Heading to Chicago this weekend - Where should we go?
larryallen73
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Heading to Chicago this weekend with some guys. Hitting the Cub's game on Saturday. A bunch of Californian's in the windy city for 48 hours. Where should we go?
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-smoke all you want in restauraunts (even Wrigley)
-talk all you want on your cell phone while driving downtown (the rates are free)
-tolls are optional (that's why people use the I-Pass lanes)
Cheers! Wick
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Public transport. Staying at Embassy Suites - lakefront.
-Kyle-
GO CUBS!
Tons to do over there. A stones throw from Navy Pier. There is an awesome restaurant right there called PJ Clark's. They have the best mini-burgers in the city. Also, there are some cool bars on Hubbard which is really close to your hotel also. Some trendy, some pubs but a good mix.
For getting to the Cubs game(if you haven't already checked it out)...
The links on the right should help you plan...
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I think he's intelligent enough to figure that one out.
Check out Metromix.com for what's going on downtown. I believe Venetian Night is this weekend. Pretty impressive on the lake. There are many restaurants/bars that are good. Even some of the one's that look like a 'dive' atmosphere. Chances are the place you go into will be packed with waiting, there's another one right around the corner that's just as good.
If you're a fan of "About Last Night", check out "the Original Mothers" on Division St. There's plenty to do downtown if you're up to staying up late.
Cheers! Wick
Enjoy collecting vintage baseball cards, memorabilia and autos
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If you're in the mood for authentic italian food, I suggest you stop by the Olive Garden and tell them "Vito" sent ya. My pisanos will take good care of you. If steak is what you're looking for, try the Ponderosa. If you want chinese, look for Panda Express.
GO MARLINS! Home of the best fans in baseball!!
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"For me, playing baseball has been like a war and I was defending the uniform I wore, Every time I put on the uniform I respected it like the American flag. I wore it like I was representing every Latin country."--Minnie Minoso
If you like steak, try Fogo de Chao (I think it is on Wells). All you can eat fire roasted meats served churrascaria style - costs a pretty penny, but well worth it. Gibsons is good too. Outdoor Margarita's at Melvin B's are a nice treat. Great blues at Buddy Guy's Legends or Rosa's (in Logan Square).
Enjoy!
Bosox1976
Pizza: Art of Pizza, 3033 N Ashland Ave (best deep dish in the city)
Off the beaten path:
Hot Dogs: Gene and Jude's (2724 N River Road, River Grove)
Italian Beef: Johnnie's Beef (7500 W North Ave, Elmwood Park)
Chinese: New Star (7444 W. North Ave, Elmwood Park)
The Parthenon : Greek food (obviously). Great atmosphere, great food. I highly recommend the saganaki.
Ann Sather's : This place has the best cinnamon rolls on the planet. Great for breakfast.
Hot Doug's : A hot dog restaurant. Kind of a gourmet hot dog restaurant. I've never been there, but I read a review in The New York Times and it sounds great. The last time I was in Chicago was 2004, and a few weeks before my visit, this place burned down. I was a bit disappointed, but I'll eat there some day.
Here's a link to the Times review, with some other restaurants listed as well: A TASTE OF CHICAGO; Stand-Up Food in a City of Big Appetites
Chicago has some really great food. Please, please do not waste your time (and appetite) on meals at chain restaurants.
As for things to do, other than the Cubs game. There are the various big buildings, and downtown spots to visit. I also recommend The Museum of Science and Industry. It's been a while since I've been there (10 years?!), but I remember liking it. I don't know if it's still there, but there was an ice cream shop in the museum that was pretty good.
There's also a kind of theatre troupe, called the Neo-Futurists, and they have (had?) a show called "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind." I haven't been there, but friends that have seen it said it's a lot of fun.
You can always go to the Second City Comedy Club too. You're likely to see someone on their way to making the big time (or at least an appearance in a commercial or two).
Whatever happens, enjoy yourself and let us know how it goes.
Have fun!
I just moved from there and it is hilarious.
Everybody curses and yells at the ladies making hot dogs and they throw back the most insults I've ever seen.
Better than any comedy club i've been to.
A must experience
Also, Bernies at Clark and Waveland is a good pregame bar.
Not retardly packed like the others and sports-minded folk.
Have fun
Walking distance from the hotel,
Chop House for steaks, Uno's for the original deep-dish pizza, The first Billy Goat's bar and grill, very trendy but fun, Navy Pier, a wide variety of shops and eateries with a tremendous view of the great lakefront.
Walking distance from Cubs park,
The Chicago gay pride museum.
I would definitely recommend Murphy's Bleachers before the game. I am going to the game also and plan on spending several hours at Murphy's. There's a ton of bars around the park.
This looks cool, too:
International Museum of Surgical Sciences and Hall of Immortals
Everyone's a collector, even surgeons, especially Dr. Max Thorek. The instruments and artifacts he collected served as the seed for the galleries of the International Museum of Surgical Sciences and Hall of Immortals.
