I hope this is the right place to put this. If not, please move.

Still a couple of weeks away, but I have a trip coming up at the end of the month that will take me through Chicago O’Hare. My layover will be around lunchtime and be just under 3 hours. Ok, call it 2.5, have to have time to get to the gate and board. I won’t know gate information until the day before, or day of, but I was wondering if people could recommend some restaurants in O’Hare. I know there are the food courts, but I was wondering if there were any good sit down type places? You know, somewhere where I could sit down with the paper or a good book and have a nice relaxing meal. Any ideas? Of course I think it goes without saying that if anyone’s had a bad experience please let me know.

Thanks,
CCT

Which airline? Granted you've got some time to wander between the terminals, but might help to say which airline. I think in addition to food courts there are some sit-down restaurants. Wouldn't say high-end ones per se; more like some local & national chains. There's also Wicker/something like that in the atrium area of T2 close to T1.

And you might want to check out this thread, as there are some restaurants nearby ORD you could go either taking the blue line or a taxi.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chica...rd-thread.html

Cheers.

SkiAdcock has pointed oyu in the right direction. With that length, you should have plenty of time to explore the entire airport (from T1-T3, even from T5 if coming off an international to domestic connection). However, the options will depend on your airline(s) and possibly routes (as UA operates out of both T1 and T2, and AA is in T3 and may connect to/from US in T2). Note that you can walk to all three domestic terminals airside, so you never have to exit the secure areas.

Google brought this up:

Food & Beverages at O'Hare

This is a bit older, but talks about seven standouts at ORD. Also has a breakdown by terminal of fast food, more leisurely places to eat, etc.

Eater Airport Dining Guide - O'Hare

Cheers.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I should have put down what airline I'll be flying. Brain fart! I'll be flying American. SkiAdcock, thanks for the links. I'll look through them. I'm certainly not looking for high end, just a nice place to sit down and have a meal. Local or chain is fine, just wanted some recommendations. This is the first without the family in quite a while, so I'm looking forward to it.

Tortas Frontera near gate K4 would be (and is when I have time to kill) my pick.

Sounds good, I'll have to look that up. Thanks for the recommendation.

If you do Tortas Frontera and are a beer guy, the Marisol is a great Belgian-style beer with some citrus and spice notes.

That was at the top of the list in the Eater article I linked to w/ the 7 standouts.

Cheers.

Be aware that the Tortas dishes that include beans are made exclusively with black beans (which I despise, YMMV) - there is no option for pintos. A real disappointment, as I do like the food at Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.

(As background, my mother, although US-born, spent her school-age years in Mexico and both she and her own mother never cooked with black beans).

+100

Tortas is my favorite restaurant at ORD- will always skip the lounge if it means I can stop for lunch at Tortas!

Serves as a reminder to all the Chicagoans that claim Rick Bayless has the best Mexican restaurants in the city. Tortas is by far the best restaurant in T3, but not representative of the best the city has to offer.

That said, the margaritas are dangerously good.

Ok, all this talk of Tortas is making me hungry.

Beans before a flight....uh ohhhh. Better take Beano! Sorry to be graphic.

Definitely something to think about. Hahahaha