OT: Chicago Vacation

[SJScarlet]

Eat at the restaurant or visit the bar at the top of the John Hancock building. Great views and doesn't cost any money, except for the food/alcohol

 

[BROTHERSKINNY]

Gibsons Steakhouse is tremendous.

Cannot say enough good things about Gibsons! A company I do business with every couple of years sends me to Chicago for a due diligence meeting. They put me up in a fancy hotel for the weekend and entertain me. Everytime I go on this trip they make Gibsons the main entertainment dinner venue. It is always awesome! Huge cocktails and non stop ho'r derves you are stuffed by the time you sit down. Then the real fun starts. Moutainous plates of lobster meat and drawn butter as an appetizer for the table. I ususally order the Filet Mignon. It is huge and cooked to perfection. You walk out of Gibsons stuffed and you are ready to just go back to your hotel room and sleep from drinking for five hours and stuffing yourself. Yes, Gibsons is a must if in the windy city!

 

[Armor and Sword]

i've been to Chicago a number of times, so here's my take:

-Rosebud Prime - Small place (at least to me) but liked the steaks.
-Check out the Weber Grill restaurant
-Take the Navy Pier boats or Uber/Taxi to the "Park District" museums next to Soldier Field (Field, Shedd, Adler). Adler Planetarium in particular is a death march from Lake Shore Drive getting off the EL. I found Field and Shedd not to be easily reachable by foot either. Navy Pier boats dock close to Adler or Shedd.
-Field is a very good museum. I really like the Ancient Americas exhibit and their recently opened ancient China exhibit is good too. The food (and beer) in their dining area is good too. Shedd and Adler are worth seeing bu I'd pick Field if you only have one choice.
-Museum of Science and Industry is further south on Lake Shore Drive in Jackson Park.
-Eat some Garrett's popcorn. It's like no other popcorn you had before. The wait in line is worth it. I'm a Caramel Crisp fan.
-Giordano's may be touristy but I linked their deep dish pizza.

 

[OldTownPepe]

Another poster mentioned Lou Mitchell's for breakfast - go there, it's an unassuming atmosphere with great food and their coffee is the best. Try Lawry's Prime Rib just off Michigan Ave. It's the old Governor's mansion. Best prime rib in the country, cut at your table the way you like it and served with Yorkshire pudding. Makes me want to drive four hours to get there now.

 

[Abro1975]

Cannot say enough good things about Gibsons! A company I do business with every couple of years sends me to Chicago for a due diligence meeting. They put me up in a fancy hotel for the weekend and entertain me. Everytime I go on this trip they make Gibsons the main entertainment dinner venue. It is always awesome! Huge cocktails and non stop ho'r derves you are stuffed by the time you sit down. Then the real fun starts. Moutainous plates of lobster meat and drawn butter as an appetizer for the table. I ususally order the Filet Mignon. It is huge and cooked to perfection. You walk out of Gibsons stuffed and you are ready to just go back to your hotel room and sleep from drinking for five hours and stuffing yourself. Yes, Gibsons is a must if in the windy city!

Here's a good Gibson's story. About 3 years ago our company is having a meeting in Chicago, so 8 of us make a 7:30 reservation, we get there about 7:20 and the Maitre'd apologizes and says they will be a little late seating us, to go to the bar (awesome bar) and have a drink on him. We all get top shelf cocktails, and they are big!.. he comes back around 7:45 to say he's buying the 8 of us another round ! OK ! So we get seated around 8, not too bad. Then the waiter says because they seated us so late (about 45 minutes, but w 2 giants top shelf cocktails, who cares, lol) they are comping us a giant cold seafood tower (lobster, oysters, shrimp etc). After a terrific dinner (I usually get a NY Strip bone in), the waiter comes back and says because we are good sports desserts are on him ! lol
Maybe the best dinner of our lives, and oh yeah, Johnny Depp was a few tables away w some gorgeous young lady !