Over the years, other surgeons also sent their most prized finds to this place, expanding it to a 7,000-piece exhibit, including:
- a copy of Napoleon's death mask
- a bronze speculum found in Pompeii
- Florence Nightingale's nurse's cap
- a Chippendale wheelchair
- a working iron lung from the 1920s
- trepanned (drilled) Peruvian skulls
- ancient stone circumcision knives
- amputation kits and artificial limbs
- Aztec charms
- one of the world's first stethoscopes
- a full-sized apothecary shop
- the Adrian X-ray Shoe Fitter
and much, much more!
The most surprising part of this collection is not the instruments, but the art. You can find a rendering of the first ovarirectomy, with doctors removing a basketball-sized tumor; Dr. Dorry Pasha operating on a case of elephantiasis of the scrotum; a geisha having her arm removed by Dr. Pompe V. Meerdervoort; and Xavier Cugat's painting of an operating room where a surgeon reads Playboy and a dog waits for scraps.
The also have dozens of busts of famous surgeons, many carved by other doctors, demonstrating that you can be handy with both a scalpel AND a chisel!
This interesting, odd, dare I say bizarre museum is located at 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive, in Chicago, 60610-1607 (that's just north of the Mag Mile, a block north of North Avenue on inner Lake Shore Drive).
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
Admission: Adults $5, Seniors $3, Kids $3
Chicago Chop House is awesome, great ambiance but pricey.
Weiner Circle is hilarious late night. One of the women, and I am using that term loosely, screamed at me, "Hey Honkey." After I didn't reply to her she said "What the f%$k do you want, Rogaine."
I said, "Listen Aunt Jamima, my head is shaved by choice. Now fix me a f$#kin hot dog." She ;aughed and the other people behind the counter were cracking up!
High comedy after a long night out drinking.
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<< <i>Lou Malnati's pizza >>
I'm from Milwaukee but we will drive down once in awhile and get their pizza. Excellent deep dish!
Also does anyone know if that Al Capone museum is still around?? I was there about 1993-94 and I thought it was pretty cool.
<< <i>Weiner Circle is hilarious late night. One of the women, and I am using that term loosely, screamed at me, "Hey Honkey." After I didn't reply to her she said "What the f%$k do you want, Rogaine."
I said, "Listen Aunt Jamima, my head is shaved by choice. Now fix me a f$#kin hot dog." She ;aughed and the other people behind the counter were cracking up!
High comedy after a long night out drinking. >>
Weiner's Circle stories could, and probably should, fill up a book.
One of my favorite: a young man gets his cheese fries, tastes one, then yells to the woman at the counter "hey, b*tch, these fries are as raw as your p*#@&y."
Everyone had a good laugh. Just another night at the Weiner's Circle . . .
POTD = 09/03/2003
Women: Thumbs up.
Wrigley: Of course excellent. We all agreed California has NOTHING like that environment for a sports event.
Murphy's: Of course excellent. I was the guy in the Dodger's Ron Cey jersey drinking too much beer!
Gino's East for pizza and we were all unimpressed. Seemed like flavorless cornbred crust with a lot tomato sauce. Several guys agreed that Old Chicago Pizza (apparently not authentic Chicago pizza) out here near where we went to college (Petaluma, CA) is much better!
El Jardin: Mexican restuarant near Wrigley. Hit it after the game. Margaritas with grain alchohol on top. We only had ONE of those bad boys. WOW! That kept the buzz going right into the evening and made for a nice transition from the game to the evening of fun.
Humudity: SUCKS. I will take the "dry" heat of Sacramento over that. Man that was hot on Saturday sitting in the bleachers. Drank a LOT of water.
Stanley's Bar: Lincoln Park area. WOW! Spent about 5 hours there Sat night/Sun morning. 3-1 women to men. If any of us were not upper 30's and married it would have been a perfect place. Instead we sat and ogled. Highly recommend for all your young guys.
Many other great bars but don't recall names.
Gibson's Steakhouse (Rush Street area): Awesome steaks! Had 5 St. Louis Cardinals two tables over.
Embassy Suites Lakefront - Very nice... for an Embassy Suites. $300/night it better be! Decent sports bar downstairs.
Oh ya, but you guys haven't outlawed smoking in bars? That is f'ing awful. Sweating from the humity and then walk into bar and have people blow smoke on me. Not good! Talk to your lawmakers about that!
Overall, a great time. Planning our "sports" weekend for 2007. Have already done a copule of SEC football games (TN), have hit Fenway, Camden, Yankee, etc... so thinking of maybe doing a Big 10 football game or possibly a U of Texas football game. We wish we could have a great "sports" weekend out west but there is nothing great in our opinion and we are all from here. Fans, venue, atmosphere, etc... just not as good.