Sign in with Facebook"Never A Lovely So Real" Top 5 Page for this destination Chicago by yooperprof
Chicago Travel Guide: 5,832 reviews and 11,868 photos
Chicago is a great city in so many ways - and the locals will be glad to share with you many ways to make your stay in their metropolis memorable! Why else do you suppose that it's called "The Windy City"!
Chicago excels in theatre and restaurants - that is, in endeavors that require a flair for performance, but also a keen sense of understanding the needs of audiences and patrons. I've recently expanded my restaurant reviews here, increasing to 52 the number of establishments I have commented upon. 52 - one for each week of the year!
Reviews 1-13 are generally the most recent, and they include my observations about such well-known and loved gastropubs as the Publican, the Gage, and the Girl and the Goat. Here you will also find reviews of "classics" like Naha and Le Colonial.
Reviews 14-26 cover various places where we have had VT meetings and dinners over the years. We've made an effort to sample some of the many diverse cuisines which add flavor and diversity to Chicago. Among our choices, we've tried Filipino, Uzbeki, Russian, Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Indian - and a couple of the well known pizza places as well!
Reviews 27-42 are a mixed assortment of miscellany.
Reviews 43-48 cover breakfast and brunch options, most of them in the popular hotel areas of the Loop or River North.
Reviews 49-52 are of coffeeshops.
And if that's not enough, you would also find a few reviews of food places in the Noghtlife Section. "Hopleaf" and "Revolution Brewing Company" are both in "Nightlife." They have legions of fans who like to eat as much as they enjoy drinking.
". . . that astonishing Chicago - a city where they are always rubbing the lamp, and fetching up the genii, and contriving and achieving new impossibilities. It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago - she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time."
"Life on the Mississippi," Mark Twain -- 1883
"Once you've come to be a part of this particular patch, you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real."
Nelson Algren, "City on the Make"
[thanks to Alex Kotlowitz for his new 2004 book about Chicago, "Never a City So Real," which is inspired by Algren's earlier work.)
"Here, of all her cities, throbbed the true life -- the true power and spirit of America; gigantic, crude with the crudity of youth, disdaining rivalry; sane and healthy and vigorous; brutal in its ambition, arrogant in the new-found knowledge of its giant strength, prodigal of its wealth, infinite of its desires."
"The Pit," Frank Norris -- 1904
- Pros:Diversity and Unity
- Cons:Parking downtown? That's a good one!
- In a nutshell:Cosmopolitan Culture on the Plains
Reviews (200)
Indian/Latin American Fusion in the...
Restaurants
(52)
An interesting and welcome concept that falls somewhat short in execution. I like some things about it, other things not... more travel advice
The Swedish Chef cooks for VT people
Restaurants
(52)
Lovely brunch/mid-day meal experience at Tre Kronor, Chicago's premier Swedish restaurant. They are particularly known... more travel advice
VT People Go to a Famous Loop Pizzeria
Restaurants
(52)
At our wonderful 2011 Summer in Chicago gathering, VTers were treated to some legendary Chicago pizza at the famous... more travel advice
Meaty Gastropub in the West Loop
Restaurants
(52)
Publican has been a pioneer in several different food trends of the last few years: i) the gastropub, the somewhat... more travel advice
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Comments (28)
Me again, checking back to read your new tips since September 11, 2008. Great that you keep returning to Chicago for operas and VT meetings. Have you made any further plans for European travel?
Saw your Swedish meatballs meet, have fun :) if you ever come over, I might make them for you.
thank you for dropping by my chicago page & thanks for your tips which I reviewed before going I do my homework thats for sure & I love to eat out - Dabs was my fabulous guide more to come on chicago drips & drabs.
Perennial, Publican (brunch) and Smoque (go early and be prepared to wait) seems to come up a lot as places to try, I'm too busy eating soul food and ribs *burp* And the Trib just had a special on Peking duck, if you are interested I'll send you the link
Read your Lou Malnati's tip! I, too, run the risk of having my Cincinnati ratings relinquished because I don't "do" Cincinnati chili and don't care for LaRosa's Pizza! So I can relate to your (former) dilemma. ;)
LOL about deep dish pizza tip!Reviewed all your grand tips on the Chicago food scene. Like the variety, details, humor, and sense of culinary excellence. Always a pleasure to read your well-crafted work, Chet.
great pahe here with nice photos and useful tips.. all the best. Bora
I wish I could get up my nerve to try Priceline. You paid less to sleep than I paid to park! Well, almost anyway. I just can't make the leap to not know exactly what hotel they will give me.
Excellent Chicago picture. I love to visit this city one day!
Hi Chet, looking forward to meeting you again. I've signed up for the 22nd in Chicago. The restaurant looks like the perfect place for a small VT gang!