Chicago Lunches
I am spending Memorial Day weekend in Chicago with DH and our friends . . . let's call them Mr. and Mrs. Reservation. Mr. Reservation travels and entertains a lot for his job and appears to have eaten at pretty much everywhere worth eating. He always knows about the hottest new places almost before they open (we ate at Alinea within six weeks of its opening and L2O within a month of its opening) and is the king of scoring the tough reservation.
As you might expect, dining with Mr. and Mrs. Reservation involves very serious eating, both of the fine and roadfood varieties. We already have reservations at Schwa, Takashi and Perennial for dinners. I expect that we will be bringing wine to Perennial and far too much wine to Schwa. (Travelling with Mr. and Mrs. Rez often involves bringing a lot of ibuprofen and having cab fare.) We will, of course, hit Hot Doug's for dogs and duck fat fries. I am adamant that we get to Double Li for what someone on this site accurately dubbed "chicken crack".
That leaves us with two lunches/brunches left to fill. I would love to get Mr. Rez to a place he has not heard of or that is really new for midday meals that are particularly tasty. One key element is a menu that will allow us to taste a wide variety of items, but will not kill us with portion size (as I anticipate that there will be far too much food and wine at dinner each night).
Serious Eaters, our lunches are in your hands. What do you suggest?
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5 Comments:
If you're on the northside: you might want to try Icosium Kafe in Andersonville (corner of Clark and Foster) -- it's an Algerian Crepehouse -- amazing, delicious, light. My favorite crepe features goat cheese, raisins, toasted almonds, mint, basil, and carmelized onions. Silver Seafood on Lawrence is great for very authentic Chinese (featured on Check Please with great reviews); also nearby on Broadway is Thai Pastry (excellent Thai cuisine, great desserts), Ba Le (French Vietnamese sandwich shop), and Over Easy is on Damen -- fantastic and creative breakfasts/brunches/lunches.
gbania at 2:23PM on 05/12/09
Oh, forgot: Tallulah in Lincoln Square; or Smoque for great great BBQ.
gbania at 2:27PM on 05/12/09
I'll be in Chicago for Memorial day too!!! This will be my second time in the city. Anyone has recommendations for hole-in-the-wall ethnic inexpensive places for breakfast/lunch/dinner that are around Downtown area or accessible by public transportation? My sister went to the Culinary Institute of America, so she'll definitely want some good food :)
orchidgirl at 3:41PM on 05/12/09
@orchid - Not on our list this time are Lou Mitchell's, which is on Jackson in the South Loop and has great breakfasts and Spring Garden which is in an Asian mini-mall near the intersection of Archer and Cermak and has excellent Yunnan cuisine (try the tea smoked duck with brown salt).
We will be going to Double Li, without a doubt. It is right on Cermak in the main part of Chinatown area and I highly recommend the food. We like the dry chili chicken, the pocket or mapo tofu, "home-make" bacon, and the Schezuan dumplings (we like the dumplings so much that we usually get two extra orders to take home with us)!
For public transportation, try the CTA website. Its trip planner function lets you map travel from one destination to another and includes not only bus and train directions, but walking directions once you get off of the public transport!
Links:
http://www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com/
http://www.springworldrestaurant.com
http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/05/double-li-chicago-illinois.html (great article on Double Li)
http://www.transitchicago.com/
Mizbee at 7:28PM on 05/12/09
Thank you, Mizbee!!!
orchidgirl at 9:44AM on 05/13/09