Personally, I say skip the food here...go up at night and have a few drinks. Celeb spottings are common, and I think the city's night lights are impressive.

My two bits:

- Meritage Cafe: Yummy, I enjoy dining on the patio on Summer evenings.
- Le Bouchon: Typical Bistro Fare, Dont get me wrong it's good, just there are many like it with less stuffiness.
- Pasteur: I like it, but are your guests open minded?
- Frontera Grill/Topolobampo (okay, kind of touristy): I like Adobo Grill better myself (less commercial feeling) and there's one is Wicker Park as well.
- Kaze: haven"t tried it yet


Of those 5, my favorite is Meritage. Here are a few others for your short list:
LeLan
Spring
Nine (yeah, I like the eye candy with my red meat)

Off the beaten path, there are quite a few good restaurants out there...

I visited the Green Zebra last week--excellent vegetarian food, along with a few meat selections (usually a chicken and a fish). A hip restaurant with attentive service on North Avenue, a short drive or cab ride from the Loop. While one can sometimes walk in, it's much better to reserve ahead:

www.greenzebrachicago.com

Because Chicago is such a great food town, unless you are looking for a specific signature Chicago restaurant, the Chicago Reader is a great online source for reviews searchable by cuisine, location, etc. This might be a good choice if you have guests who love food.

www.chicagoreader.com

On the casual side of things on the north side, Julius Meinl is an Austrian coffee house that has great coffee, a limited but good selection of dinner items (so one could have a tasty casual dinner there, if desired), its own pastry chef (think excellent pastries/desserts, such as one might hope to find in one of the old Viennese or Budapest coffee houses), and some music on Friday and Saturday evenings. No need to reserve.

http://www.meinl.com/southport/home.html

And if your guests are staying a bit west, towards Oak Park/Forest Park, La Piazza is a great choice for innovative & sometimes experimental Italian cuisine--plus there are a bar and jazz/music stage in the basement (call to see who will be playing--the customers downstairs tend to be there for the music and also have a drink, rather than coming there to drink). All of the food, from the pasta to the prosciutto, is made in the restaurant, and Chef Gaettano is often trying out a new idea. Because of the restaurant's popularity, reservations should be made ahead. One can take the el to the Des Plaines stop (or another line to the Harlem stop) and walk, but it is a bit of a hike--better to drive, if possible:

http://www.piazzacafe.com/

There are plenty of excellent Chicago restaurants other than those, of course...

-Hayden

It's on Chicago Avenue, but I'm willing to pardon the "out-of-towner." :D :D

I see this thread is a couple weeks old. Have the tourists come and gone? If so, where'd you take them?

My aunt was in town recently for a couple days, and she wanted ethnic food that she can't readily get in her neck of the woods ("down by the shore" NJ, about an hour from Manhattan and Philadelphia). We didn't want to break the bank, so we headed to Ethiopian Diamond on N. Broadway, "Little" Three Happiness in Chinatown and Perez on W. Randolph. Pasteur and any number of Indian restaurants up on Devon were also under consideration.

No wonder it was closer to the Loop than I thought. :) Chicago and Ashland, I guess.

It had been a couple years since I'd been by the Cabrini Green area, and although I knew there have been big changes there, it was something of a shock to see that the Cabrini DMZ near the old Montgomery Ward buildings is now redeveloped condos.

-Hayden

They'll be here next week.

Uniquely Chicago--Lunch at Hot Doug's.

Al's #1 Italian Beef on W. Ontario & Superdawg on N. Milwaukee. The original Pizzeria Uno is near Ontario & State. If you want Indian, you may want to try Gaylord's at 678 N. Clark.

I second Hot Doug's! ^

I took some visting friends to May Street Market last month and they (and I) really enjoyed it. Good food, good wine, nice ambience.

Are you seriously serious? I guess I can't speak to the Chicago Flat Top Grill, but there is one here in Fort Wayne that's TERRIBLE! I *always* have mystery food that comes off the grill that I did NOT put in my bowl. I am allergic to mushrooms. The last time I went there, I used the "white stick" for food allergies, because I'd been getting mystery food on a pretty consistent basis. Well, even with the "food allergy" stick, I still got a mushroom in my food somehow.

Thier advertising slogan is "What's in your bowl?" And every time, it's a mystery!!

Anyway, personally, I would stay away from Flat Top Grill.

To answer my OP, we went to Volare and Meritage. Had great meals at both.

Hey chigoeditor - is Ehtiopian Diamond the same place that used to be Addis Ababa?

Either way, was it any good?

Ethiopian in Chicago
 

Mams's is my favorite


Mama Desta's Red Sea
3216 N. Clark St., Chicago
Tel: (773) 935-7561

mmm...I tried Lou Malnati's when I came down for a Saturday and it was VERY good -It was a little bit of an uncomfortable walk from the el at night though (I didn't realize the Loop got so deserted at night)