Chicago (the city, not the musical)

[Kenrick]

My fiancee and I are finally getting married in May and heading north to Chicago and Mackinac Island for our honeymoon.  So far, all we have scheduled in Chicago is to go see the Astros beat the Cubs 3 times at Wrigley, but we'll be there for 2+ days and I know there's gotta be a lot of fun stuff to do in Chicago (besides get killed).  I definitely want to go to the top of the Sears tower, but beyond that I need some advice on some things to do and see there.  Mind you, we're on a budget.

I'm a museum person and I know Chicago has a bunch, are there any that are particularly worth visiting?

How 'bout places to eat?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

:)

(Oh, and we already got our hotel reservations so I don't need advice on that end.)

[CmdrSlack]

The Sears tower skydeck is a bit expensive....be prepared.

The Museum of Science and Industry rules. Here's its site.  They have tons of interactive exhibits, and it's largely just a nifty place.  I would advise NOT eating at any of the museums, as the food is crazy expensive.

We also have the Adler Planetarium (pretty neat), the Shedd Aquarium, and The Field Museum of Natural History.

They're all worthwhile.  I know that the Art Institute of Chicago is free on Tuesdays, so there may also be admission-free days to the other museums.   Don't skip the Art Institute, they have some GREAT stuff.

If you want to dump some change on dining, try to get a reservation at the Signature Room on top of the John Hancock building.  Also good for eating are Gibson's and Morton's if you guys are of the meat-eating variety.  All of those restuarants are pretty spendy, but worth it if you want some kind of nice romantic kind of gig, etc.

As far as going out on the cheap goes, you can try several of the local bars, just be careful which neighborhood you go to.  For example, bars in Lincoln Park (near the DePaul campus) and downtown in the Loop will cost you a LOT more than other areas of town.

Delilah's is a nifty little place that has various rotating DJs on their schedule.  Mondays are punk night with $1 beers.  Other nights have other DJs with different types of music and different specials.  Here's a page that links to their DJ schedule and drink specials.  Believe it or not, they also have a huge selection of insane top shelf scotch, whiskey, etc.

Reply here or send me a PM telling me what kind of bars/nightlife kinda places you two enjoy and I'll see what I can do for suggestions.

[Kenrick]

Not into dance club type stuff, just pubs and such.  I'm a single malt person usually, but I like some good beer too.  Fiancee will really like the aquarium.  Is there also a good zoo in Chicago?

Skydeck is $10/person for access, I'm willing to shell that out if the view is nice.

[CmdrSlack]

Don't go on an overcast day, and the Skydeck is very neat.  Being a resident of the city, I kind of feel stupid paying the $10, so I've only been once on a clear day (it's often free or cheap if the weather is ass).

I'd advise staying away from the dance clubs in Chicago anyway.  Lots of people out to be seen, willing to pay $20 to get in and $10 a drink.

Some good pubs can be found on the North Side, and one or two right near Wrigley Field.  I'm sure you'll want to drown your sorrows after the mighty Cubs trounce your Astros, so I'd suggest Johnny O'Hagan's (on Clark St., south of the ballpark) or the Nisei Lounge (hole in the wall where I used to work door, on Sheffield, just south of the ballpark).

I'd avoid the Cubby Bear, Sports Corner, and Murphy's Bleachers due to overcrowded factor after the games.  Also, they're just sports bars.

The Lincoln Park Zoo is pretty good, in the city, and I believe it's free.  The Brookfield Zoo is out in the 'burbs, but not by much.  It's much better, but has an admission fee.  At least it used to when I still had cousins young enough to take to the zoo.

[JMQ]

The things Slack lists are cool.

I rented a sailboat and tooled around lake Michigan with some friends once.  Lots of fun, but the weather has to cooperate.

[Zephyr]

I enjoyed The Brookfield Zoo a lot when I used to live in Illinois.  Although I have been spoiled by The Bronx Zoo as of late.

