I’m heading to Champaign, Illinois next week for business, and looking for something to keep me entertained.
Any good restaurants or cool night spots I should checkout?
If it’s still there, Pieful Delight! They serve some sort of lunch entrees, but who cares? It’s all about the pie! When get there, buy pie.
I wanted to get quiche the other day. It looks like Pieful Delight has become a Mexican restaurant.
Hopefully there will be something good on teevee that week. 
Been there. Nothing much to do, sorry to say. You may want to check out if there are any doings at the university, but this being the end of the semester, that’s probably also a dead end.
As I recall, Li’l Porgy’s is a great place if you like barbecue.
Yeah, the semester ended about two weeks ago, so you won’t get to test your reaction time and your car’s brakes with undergrads darting out into traffic.
Nope, not much here.
There’s a really bitchin’ Arby’s near University and Cunningham though. 
Is Papa Del’s still open? When I was in Bell Labs a guy in my group, who also had attended the U of I, brought back pies for all the alums.
Yup, Papa Del’s is still going strong. Opened up a new location, too. Great place.
You can stop by my lab and wash NMR tubes for me 
That’s weird, I posted almost the exact same thread more than a year ago.
The town centre’s quite nice, with some good bars and restaurants. The rest… eh, whatever.
You can drive by Roger Ebert’s home and look at the new plaque in front of it:
http://www.iconocast.com/EB000000000000142/I3/News1.htm
If that doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what will.
My mother claims that once when she was in Champaign for a business trip (mid-1990’s) and went into a local bar for lunch, she was alarmed to see a porno being shown on the televisions. Now, my mom’s bar for “pornography” is set a bit lower than mine, so it might not have been exactly hardcore. Still, whenever I think of Champaign, I think of it as a magical place where the bars play porn movies in the middle of the day.
There was a pretty good Korean restaurant, Ari Rang or A Ri Rang, just north of campus (I can’t remember the name of the street.) It was kind of a dive, but the food was good. I’m going to eat there in July if it’s still open.
Campustown is pretty lame, but downtown Champaign rocks! Take University Avenue about three miles west of campus and there are a host of restaurants, bars and clubs, all within a three or four block radius.
This site gives you a good idea of what’s going on.
Looking for a good steak? Try Jim Gould
First-rate cocktails and eclectic food? Radio Maria
First-rate beer bar? Try The Blind Pig
Live Music? Try The Highdive
Elegant bar with people-watching? Boltini
Sushi and fusion? Kofusion
Great small plates in a cool atmosphere? Cafe Luna
All of these places are within walking distance of each other, and there are many more. Just walk around downtown Champaign. You’ll find a lot to like.
unless you’re looking for a $4 pitcher of bad beer, in which case I recommend G-ho’s. Sometimes I drink in the basement there. Few undergrads.
Downtown Urbana is pretty empty. The Office is closed, but Crane Alley has a nice beer selection. There are a few small townie bars that often have small performances.
Damn my poor memory–my dad moved to Champaign-Urbana just over two years ago with his job, and I was just down there visiting him last freakin’ weekend, and hell if I can remember the name of most of the tasty places to eat.
There’s a good Thai place I can’t remember the name of, and a good bakery/restaurant with delicious crepes I can’t remember the name of… Ah! But there’s the Courier Cafe in Urbana, which is where we always go for breakfast on Sunday morning.
I’ve done my share of lab bitch work, but thanks for the offer. 
I will be on the actual campus a couple days, and it will be nice to see the lab facilities.
Downtown Champaign is pretty nice in a Main Street U.S.A. kind of way. The Blind Pig was a favorite when I was in college. They used to have a blues/jazz band in there performing on Saturdays and some great obscure beers. The area is small, compact and a little limited, but it’s a nice reprieve from the antiseptic suburban hell that most small Midwestern cities suffer from. You can get a break from the Wal-Marts and strip malls at least.
Campus is absolutely worth a trip. It’s summer and the action will be pretty tame as a result, but the weather will probably be terrific and the Quad will be lush and beautiful. Unlike almost any campus of comparable size the U of I is compact and entirely walkable. The entire Engineering Quad to the North is new and high-tech with some cool sculpture and architecture. The cleaned up Boneyard is a huge improvement from my days there. The Main Quad is just across Green Street and features all the postcard buildings and views of campus. Altgeld Hall is gorgeous in an old Gothic way and the Student Union will be worth a stroll and might have some tourist info. Pretty much all the campus buildings are within 3 or 4 blocks of the Quads in every direction, take some time to look around. It’s very pretty and exemplifies the stereotypical American college landscape better than any other.
Campustown, immediately West of the Main Quad between Green St. to the North and Armory St. to the South, will probably be pretty quiet. Sadly many of the old dive bars and coffee houses have been bought up and remodeled in the last decade making the experience a bit more dull than it once was. Kams, C.Os and Joe’s are still as they were but aren’t worth the stop when school is out. Murphy’s used to be the ideal little hole in the wall now looks like a TGI Fridays. Legends is OK for food and pool. If you just want a cheap lunch and a beer and want to see the student apartments and Fraternity/Sorority houses it might be worth a short walk.
If you have a car and want to get out in nature for an afternoon I cannot recommend Allerton Park highly enough. Great gardens and sculpture.
Yeah, the Highdive is one of the great rooms to see live music.
But unlikely muck will be going on in the middle of the week during summer.
The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (on campus) often has good concerts, and the Krannert Art Museum (also on campus) is a surprisingly good museum. Of course, if that’s not your kind of thing, it’s not fun at all.
When I was in vet school there, I enjoyed Nitaya Thai in downtown Champaign. Is that the one you’re thinking of?
Another hint/warning: if you are a big fan of chain restaurants, the parts of Prospect and Neil streets north of I-74 will be your cup of tea. Otherwise, it is an area to avoid.