On my recent trip to Chicago (my first time) I was able to try some of the many restaurants this great food city has to offer. I thought I would share my experiences:

The Highlights

Frontera Grill: We really loved the fancy Mexican food at this bastion of this cooking style. From the guacamole and ceviche to the carne asada and plantains everything was simply fantastic. My sister and I thought that this was the best fancy Mexican food we have had and we cannot wait to return and try Topolobampo and Xoco next time.

Portillo's: Loved the hot dogs here and such a fantastic theatrical experience, from the studio style kitchen operation, to the pick up counter, to the millions of people that come on foot and through the drive-through and of course to the hot dogs. Certainly beats Greys Papaya in NYC hands down and I never expected those sport peppers to pack the kick they do. Will return again but next time we will try Hot Doug's.

Lou Malnati's: We really enjoyed the food at Malnati's -- the deep dish pizza was different from what I expected. I was expecting something a lot heavier, greasier, and more artery clogging than it was. Of course, it was artery clogging but simply not as much as I had expected. The crust was great -- it is hard to decide which I like better, the deep dish at Malnati's or the thin crust at Grimaldi's in NYC. Still, a great place and a great meal.

Potbelly Sandwich Works: This place was simple but they executed it very very well. The sandwiches were great, the soups were great and milkshakes were great. Love this place for a simple and cost effective meal.

Friends: A small quaint and retro modern sushi bar cum lounge was a nice surprise on this trip. Located at Rush and Superior the sushi and the Japanese food was quite good and quite reasonable as well. The service was friendly and the rice used in the sushi was pretty decent. I wouldn't expect top sushi place quality but it is still quite good and highly recommended.

Decent but nothing special

Giordano's: We are not fans of stuffed crust pizza so we opted to try their regular pizza and their spaghetti with meatballs. Both were good but we found the pizza a little disappointing. The pasta was good and the small was humongous!! Typically pizza tastes better the next day -- regrettably this one didn't.

Wow Bao: After hearing so much about this place we tried the location in the Water Tower Place mall. The chocolate bao was really good and is a great idea. We found the savoury ones - teriyaki chicken, kung pao chicken, and the barbeque pork to all taste the same due to the same flavour notes common to each bao (ginger and lemongrass). The service was terribly surly but it was good to give them a try.

Vong's Thai Kitchen: I knew going in that this may be a little disappointing but I wanted to try it out anyhow. It was decent but nothing special. The food was decent and even asking for spicy the food came out very mild. The pad thai was good as was the spicy beef but the service by the waiter/waitress was very poor. The bussers and support staff, however, busted their rear ends. I am not sure if I would return.

Sheer and Utter Disappointments

Pierrot Gourmet, Peninsula Hotel: I had high expectations for this place as it is operated by the highly lauded Peninsula hotel. I left so underwhelmed and very disappointed. The food was mediocre at best -- the French onion soup was salty broth with a sprinkling of onions and a piece of bread with a little cheese on top floating in the centre. It took 20 minutes for the soup to come out (understandable if it was being gratined) and took even longer for our main courses to come out. There was an OktoberFest special on so I ordered the leberkase and my sister the pesto chicken tarte flambée. The tarte was bland and flavourless and the leberkase (bavarian meatloaf) salty and slightly overcooked. The mashed potatos were decent but the sauerkraut was limp, soggy, and not very sour. The service was as clueless as it could get.

NoMi, Park Hyatt Chicago: I had heard much about this restaurant but I had my reservations. The food was so-so, the service was so-so, the room felt cold and sterile but the cost was astronomical. 16 pieces of sushi, a sandwich, a salad, one tea and one diet coke came to $140 including tax and tip. Fortunately, we had a $100 dining credit but still this was a ridiculous amount for such average fare.

BTW, Nomi in Japanese means flea. We most certainly were fleaced!!

Charlie Trotters: I think I will create a separate thread to discuss this one.

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a thread in the Luxury Hotels forum with links to my hotel stays as well as couple other threads by other posters:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ry-hotels.html