[CmdrSlack]

Oh yeah, almost forgot.  For a good dinner that's not too expensive, and killer margaritas, there's a restaurant called Caesar's just south of Belmont on Clark.  It would be walkable from Wrigley.

Additionally, The Vic Theater (Sheffield and Belmont, right by the L stop at Belmont) has Brew and View if you guys want to do something like that.  (3 movies, drink specials, etc.)

For a nice resturant (you may need reservations, it depends on the night, but sometimes it's busy as hell) near the ballpark, I'd recommend Mia Francesca.  I've taken dates there and it's really a great place.

[Kenrick]

Thanks for all the input... can't believe nobody's even mentioned where we can score some good meth... j/k

Ceasar's sounds right up our alley. ;)

Also, any reccomendations on where to sit at Wrigley?

[schild]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

I don't know shit about Chicago. :|

[Kenrick]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.

=P

[CmdrSlack]

Thanks for all the input... can't believe nobody's even mentioned where we can score some good meth... j/k

Ceasar's sounds right up our alley. ;)

Also, any reccomendations on where to sit at Wrigley?

If you can get them, sit in the bleachers.  Tickets aren't on sale yet but here's the page where you can find out when you can get them.

You MUST camp the ticket site the day the tix go on sale.  Use a broadband connection.  You may get lucky and get the tickets you want.

If no bleacher seats are left (these sell out first), I'd suggest sitting in terrace reserved.  One word of warning:  The very back sections of terrace reserved are under the roof, so the view of the scoreboard is ass.  You want to be as close down towards the field as possible so you don't get stuck under the broadcast booth.

The little map of the field seating chart should be useful there.  If you don't mind sitting in the "peasant" seats, a friend of mine has season tix in the upper decks, and they're excellent, even if high up.

But yeah, I'd go with the bleachers.  It's general seating, and the crowd in the bleachers is the most fun.

[Kenrick]

Thanks for all the input... can't believe nobody's even mentioned where we can score some good meth... j/k

Ceasar's sounds right up our alley. ;)

Also, any reccomendations on where to sit at Wrigley?

If you can get them, sit in the bleachers.  Tickets aren't on sale yet but here's the page where you can find out when you can get them.

You MUST camp the ticket site the day the tix go on sale.  Use a broadband connection.  You may get lucky and get the tickets you want.

If no bleacher seats are left (these sell out first), I'd suggest sitting in terrace reserved.  One word of warning:  The very back sections of terrace reserved are under the roof, so the view of the scoreboard is ass.  You want to be as close down towards the field as possible so you don't get stuck under the broadcast booth.

The little map of the field seating chart should be useful there.  If you don't mind sitting in the "peasant" seats, a friend of mine has season tix in the upper decks, and they're excellent, even if high up.

But yeah, I'd go with the bleachers.  It's general seating, and the crowd in the bleachers is the most fun.

Um, yeah.  This is teh ghey.  No fucking way am I paying $200x3.  I was thinking more along the lines of ($30x2)x3=$180.

Yeah, you bet your goddamn ass I'm going to stop everthing and be hovering over my mouse when tickets go on sale.

[CmdrSlack]

Hrm.  I guess that guy has season tickets, perhaps?

Otherwise I'm unsure how that works.

You can also get lucky on day of game and get them from scalpers.  In fact, there are several legal ticket brokers right by the ballpark (of course).  Granted, one is owned by the Tribune Co. (who owns the Cubs), so that's ghey (markup your own tickets for teh win).  

Hell, if you don't mind waiting till the game starts, you can get cheap seats for as low as five bucks if you watch the first inning at a bar.  Those scalpers on the street WILL drop prices below face just to recover some of their cash.

[Madman]

If you want to go to the museums, then I suggest you pick up a city pass. It gives you tickets to all 5 major museums as well as the Hancock Observatory. It is a lot cheaper than paying admission at each museum. You can check it out here: http://citypass.com/city/chicago.html . Someone has already posted information about the museums, but I should mention that ALL of them are worth visiting.

