Chicago, Illinois

Trip Details

  • I’ve visited Chicago many times
  • Usually 2-3 days each visit consisting of lots of eating, drinking, and shopping

Hotels

  • Often stay with a friends who live on Michigan Ave. and Monroe (right by the Bean) or in West Loop near Fulton Market
  • Have also stayed at Sofitel Hotel (~$300/night)
    • Included a la carte breakfast
    • Near Magnificent Mile, great location
  • Ritz Carlon – in water tower on Michigan Ave.
    • Torali restaurant is very good!
    • Nespresso in the room
  • The Langham
    • Great restaurant and our favorite spa in Chicago

Eats- Brunch/Lunch

  • 3 Arts Café- AMAZING! #1 recommendation! Even if you aren’t into the menu, all the food is DELICIOUS and the building is BEAUTIFUL – highly, highly recommend. I got the shaved vegetable salad- I could eat this every day forever! It is inside the restoration hardware store which is very cool. Nice outdoor area on the roof you can sit. They do not take reservations- We went on a Sunday and had to line up about an hour before they opened in order to be seated when they open. If you arrive when they open there is about a 1.5-2 hour wait.
  • Sweet Green – good salad bar
  • LuxBar- good but nothing special brunch
  • Wild Berry – Voted one of the best brunches in Chicago (known for crazy pancake flavors). The wait can be over 2 hours but you can put your name in on yelp ahead of time
  • Beatrix– have been multiple times for brunch and dinner and highly recommend. Brunch favorites: Light and Fluffy lemon pancakes are AMAZING! Also got the quinoa cakes with poached egg which were very good. Mimosas are BAD – don’t order
  • The Hampton Social (brunch)– This is the restaurant with the “Rose all day” sign. Cute restaurant and food was very good. I got chicken and donuts, which was great. Sonja and Jess got the French toast and huevos rancheros, which they both enjoyed.
  • Ramen-San– nothing fancy, but huge bowls of delicious ramen
Hampton Social
3 Arts Cafe

Eats- Dinner

  • The Little Beat Table– went for dinner, very good farm to table, get the cauliflower hummus
  • True Food Kitchen – went for dinner, very good farm to table, try the edamame dumplings
  • Remington’s Chicago– Dinner, on the more expensive side but we stayed for a long dinner and drinks, large wine menu (pours are 7oz). Our order was guac (chips are hot and fresh), Wrightwood salad, roasted Brussels sprouts
  • Beatrix– have been multiple times for brunch and dinner and highly recommend. Dinner favorites: Thai chopped salad, local burrata, flourless chocolate cake is to die for
  • Ema– Mediterranean small plates to share. Everything was delicious, Loved the Brussels sprouts
  • Café Ba-ba-reeba– Spanish tapas restaurant + paella. I got the chicken paella (all paella takes 35-40 mins and at least 2 people must order it at your table). All other tapas and sangria were great!
  • 3 Arts Café- I have only been for brunch (see above), not dinner but it is my #1 recommendation. There will probably be a LONG wait
  • Sushi Taku– I don’t have any other sushi places in Chicago to compare this too, but it was good and reasonably priced. We did get it delivered so I don’t know what the restaurant is like.
  • Mastros– High end steak if you want a very nice dinner
  • Sunda– good asian fushion/sushi
  • Roka Akor– favorite sushi place in Chicago!
Ema
Beatrix

Eats- Dessert

  • Cone Gourmet Ice Cream– ice cream place with tons of fun flavors
  • Jeni’s ice cream – fun flavors and people love it but honestly not the best ice cream I have ever had
  • Stan’s Doughnuts – delicious and cool flavor doughnuts
  • The Doughnut Vault – only open in the morning, daily flavors
  • Bombobar- doughnuts and ice cream
  • Black Dog Gelato
  • Garretts Popcorn– A local Chicago popcorn shop. Their iconic combo is caramel and cheddar, but I like butter and caramel
  • Places I have heard of for dinner but haven’t been:
    • Taxon
  • Places I have heard of for brunch but haven’t been:
    • Tweet (in Sheredon)
    • Zellas- all you can drink mimosas in river north
Jeni’s

Drinks

  • Sugar Factory- touristy but lots of fun drinks to share and desserts/milkshakes) a little bit expensive
  • Cindy’s (rooftop)- Go when the weather is nice (but it will be crowded and probably a wait. We just ordered wine and dessert (dessert was good but nothing special)
  • Others I have heard are good
    • Top of the John Hancock- expensive
    • Hall of the moon- dueling piano bar
    • Godfrey- rooftop bar
    • Mercadito- Mexican (drinks and margs)
    • Headquarters- free video games if you buy a drink
    • Three dots and a dash (tiki bar)
    • Arbella (hip cocktail bar)
    • Broken Shaker (big menu)
    • Watershed

To Do

  • Go for a walk along the lake or along the river
  • River North and Fulton Market areas have lots of good restaurants
  • Take pictures at The Bean
  • See a show at any of the theaters
  • Eataly- big food hall/market in river north – fun to just walk around and see the food/grab a little coffee or gelato; or you can sit down for a full Italian meal – lots of very fresh food.
  • Visit the Starbucks Reserve- it is the largest Starbucks in the world with 5 floors, a cocktails bar, and a restaurant
  • For a spa day, highly recommend The Langham Hotel spa
Eataly

Workouts

  • Barry’s Bootcamp- High Intensity treadmill and weight circuit workout class
  • Studio Three- I haven’t been but would love to try (high intensity interval training, cycling and yoga studio)

Parking

  • If you drive, hotel parking is usually VERY expensive
  • I use spot hero to book a parking lot ahead of time and get a very discounted rate (most options you can’t go in and out if you use this)