownDoc

ChiTownDoc 21341

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On 11/7/2019 at 9:25 PM, HookEm said:

My wife and I are headed up to Chicago the weekend before Thanksgiving for two nights. Staying at The Thompson. Any late fall recs? Will it be too cold for the boat architecture tour?

Planning to hit 2nd City on Saturday night. Other than that no major plans.

I’d recommend layering up and still doing it.  They sell booze and there’s a downstairs for breaks from the cold.  The Whale is a badass new brunch spot.  
 

Saturday night will be great everywhere.  Best Combo of scene and food for dinner will be the new RPM on water if it’s open by then or Maple/Ash.  Enjoy...

I’ll be a pussy and hide out at our place in Miami that weekend but I love Chi around the holidays and will spend most of my weekends in the chill - minus Art Basel and New Year’s...

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PorscheGuy

PorscheGuy 127

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On 11/7/2019 at 9:25 PM, HookEm said:

My wife and I are headed up to Chicago the weekend before Thanksgiving for two nights. Staying at The Thompson. Any late fall recs? Will it be too cold for the boat architecture tour?

Planning to hit 2nd City on Saturday night. Other than that no major plans.

You'll love the Thompson.  Great hotel.  Great location.

Second for still doing the boat architecture tour.

Gibson's for steak.  Go early, hang out in the bar, check out the scene around the piano. its across street from Thompson

RPM Italian is my can't miss.  Especially for if you are just doing one special dinner.  Spicy king crab squid ink pasta is amazing.  Even if you get a 10 pm reservation, it worth it.  

You can do a Wrigley tour, Sky deck, Chicago Art museum, Silver Cloud is weirdly cool, walk or hang out around the lake.

Have a drink on the 16th floor patio of Trump Tower.  Great view of the river and downtown.

Grab another drink at Signature Room bar on the 103rd floor.  Even better view at night.  

Gilt bar is a cool spot.

FYI, thought London House Roof patio was way over rated...

 

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JimmyHoffa

JimmyHoffa 1188

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1 hour ago, PorscheGuy said:

You'll love the Thompson.  Great hotel.  Great location.

Second for still doing the boat architecture tour.

Gibson's for steak.  Go early, hang out in the bar, check out the scene around the piano. its across street from Thompson

 

 

 

Agreed, Third on the tour, If you can't get a spot at Gibson's try Hugo's Frog Bar they share a kitchen so you can get a Gibson steak there too. 

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Parliament

Parliament 14592

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Posted

My schedule for this Saturday and Sunday is mostly set.

Weather: Highs around 40. I'll take it.

Hotel: Eurostar Magnificent Mile

Plans:

Self-guided Pedway tour

Chicago Holiday Tour, guided.  I scheduled this one by accident

Lou's Pizza

Hancock Tower at night

Winter Lout tour, guided

Lunch at the Gage

Art Museum

That gets me up to about 4 pm Sunday, and I'm staying in town that night.  

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TankedBevo

TankedBevo 2495

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It seems to me like Geno’s East Texas ventures are an abomination to the Chicago originals. Almost all the reviews match the two experiences I had. Hostess was nowhere to be found when we walked in on a slow afternoon, when one finally surfaced she went up to the podium, grabbed something and walked off. When I saw her again I had to flag her down to get her to seat us. Drinks took fifteen minutes to arrive. I was prepared for the long wait for the pizza which is par the course but when it did come the waitress set a boiling hot pizza pan on the table directly in front of my then three year old’s reach. I had to block him and tell her to come back with the tongs to move it. 
 

At that point the waitress disappeared. No refills, no welfare check, nothing. I had to get up and go to the bar and have them pull up my ticket and paid there. The waitress got nothing of course and I let the manager know, who was largely disinterested in what I had to say. 
 

All that is the direct opposite of my experience at the downtown Chicago location that made me a huge fan of theirs. It’s a damn shame really, because I love Chicago style and it’s hard to find another place that does it right in DFW

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Parliament

Parliament 14592

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I was there Saturday and Sunday.