The Brookfield Zoo http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/ out in the suburbs is a fantastic zoo. There is also the Lincoln Park Zoo downtown http://www.lpzoo.com/index_2.html , although I don't know how good that zoo is anymore. I am sure it is still a pretty good zoo, but since I live out in the burbs its always been easier for me to go to the Brookfield zoo.

I am not so up on places to eat downtown because I haven't done it for ages. Plus when I eat downtown I tend to eat in little hole in the wall type places. There is of course the standard places like the Hard Rock Cafe and Ed Debevic's as theme type places. Since you have never had real pizza in your life (not being from Chicago), you might want to find a good pizza place like Uno's and get yourself a nice stuffed pizza. Chicago also has some of the greatest steakhouses in the world, but I can't think of one off hand. One of them is right across from the Hard Rock, but I can't think of the name, off course it is also a bit expensive.

You will also probably want to wander down the Miracle Mile and at least do a little window shopping at Watertower. Naturally buying anything there would be expensive because it is such a tourist trap, but it is a nice place to wander through. You will also probably want to walk through the Millenium park downtown which is a giant new park, although I am not sure 'The Bean' will be open by then. They are closing down the sculpture in order to buff out the seams in it, but there are other things to see in the park.

Well that is about all I can think of right now off the top of my head, but there is plenty to do in Chicago.

[Shavnir]

I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but when my parents went to Chicago they brought back some pizza.  And shit if that pizza wasn't kickass, even reheated in a microwave.

EDIT : Giradano...yea..that sounds about right.

[CmdrSlack]

I'd personally reccommend Giordano's or Lou Malnati's over Uno's.

There is a great delivery/dine in place named Chicago's Pizza and Pasta.  They deliver until 5 am and they truly rock.  Their site is here.  Morton's and Gibson's (see above) are steak places that are pretty swank and spendy, but worth it.  I'll warn you that Morton's menu is ala carte, so you'll pay like 8 bucks for the three biggest pieces of steamed broccoli you've ever seen in your life.  It comes with a friggin schooner full of hollandaise sauce or somesuch.  But it's damn good.

[Madman]

I'd personally reccommend Giordano's or Lou Malnati's over Uno's.

There is a great delivery/dine in place named Chicago's Pizza and Pasta.  They deliver until 5 am and they truly rock.  Their site is here.  Morton's and Gibson's (see above) are steak places that are pretty swank and spendy, but worth it.  I'll warn you that Morton's menu is ala carte, so you'll pay like 8 bucks for the three biggest pieces of steamed broccoli you've ever seen in your life.  It comes with a friggin schooner full of hollandaise sauce or somesuch.  But it's damn good.

I love Giordanos and they have fantastic, but it is more of a chain pizza place in the Chicago area, so that is why I didn't recommend it. I don't think I have ever had Lou Malnati's, but I have heard it is good pizza. I simply said Uno's pizza because it is the standard place and it is a decent pizza. I think Morton's is the place I am thinking of that is across from the Hard Rock, but I might be wrong. Any way you look at it you can't really go wrong when looking to eat in Chicago.

As a quick side note, did you know there are more independant hot dog stands in Chicago than there are national chain fast food places (McD's, Wendy's, Taco Hell, etc).?

[stray]

As a quick side note, did you know there are more independant hot dog stands in Chicago than there are national chain fast food places (McD's, Wendy's, Taco Hell, etc).?

That's cool. It may be just hot dogs, but it's something...Almost all the towns and cities I've been to across the US are looking more and more alike (i.e Walmart, McD's, Starbucks, Home Depot etc., etc.). Except, perhaps, San Francisco, New Orleans, Hawaii, and New England (never been to Chicago).

[CmdrSlack]

A Chicago hot dog joint also generally has brats and/or polish sausage, etc.

They don't fuck around here.

