5 Hours at ORD-What to do in Chicago?
 

I have a rather long layover this Thursday night at ORD. While I could relax in the skyclub, I have never been to Chicago and would love to explore and maybe grab a good "Chicago" dinner. Any ideas?

I was thinking of taking the "L" into downtown.

You probably have time to go downtown. Train ride from ORD to downtown is fairly lengthy (45-60 minutes), you'll need to allow plenty of time to get back to ensure you can get through TSA, etc. From the train stations where the blue line delivers you into downtown, you're relatively close to a lot of stuff and cabs are relatively cheap to go from the L stations to, oh say, the Willis (Sears) Tower, the Art Institute, the Field Museum, etc. Also, plenty of good food down there!

With 5 hours, you've probably got about 2 to play with once you take into account train rides and re-clearing security. No shortage of options for a good meal.

If you have five hours to devote to the task, you can try to find a seat near a power plug in the Sky Club. :D

There are lots of good food options - depends what kind of food you like. A good bet if you want to take the "L", see a bit of the city, and have a good dinner is to take it to Lake Street and then head a few blocks north into the River North neighborhood. You can walk across the river and get some nice views of "skyscraper canyon" down the river and River North has some of the best restaurants in the city.

That is really a tough decision. Personally, I would not try to go downtown. What with the travel time plus the possibility of delays, you really wouldn't have that much time in the city.

If you do want to get out of the airport, there is a Nick's Fishmarket in Rosemont (last time I checked; suggest that you verify) so you could take a cab over there.

But if I were you I would just hang out at ORD. The DL club and people are great, and IIRC there is a nationally known restaurant at the end of the AA terminal.

Don't get me wrong. Chicago is a wonderful town, and you should find a chance to spend at least a few days there sometime. But for a 5 hour layover, dealing with security and luggage, as well as transpotation, I would just chill out at ORD.

Go for it, OP. Lots to see and do in Chicago but you will have only a couple hours. Best to first decide what kind of food you want, then look for a restaurant. Many many choices but time will be a bit tight, especially if you need to ride the L back up to ORD when locals are getting off work. Have fun, it's a great city.

I agree - even without the luggage issue, with all of the variables (for example, the walk from the gate to the CTA station takes time), the "five hours" evaporates quickly. My personal minimum for ORD to Chicigo would be six hours.

If it were me, I'd make my way to the Tortas Frontera outlet in the B Concourse of T1 (a second location, in T3, is opening in a few months), then return to the SC to enjoy the rest of your layover (you can walk airside between T1-T2-T3):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortas-frontera-chicago

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.c...-at-ohare.html

Downtown on the el is a long ride. If you don't want to go all the way downtown there are a bunch of restaurants very near the Damen-O'Hare stop of the el. This is the Wicker Park neighborhood. I was at a meeting at the Ohare Hilton a few weeks ago and took the el to the Blue Line Bar and Grille. http://www.bluelineloungeandgrill.com/ Pretty good food, and quite reasonably priced.

If you are serious about going into the city, I definitely wouldn't take the L and take a cab instead. All of this is also heavily dependent on what time of the day you'll be arriving and departing ORD. If either the trip from or to the airport is likely to be around rush hour, then I'd stay put at the Sky Club. However, if it's middle of the day or late at night, then I say you go for it. There's so much good food in Chicago it seems impossible to make a specific recommendation but my personal favorite is Cafe Ba-ba-reeba for tapas in Lincoln Park (Halsted & Division).

Have a safe trip.

It's worth a trip to Chicago just to have a burger at Kuma's Corner near the Blue Line stop on West Belmont. It's about a 30 minute ride from ORD and is easily walked (less than a mile) to from the Belmont Blue Line stop or you can take the eastbound Belmont bus.

Service at Kuma's is good, the heavy metal music is blaring, the beer selection is top notch and the burgers are served on a pretzel roll. There are many topping and combo options on the menu.

One caveat - the lines to get a table can be long. One trip I made on an early Sunday afternoon had a two hour wait. I was lucky enough to grab the solo bar seat available on this visit. Other visits were not so bad for the wait and were mid-week mid-afternoon stops. I often plan my trip from downtown to ORD with a stop at Kuma's for a burger, beer and a dose of heavy metal (the heavy metal is really not my style but it fits this place perfectly).

New Rivers casino opened about 10 minutes away by cab in Des Plaines if you have money in your pocket you want to burn thru.

I've had good luck finding power plugs at the ORD SC, especially if you sit along the bar next to the windows with a view of the gates and taxi way. The ORD SC is one of the few in the system that I have never seen packed. Though, I'm sure it's more a function of when I fly through ORD than what it's like on a daily basis!

Got to be a function of when you fly. Back when it was shared by NW and CO it was frequently SRO. Of course they have opened up the old conference room and made more space.

Fortunately, with ATL being my home airport, I am only at ORD a few times per year but was there last month, granted on a Sunday morning, but the place was a ghost town. There were literally more employees working in the SC than there were guests in there!