 

Stayed at the Eurostars Magnificent Mile Hotel. It is a fine place and great for what I paid.

 

Michigan Ave during Xmas is fun for people watching, but you can't do much shopping. Stores are packed and the selection is poor. They're really just show rooms.

 

Hancock top floor at night is great, but no better than Willis Tower. They're both great.

 

Al's Italian Beef. Real good.

 

Free Tours by Foot. You register ahead, and your guide meets the group at a predestined spot. It's a local with a passion for Chicago, doing this as a hobby. I did the Holiday tour and Loop tour; both of which lasted 1.5 hours. You tip the guide at the end. Both of our guides were real good. I highly recommend.

 

Weird Chicago HH Holmes/Worlds Fair tour. 3 hours, $40, meet the bus by Hard Rock. They take you to his dungeon (now a post office) Jackson Park and the former stock yards. If you like history at all, you gotta do this one.

 

If I redid it, I'd try to stay at an older hotel in downtown south of the river, if there was one for a reasomable price.

 

 

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MirrOlure

MirrOlure 15233

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It was mentioned in a couple of early responses....but needs to be repeated: Anyone looking for the real deal Chicago style pizza needs to go to Pequods. Bartender at The Palmer House hotel (which is awesome by the way) put us on to it.

 

Somehow, the bottom of the crust holds up and is crispy and firm despite the mountain of cheese pepperoni and sausage piled on top. Fan-fucking-tastic.

 

992f7da56a9b7822ffe0262427d2df94.jpg

 

https://pequodspizza.com/chicago/menu/

 

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PW119

PW119 167

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Bumping this thread....gonna take the wife to Chicago in a few weeks.  Staying at The Athletic Club.  Gonna catch a Cubs game, Architecture Boat Tour, Pequod's, The Little Goat.  What else should we add to the list?

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Mo Horn

Mo Horn 8937

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2 hours ago, PW119 said:

Bumping this thread....gonna take the wife to Chicago in a few weeks.  Staying at The Athletic Club.  Gonna catch a Cubs game, Architecture Boat Tour, Pequod's, The Little Goat.  What else should we add to the list?

Been a while since I've looked through this thread, so don't remember if it's listed or not. Even if it is, it's worth repeating. Au Chaval for the best burger you might have ever had. Long wait, so put your name on the list, go somewhere close for a drink, and come back when it's your time. 

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Brew

Brew 3049

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3 hours ago, PW119 said:

Bumping this thread....gonna take the wife to Chicago in a few weeks.  Staying at The Athletic Club.  Gonna catch a Cubs game, Architecture Boat Tour, Pequod's, The Little Goat.  What else should we add to the list?

Museums, Planetarium, Aquarium, the bean, the towers, walk the river in the afternoon when the bars are open, etc are all good options. We eat breakfast at Yolk every trip, it’s the one constant over quite a few years of going to Chicago back to when they were only there. So many good options to eat downtown but the last few trips we’ve ended up at Roka Akor, Steak 48, and a few others in that area. We stay at the Langham, so typically we just end up around there eating and have done most of the nicer ones in that area. The Peckish Pig which is closer to Evanston is also an outstanding meal as well.

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Underdog

Underdog 29132

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17 minutes ago, Brew said:

Museums, Planetarium, Aquarium, the bean, the towers, walk the river in the afternoon when the bars are open, etc are all good options. We eat breakfast at Yolk every trip, it’s the one constant over quite a few years of going to Chicago back to when they were only there. So many good options to eat downtown but the last few trips we’ve ended up at Roka Akor, Steak 48, and a few others in that area. We stay at the Langham, so typically we just end up around there eating and have done most of the nicer ones in that area. The Peckish Pig which is closer to Evanston is also an outstanding meal as well.

There was a Yolk just down the street from our hotel and I had breakfast there 3 of 4 days I was in Chicago, really liked their chilaquiles.  