[Lanei]

http://www.lawrysonline.com/theprimerib_chicago_gen_info.asp

Lawry's The Prime Rib.  Chicago.

There is ONE entree on the menu.*  Prime Rib.  Its some of the best prime rib I've ever eaten.  

The Lawry's experience is half the fun, too.  They wheel this bigass stainless steel cart up to the table, and a guy in the funny chefs hat with the bigass knife flips the lid on the cart back, and carves your prime rib cut from the side of beef right in front of you.  Hell Yeah.

The rest of the dinner is good, the main feature is excellent.  If you leave hungry, you did something wrong.

* This statement is not true.  However, since the other entrees are not prime rib, there is really no reason to bother with them.

[kerij1028]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.

=P

Hey now, it's just over 4 months!! Careful what you say when you forward the link to a thread to your fiancee! lol

[Paelos]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.

=P

Hey now, it's just over 4 months!! Careful what you say when you forward the link to a thread to your fiancee! lol

PWNED!

[kerij1028]

lol.........all in good fun. Keep the Chicago advice coming......it all sounds good (except the Astros getting their butts kicked part)

[Drubear]

I believe the steak house across from the Hard Rock is The Chop House, Yet Another Famous Chicago Steak Place.

And no lie, but The Chicago Reader (a free weekly chunk of newsprint available pretty much everywhere and online here - http://www.thechicagoreader.com/ ) will give you all sorts of times and suchlike for theatre (you like doze blue guyz on the Intel commercials? They're "The Blue Man Group" and, yup, they're in Chicago) and music along with being heavier than most smaller city's Sunday Paper.

Good advice above, but if eating's on your schedule (and if you're in Chicago it just better be!) you can also cruise over to Halsted St. near downtown and check out Greektown. I happen to love Pegasus (  http://www.pegasuschicago.com/ )  but, like pizza, everyone has their favorite. (Lou Malnati's is great for take out/delivery, but Giordano's is all we can get up here in Logan Square. Uno's is da bomb for the pizza >>and<< the atmosphere.)

The aforementioned Ed Debevic's is actually part of a chain (? line? series? army?) of restaurants run by Lettuce Entertain You ( http://www.leye.com/welcome.html ) all of which are good and many are reasonably priced.

Bottom line: you could literally spend weeks just eating and touristing Chicago ( http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/home.do      ) especially during one of the many events put on by the Mayor's Office of Special Events (natch): Celtic Fest, Taste of Chicago, Gospel Music Fest, etc. etc. etc.  

We didn't even mention the Garfield Park Conservatory run by the Chicago Park District ( http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/  ) (which also runs the aforementioned Lincoln Park Zoo) because if we did there'd be way more things to read...

We look forward to your visit!

[Kenrick]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.

=P

Hey now, it's just over 4 months!! Careful what you say when you forward the link to a thread to your fiancee! lol

PWNED!

[Dark Vengeance]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.
=P

Plus you're into musical theatre. I certainly wouldn't say anything is set in stone just yet. ;)

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

[Kenrick]

Congrats on you marriage, dude.

Whoa, hey let's not jump the gun.  May is still 5 months away.
=P

Plus you're into musical theatre. I certainly wouldn't say anything is set in stone just yet. ;)

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

Way to jump to conclusions there... Phantom and West Side Story are the only 2 I can stand!

Well, Wizard of Oz too.  But who the fuck doesn't like Wizard of Oz?

[stray]

But who the fuck doesn't like Wizard of Oz?

*raises hand*

I'm more of an Alice in Wonderland guy myself.

[Drubear]

Anything By Sondheim ('cept Sweeney Todd.)

[Shockeye]

I've always been partial to the HMS Pinafore.

[Kenrick]

Ack, my honeymoon's been queer-eyed!

[Evangolis]

For making evening plans in Chicago, I find this link, www.metromix.com, useful.  It by no means shows everything, but it does show many things.  Be aware that information may fall out of date, so I'd double check once you find something of interest.