Long Weekend in Chicago

[coldweatherfan]

Personally I would take Lou Malnati's over Giordano's. I find Giordano's pie to have too much sauce, and the sauce is sweet.

 

If you go out for breakfast, I highly recommend Hash House A Go Go. Phenomenal food and great Bloody Mary's.

 

The signature room at the top of the Hancock Building for a cocktail is a nice quick thing to do. Incredible views of the city.

 

If you need a sports pub, I like Mother Hubbards. It's a block off the mile on Hubbard.

 

Billy Goat tavern is a tradition. It's the restaurant that the SNL "cheese borger, cheese borger, chips, chips, no Coke - Pepsi" skit comes from. Where else can you go and get Schlitz on tap.

[ColonelCrazy]

... but as a caveat I ordered a Manhattan off the cocktail list and it definitely tasted pre-made and too syrupy. As a Kentuckian you're better off grabbing a beer or choosing your bourbon and going neat or on the rocks.

 

Definitely get it neat, or on the rocks. And be prepared to pay $14+ for it.

[LCDAWGS19]

I like this as well, but also have to throw in Lou Malnati's. Matter of fact I might say Lou's between the two, I think it's more of a Chicago icon.

 

For a good Chicago style hot dog, which I am a BIG fan of, Portillos is darn good. It's a small chain (34 stores, 31 in the Chicago area) but they have very tasty food, more than hot dogs (Italian beef, burgers, etc.), and have one of the best restaurant strawberry short cakes I have had.

 

http://www.portillos.com/assets/1/31/PHD_Dual_Menu_online_3.16_(1).pdf

 

I have family in Chicago and visit them once a year. Portillo's is a must stop every trip.

[BigVMan23]

I have family in Chicago and visit them once a year. Portillo's is a must stop every trip.

 

Yummy food for sure. When I go, and will be going this summer, I always stop at least once.

[LCDAWGS19]

Yummy food for sure. When I go, and will be going this summer, I always stop at least once.

 

There's one off the Merrillville exit on I-65. Never crowded and pretty easy to get back on the road.

[nkypete]

Stay an extra four days and catch the Cubs home opening series against the Reds next week.

[BigVMan23]

There's one off the Merrillville exit on I-65. Never crowded and pretty easy to get back on the road.

 

Have never stopped at that one. I am always near the Schaumburg area when I go up there and they have a location there I usually head into.

[coldweatherfan]

Have never stopped at that one. I am always near the Schaumburg area when I go up there and they have a location there I usually head into.

 

The one next to Chuckie Cheese?

[Getslow]

Sitting in a place called Dollop Coffee here in the Gold Coast area right off Michigan Avenue this morning. They give a 10 percent discount to folks that live here in the neighborhood. I love stuff like that. Coffee is good and this cranberry walnut muffin is even better.

 

Rolled in at lunchtime yesterday and went to the Wicker Park neighborhood. Part of me loathes the style of gentrification its going through right now, but the lunch was good so...

 

Ate at a taco place called Big Star. Definitely recommend if you're ever in that area.

 

Also, if you're into books and music, went to two places that are perfect for you: the biggest record store I've seen in a long time called Reckless Records and a massive three story shop selling new and used books called Myopic Books. Both really cool spots.

[BigVMan23]

The one next to Chuckie Cheese?

 

Been 3-4 years since I have been up there (going back this summer), but I think there is only one location in Schaumburg so I'm sure that's it.

[formerkywrestler]

Get anything from Pipeworks Brewing. Dudes are producing high-quality brew.

 

Pipeworks Brewing Co.

 

They have a funny story for how they got started:

Blog — Pipeworks Brewing Co.

 

In 2009 Gerrit Lewis and Beejay Oslon knew they wanted to open a brewery. They both had lots of homebrewing experience, but neither one had any commercial brewing experience.

 

That year, De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren, Belgium, was named the #1 brewery on Ratebeer.com. Gerrit and Beejay, both avid raters on the site, had lots of respect for De Struise’s traditional Belgian beers and were excited by their more experimental beers.

 

“It was as simple as writing Urbain Coutteau, the owner and head brewer at De Struise, and asking him if we could work at his brewery for free. He said yes, so we went.” Beejay says as he looks off into his memory.

 

In January 2009 Urbain picked Beejay and Gerrit up from the airport. “Urbain was excited. Pretty much right after we put our suitcases in the trunk, he was already talking about doing collaborations between his brewery and ours. But we didn’t even have a name for our brewery. We were both like, uh, wow we have a lot of work to do.”

 

While brewing beer, bottling beer, and delivering beer, Gerrit and Beejay stayed at Urbain’s nearby bed and breakfast located on his former commercial ostrich farm. “He wasn’t raising ostriches commercially at that point, but he had a bunch around the bed and breakfast. It was, ya know, a quaint thing.” One of their chores was to feed the ostriches spent grain. “Yeah, I’d take the spent grain from the pilot brewery out to the trough and then the ostriches went wild.”

 

“One of the biggest takeaways I got from Urbain was the importance of communicating with your community – your consumers. He was always so transparent about his beers and what the brewery was up to. Gerrit and I both saw how important that was.”

 

So, there ya have it ladies and gents. That’s why there’s an ostrich on the War Bird can. That's the whole story...

[formerkywrestler]

I used the Beer Menus app a bunch when I was up there last.

[Getslow]

Personally I would take Lou Malnati's over Giordano's. I find Giordano's pie to have too much sauce, and the sauce is sweet.

 

If you go out for breakfast, I highly recommend Hash House A Go Go. Phenomenal food and great Bloody Mary's.

 

The signature room at the top of the Hancock Building for a cocktail is a nice quick thing to do. Incredible views of the city.

 

If you need a sports pub, I like Mother Hubbards. It's a block off the mile on Hubbard.

 

Billy Goat tavern is a tradition. It's the restaurant that the SNL "cheese borger, cheese borger, chips, chips, no Coke - Pepsi" skit comes from. Where else can you go and get Schlitz on tap.

 

Hit up Billy Goat Tavern yesterday afternoon. Girlfriend went to get her hair done in a shopping mall on the next block and so I went and had a few Old Styles and watched the White Sox get worked by Cleveland. I liked that place a lot.

[Getslow]

Dinner last night at Howells & Hood on the first floor of the Tribune Building. Food was really good, had an extensive beer and whiskey list (whiskey list extensive by outside KY standards) and the prices were pretty reasonable by Michigan Avenue standards.