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2881

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Posted

Weekend in the City with kids in December. My kids have never been to Chicago, despite our proximity. I am pretty well versed in the City but have never been during Holiday time. Kids are 12 and 9. We have zoo lights here and have done it a hundred times. We also have ice skating downtown at Campus Martius but I'm sure it's not as nice as Millennium Park, and only one of them ice skates. The architecture tours are out of season. Staying near Millennium Park, big Christmas fans. Any thoughts? I can't wait to take them to try deep dish pizza and they take a half of a bite and decide it's gross. 

I'm thinking Macy's, shopping on Mag Mile, Hancock Tower (do you have to be 21 to go to the lounge level?), Millennium Park, maybe Shedd? Should arrive Friday afternoon and will leave Sunday morning. 

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closetohumping

closetohumping 17802

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On 6/29/2018 at 6:07 AM, 6th Street said:

Have lived in the Chicago area for almost 3 years after 8 yrs in SF 

Here's some of my recs:

Pizza: Pequod's 

Wrigleyville Patio Bars: Old Crow, Deuce's

Other Patio Bars: Benchmark (Old Town), Parlor, Kaiser Tiger, Federales (all in West Loop). 

Restaurants: Maple and Ash, Del Seoul for Korean tacos, Little Goat for brunch (if no availability at Girl and the Goat), Cruz Blanca for food and craft brews, and Chicago Cut for steak

 

I"m thinking of a west coast to Chicago move as well.  How do they compare to you and how did you adjust to the cold?

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closetohumping

closetohumping 17802

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On 7/17/2019 at 3:20 PM, Macanudo said:

I didn't even get into my sister-in-law who took royal advantage of us.   She got married on Saturday and is the kind of person who last minutes everything and then half asses it at that.   When we showed up on Wednesday, she didn't have anything prepped or planned for the rehearsal dinner on Friday (at her house.)    I didn't plan on spending all day Thursday and Friday at her house helping.   But I felt like I had too.

And yes, I realize staying in the western suburbs results in a lot of driving.   But on Friday, one of my kids flew into O'Hare on a 10:00 pm flight.  It took me almost 2 hours to drive barely 20 miles to the airport nd getting off the highway to side street is tough if you don't know the territory.    That's just insane.   There's hardly ever a time when getting to Bush is even close to being like that over that distance.   I know O'Hare is a busier airport but come on.   And that's just traffic around the airport.   On Sunday, we were driving to Chinatown (don't ask) and we hit a major slow down before Cicero on I-55.   I got off the freeway to try and get around it but so was everyone else.   My detour still took me over an hour to go the last 10 miles.  

Naperville is less than 25 miles from downtown.   I realize that is a suburb but traffic was just fucked.     So, yeah, a little whiny but no one can deny Chicago sucks to drive in.

Look if you're comparing Chicago to Houston, of course Chicago isn't going to measure up.  Not every city can have a Galleria.

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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7828

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I"m thinking of a west coast to Chicago move as well.  How do they compare to you and how did you adjust to the cold?
I've lived in CO my whole life. I have a house in the coldest municipality in the lower 48. I've seen temps as low as 40 below up here.

I've never been as cold as i was the winter i was in Chicago for 2 weeks in January. There's a reason@ChiTownDoc goes to Miami every weekend in the winter.
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ChiTownDoc

ChiTownDoc 21341

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46 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Because he's a rich douchebag?

Hey man, this was a ‘why not both?’ situation.  And an SMU grad calling me a rich douche bag makes me feel like a legit…

rich douchebag!

I’ve been knighted.  Thank you, kind sir.  
 

oh and I’ll reply to closetohumping later.  

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ztejas

ztejas 44132

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13 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Hey man, this was a ‘why not both?’ situation.  And an SMU grad calling me a rich douche bag makes me feel like a legit…

rich douchebag!

I’ve been knighted.  Thank you, kind sir.  
 

oh and I’ll reply to closetohumping later.  

I got in on some technicalities and I'm personally broke as shit. 

My parents are crushing it, though. #SMU?

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