3 days in Chicago

[eugmac]

I'm looking for recommendations on cheap, interesting activities to do while I'm in Chicago in November. Are any FTRers from that area who can make me some suggestions? Also recommendations for cheap, good food would be very useful.

[boost]

Drinks and food

Big Star-- whiskey bar, serves pretty great Mexican fare
Argyle Street-- Little Vietnam, great Pho at 888 and Tank Noodle, Ba Minh sandwiches from Ba Le, Green Mill-- an old prohibition era jazz bar, is a few blocks south
Root Stock-- if you want to have a nice dinner, this is a great ~20 table spot serving good cocktails and amazing food. Not "cheap" but a good value for the food you're getting
J.P. Graziano-- amazing Italian deli sandwiches
Diner Grill on Irving Park-- Awesome cheap drunken diner slop if you're in the neighborhood, open 24 hours. They might make you a penis shaped pancake
Carribean Bakery on Howard-- If you're up north, drop in and get some meat patties and a Ting

Things to do

Architecture Society boat tour-- If it's not too cold, or if you're not too much of a pussy, it's a great way to see downtown, highly recommended
Museums-- Both the MCA and the Art Institute have free days during the week. Not sure what's going on at either in November, but they both are home to great collections year round
Frank Lloyd Wright tour-- Haven't done it myself, but I hear it's good, can't cost much, and you'd get to check out Hyde Park
Walking-- Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, and pretty much all of the food/drink places I mentioned are in interesting and walkable neighborhoods. Again, depending on the weather, you should try to check out the parks along the lakefront, they stretch from Hyde Park to Howard. In the same vein, we now how DIVVY, the bike rental portal things, so you can grab a bike and cover more ground.
Comedy Clubs-- Zanies, Second City, etc. A lot of comedians have come out of these clubs

Transportation

If you don't have a car, that's fine, Chicago has excellent public transport and in a pinch a cab is always easy to grab. Also, as I said, we have the bike rental/swap/exchange thing here now.



Hope that helps, and let me know if you've got any questions

[eugmac]

wow that was much more detailed and helpful than I expected, thanks boost! i already booked a hotel in the Loop (probably wasn't the best place in terms of finding great restaurants/bars as I now read that it's a major business district) but I see there's at least a couple places within walking distance which is cool! I see you've got a Chinatown, any good places you know there?

I also thought about checking out the Horseshoe Hammond casino should I feel like a bit of live poker.

[NightGizmo]

Although there isn't much going on in the loop, you're centrally located for using the public transportation. Chinatown is south on the Red Line, north on the Red Line will take you to neighborhoods like River North, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, etc. (including Green Mill, which Boost mentioned -- FYI, pretty sure it used to be owned by Capone). Lincoln Park has the zoo, which I think is free? You can take the Blue Line to other neighborhoods like Bucktown, which frankly I'm not too familiar with. Also, the east (lake) side of the loop has Millenium and Grant parks and the Buckingham fountain, which are also near the Art Institute museum (personally my favorite), or you can go a little further south on the lake to museum campus, which has the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum.

For the comedy clubs Boost mentioned -- I personally think that Zanies no longer gets many good comedians, I don't know what has happened to their bookings the past couple years. But Second City is a great comedy choice to see sketch shows (and they have lower-price options for the non-main-stage shows). And they recently opened the Up Comedy Club in the same building as Second City, which has been getting good bookings (I saw Dave Foley there a couple weeks ago).

Like Italian beef sandwiches? (if your answer is "I don't know", then you need to try it) Go to Portillos, Mr. Beef, or Big Al's.

Horseshoe has a good poker room, but it's a drive -- about half an hour or more depending on traffic. But if you have a car and want to play poker, that's the place to go (don't go anywhere in Illinois -- the state has annoying rules for card rooms, for example "no electronics at the table").

[!Luck]

http://ioimprov.com/chicago/ <--- Midnight showings are sometimes $5. Located in an area where you are expected to just get trashed off your ass as though you were in college.

You have to try www.kumascorner.com/‎ it's amazing if you are a burger fan, super packed nearly all the time though.

[frosst]

wow that was much more detailed and helpful than I expected, thanks boost! i already booked a hotel in the Loop (probably wasn't the best place in terms of finding great restaurants/bars as I now read that it's a major business district) but I see there's at least a couple places within walking distance which is cool! I see you've got a Chinatown, any good places you know there?

I also thought about checking out the Horseshoe Hammond casino should I feel like a bit of live poker.

To add to this, there's a boardwalk just northeast of here that has shopping. Also, there's an amphitheater that offers shows ( I saw Cirque Shanghai), a concert venue, and they have free fireworks shows twice a week during the summer. I HIGHLY recommend getting a subway pass. It's really cheap and includes bus fare (which I didn't know at the time).

Don't forget to try Chicago-style pizza. Gino's East is a common recommendation.

Chinatown is cool if you want to eat something different. It's nothing like a Chinese buffet. And the spice shops are cool to peruse ( didn't know bird nests were so desireable).

[boost]

The Horseshoe is a nice enough casino, but I wouldn't really recommend the drive unless you can't get any live poker action back home.

I think frosst is talking about Navy Pier when he says there's a boardwalk. I highly advise against going there. It's a tourist trap of the worst kind. I guess if you're walking along the lake, sure, take a walk around the perimeter, but really, there's not much else of value there unless tourist stuff is your thing (and you know.. to each his own, not judging.)

Haven't been to Kuma's myself, but I hear great things about it.

Not sure if one of their dates will coincide with your visit, but if you like to dance, or just want to check out an crazy party, hit up the Empty Bottle when these guys are DJing: http://windycitysoulclub.com/ It's like a club, minus the shit music, pretentious assholes, stuck up girls-- pretty much without all the things that make clubs shitty. Empty bottle is also just a cool bar in general, and has an attached restaurant that has pretty good food.

[eugmac]

The Horseshoe is a nice enough casino, but I wouldn't really recommend the drive unless you can't get any live poker action back home.

I think frosst is talking about Navy Pier when he says there's a boardwalk. I highly advise against going there. It's a tourist trap of the worst kind. I guess if you're walking along the lake, sure, take a walk around the perimeter, but really, there's not much else of value there unless tourist stuff is your thing (and you know.. to each his own, not judging.)

Haven't been to Kuma's myself, but I hear great things about it.

I won't have a car to drive to the casino, but I thought there are free shuttle buses to and from Chicago running pretty often?

Probably won't be hitting up clubs. Non-touristy recommendations are good! Thanks for all the suggesitons so far.

[eugmac]

Chinatown is cool if you want to eat something different. It's nothing like a Chinese buffet. And the spice shops are cool to peruse ( didn't know bird nests were so desireable).

Re: the bold, this is a good thing haha.

[boost]

Empty Bottle is a bar, I guess I wrote that in a bit of a confusing way. I really dislike clubs myself. Empty Bottle just often has good music, and about once a month has a soul night where this group spins soul vinyl all night and girls love to dance to soul music.

[b-rabbit]

Eug, are you going to Chicago for work or fun? Are you coming on a weekend or during the week?

[eugmac]

Neither, long story. I'm looking to have as much fun as possible. I'm open for random FTR meets for a beer or trips to the casino or what have you. Just send me a PM...

It would be over the 2nd weekend of november