If it’s open, Gold Coast dogs at Midway wouldn’t be that bad…
Personally, I’d choose the Field Museum’s dinosaurs (Sue the T-Rex) and other dead animals (killer man-eating lions of Tsavo) over the Shedd Aquarium’s living sea life, but that’s just my preference.
Gold Coast dogs is fine. They even do natural casing, which, as I said somewhere above, most in my neighborhood don’t even do anymore. They are a solid representation of a Chicago hot dog.
I’ll second this.
The Shedd is incredible, especially the basement. Living Sea or whatever it’s called.
I’ve lived here my whole life and spent years thinking it was Illuminati pizza. I kinda still do.
Yeah, as a kid (and now as an adult with kids), I loved the Shedd (and the Museum of Science and Industry, but that’s a few miles south and not part of the museum campus.)
Late to the thread and my suggestion isn’t even available but I’m just going to leave this here for posterity. I had 36 hours in Chicago once and got myself a Wrigley Field Tour (Cubs were out of town). It was the most amazing thing, one of the top experiences of my life. Just to stand in the same spaces as Babe Ruth had once stood…jaw-dropping. Granted, I’m a big baseball fan so of course that makes me biased but I heartily recommend the tour to anyone who can make it.
Unfortunately, tours are not available these days because of covid. But if you like baseball at all, please give it a try when you return!
Wrigley Field (dating from 1914) - even just to see it from the outside. Babe Ruth played only four games there (since the Cubs were an NL team, and the Yankees an AL team, so they never met except in the World Series of 1932, which is where Ruth “called the shot” - allegedly pointing at an area of the stands, and hitting the next pitch there). (Ruth also played for the Boston Braves (NL) in 1935, and played two games at Wrigley before announcing his retirement on June 1, 1935).
I think you will be very happy with Pequods. While an argument can be made that it’s not the most “authentic” example of Chicago-style, many locals consider it better. And for people who didn’t grow up on Chicago deep-dish I think it’ll be less jarring. Lots of people just don’t grok the deep dish stuff, it can be super divisive. Plus Pequods doesn’t feel like a TGIFridays. Most of the Deep Dish chains have gone corporate and the dining rooms are pretty damn sterile feeling. The days of the beat up, graffitied booths and baked in pizza smells are mostly gone. Pequods is still family owned, in a neighborhood and has a authentic sports bar-vibe shoehorned into a row house. Yeah, the wait can be long but I’d argue that this is a much more enjoyable experience even apart from the pizza.
One other suggestion. If your daughter is really fired up about astronomy and space flight you may want to slot in a visit to the Henry Crown Space Center - Museum of Science and Industry. I haven’t been to the Adler in a long time so I wouldn’t want to try to compare the two, but the Crown center has some really amazing artifacts. The exhibit is honestly a bit old, but you can see an authentic space capsules that actually flew missions and learn a lot about the early space age.
I rest my case (spoiler: it is Pequod’s Pizza they are talking about below):
You have a limited time so you must prioritize your choices and plan your time carefully.
For example, if you went to a baseball game, there would be little time for anything else. That’s one reason to choose Lincoln Park Zoo over Brookfield. Also admission is free (Brookfield is about $25).
People are recommending various choices for hot dogs, Italian beef, and pizza. I’ll stay out of that discussion. Instead, if you have a second dinner, I recommend Chinatown. It isn’t that far from Midway. I’m not up on which restaurants are good.
Finally, remember that like at Disney, you can’t do everything.
Have fun!
Oh man, restaurants in Chinatown came up as a topic. I have…opinions, guys. (All of these restaurants are walking distance from the Red Line stop.)
- Like spicy food? You should stop in a Sichuan restaurant. Lao Sze Chuan is probably the most famous (and it’s a chain, so you could conceivably visit the one on Michigan Ave), but I’m partial to Chef Xiong on Archer. Favorites: Chongqing chicken, garlic eggplant, Sichuan beef in spicy soup. Really, though, everything is good here. You better like it spicy, though, and Sichuan cuisine adds the numbing Sichuan peppercorn to the mix too.
- Want the hot pot experience (big boiling pot in front of you, you order various things which you boil yourself in the pot)? Happy Lamb, on Wentworth.
- How about kind of a fast food kind of vibe, with what could conceivably be called “Chinese hamburgers”? Xi’an Cuisine sells these bun things called roujiamo (肉夹馍) which are just great. They have tables for sit-down dining but we usually get these for takeout. You could even eat while you walk around. Their noodles are pretty good too.
- For some Hong Kong diner style food, Ken Kee recently remodeled and it looks great (although we haven’t been since the remodel).
- If you want some authentic, handmade dumplings, Qing Xiang Yuan (just call them QXY) has you covered. They’re a bit pricey–making dumplings by hand is labor-intensive–but quite good. Only place I know that makes them better is my mother-in-law, and no, you can’t visit her instead.
- MingHin is probably still the standard for dim sum, although we usually go outside Chinatown proper to Tang’s which is not walkable to (it’s in kind of an industrial area).
- For dessert I can’t think of a better bakery than Chiu Quon. If ice cream is more your thing, Legend Tasty House is fun, though they get pretty busy, or they did before ::waves hands vaguely::
We’re in Chinatown frequently, and we’ve still probably only tried like a quarter of the restaurants. Tons of places there. I didn’t even get into sushi, or ramen, or Korean BBQ, or Korean fried chicken…
Have you been to Chengdu Impression on North Halsted? Curious what an aficionado thinks of the place.
Also, do you have a favorite American-Chinese takeout favorite or two?
I live about a mile from Chinatown in Chicago and I have yet to find a place that is really great for food.
They are all ok but nothing to write home about. More, each seems a copycat on the other. Nothing stands out. None are unique. The food is fine but…meh. I seriously doubt if I got the same dish from ten places you could tell one from another.
My favorite Chinese food in the city is Duck Duck Goat but it ain’t cheap and it is not in Chinatown.
I’ve had delivery from them and their food is just like every other Chinese delivery. Same, same, same.
I think there is one cookbook they all use. Also, for some reason, they all suck at making fried rice but will charge you a fortune for it anyway.
Put another way…their food is ok. Just tasty enough. Nothing to wow you but you will still eat it.
Sorry, I haven’t been to (or heard of) Chengdu Impression. Looks like typical Sichuan stuff but this South Sider doesn’t eat that far north that often.
Whack-a-Mole, do you go to the typical Cantonese-style places or do you branch out? I mentioned six very different restaurants (plus a bakery), which are nothing like each other. There’s more to Chinese food (and Chinatown) than fried rice.
I live fairly close to there and I think I’ll check it out. Menu looks good, I’m in no way an expert. I had a friend here from Hong Kong so I let him pick restaurants, but unfortunately he’s moved
Some good discussion (&photos) here, though maybe a bit dated:
LTHForum.com - Chengdu Impression - Sichuan Cuisine in Lincoln Park
Note there is a second page of posts.
I brought it up because I saw it featured on several of the Chicago foodie blogs and TV shows a few years ago not long after it opened. I went once and was thoroughly intimidated by the menu. It supposedly was a pretty authentic take on Sichuan food with a lot of extra spicy options. I figured it was a menu that had more in common with Chinatown joints than the typical takeout joint specializing in Orange Chicken and Kung Pao.
That said, looking at the menu today hints that maybe they’ve adjusted the menu to be a fair bit more accessible to us white bread Americans. I don’t recall there being sushi or General’s chicken on the menu back when I went, but it’s been a long time.
This seems relevant…