Best in Chicago

[momoreg]

Since some of us are coming to Chicago for the restaurant show, I thought that maybe some of you who know the city can tell us where to get "the best" whatever in town.

Best pizza, best bar, best coffee, best market, etc.

I wouldn't mind hearing about the best non-food places either!

[elakin]

hi shroom...

i'm jealous....chicago's my home town and i miss it. haven't been there since september. i miss italian beef sandwiches (or combos), deep-dish pizza, good mexican food. did you know they don't use cilantro in italy?

best pizza--uno's and due's are great landmarks if you haven't been. and the pizza is still the best in town. you must get it with sausage and experience the "manhole cover" sized patty they put on it. for thin crust pat's pizza on sheffield is really good.

best bar--empty bottle for live music

best coffee--my friend jason has a coffeehouse in logan square...kind of off the beaten path, but a really nice area to check out. lula cafe at kedzie and logan blvd. near the logan square el stop on the blue line. they've got great coffee, a great funky atmosphere, multi-cultural food, lots of vegetarian dishes, and it's just one of those places where you can hang out a while, read the paper. go say hi for me.

a good market to check out is the south water market near the university of illinois at chicago. south and west of the loop. this is a great old historic market area that is destined to be torn down very soon. tons of produce...this is where most grocery stores in the chicago area buy their fruits and vegetables. a great purveyor there is cornille and sons. they supply all the finest restaurants like trotters, ritz, seasons, etc... tom cornille is a very friendly guy and i'm sure he wouldn't mind talking to you.

you could also go to maxwell street market if you're around on a saturday morning. this is also near the university and for years it was an impromptu flea market bustling with old bluesmen and bootleg porno vendors. since the u of ill. bought the land it was on, the city moved it a few blocks away and gave it an official site and now its a little cleaned up, but still great. you can eat the BEST mexican food there. just about every stand is cranking out fresh masa tortillas and serving them faster than they can make them. rick bayless did an article about it a couple years ago for saveur.

i'd also urge you to eat a maxwell street polish while you're down there, with mustard and grilled onions. also a beef sandwich from al's beef on taylor or mr. beef on orleans is required for a full chicago culinary tour.

more great food: mirai sushi on division is doing cutting-edge sushi of the highest quality. wishbone on lincoln still has really great downhome southern-style cookin' even though they moved from their cool small original location to this huge shiny new space. the food's still the same and you still get hot corn muffins on the table.

can i live vicariously through you? let me know how you liked it all...

[cape chef]

Hey Eddie....


Thats not shroom!!! It's momoreg LOL
anyway,thanks for the info.
cc

[shroomgirl]

Oh Eddie, it's really me now.
I wish I'd asked that question of you a couple of weeks ago....
Momoreg...pastry shop with panache, Creme de la Creme in LincolnPark area. Great jelly candies, beautiful pastries.
Blackbird is great and open for lunch
Inas Breakfast looked incredible! loads of various innovative treats....
Cheese course at the Ritz Carlton
Desserts, too.... Shoot Dinner or tea or whatever...
That's what I learned about Chicago.
That and it takes an awful long time to get across downtown....
Blue chicago for blues, oh baby down and dirty.

[ April 04, 2001: Message edited by: shroomgirl ]

[momoreg]

Wow, thanks Eddie and shroom! So much info, I'll have to print this out and carry it with me all over the city. I am looking forward to checking out that pastry shop. And the market sounds too good to miss. We will definitely try to drop by and say hi to your buddy too, eddie.

Cheese course at the Ritz Carlton is a good idea. We have enough meals planned already, I'm bursting at the seams just talking about it.

[W.DeBord]

I really haven't traveled very much to compare citys, but Blue Chicago for blues is the place! Cafe' Ba Ba Reba for tapas is good eat'en, for a casual night!

Jazz, (or it used to be, might be too trendy now) try Pops for Champagne.

[elakin]

whoops....

sorry about that momoreg...i had been reading so much about how shroom was in chicago...i guess i wasn't paying attention.

well...whoever you are...i hope my town treats you well. let me know where you go and what you eat...i'll be living vicariously through you. i know you all feel so sorry for me because there's hardly anything good to eat here in italy...

sorry again for the mix-up

[Mezzaluna]

Lou Mitchells for breakfast!