I have never been but wer are going June 3-6 for concert. Couple recommendation requests... 1. Hotel and rental rates are high! Any thoughts on value stays or neighborhoods outside the city that are safe with easy access to downtown. 2. Food referrals best pizza, hot dog, meal in general? 3. Worth it to go to Cubs game? 4. Anything else that is cool?
The experience of a Cubs game at Wrigley is cool. Go early or stay late for the bar scene. Schaumburg might be an option to stay. I THINK there is an EL that goes downtown convenient to it.
Joe's Stone Crab is worth it. Note... this is not Joe's Crab Shack. https://www.joes.net/ Navy Pier is a nice attraction.
I live in Chicago. Depends on what you enjoy doing. For the pizza famous in Chicago go to Giordano’s and order a sausage and cheese pie. It isn’t actually what Chicago pizza is, but it’s what everyone outside the inner city thinks is Chicago pizza (Chicago pizza is actually squares). Go to the Gold Coast and State Street… see the beach and the Field Museum. The Brookfield Zoo is nice too. The suburbs have things to do but not anything special really. The actual city of Chicago is gritty and old and cool. Lots of Polish restaurants that are good. Be very careful in Downtown Chicago… 95% of Chicago is extremely safe, but the 5% that isn’t is the worst in the country and you cannot tell the bad parts by appearance. The most dangerous places look “okay” and are only a block of two from really nice areas like The Gold Coast. Best hotdogs are vendor dogs. Gold Coast Dogs are an okay chain. The real “food” of Chicago is hotdogs.
What do you think about the Ukranian Village area? We just are not gonna do enough in our rooms to justify spending to stay in downtown Chicago. There are some decent rentals in Ukranian Village or Humboldt area?
The Ukrainian Village is safe and interesting. I would avoid Humboldt Park. It is like the 4th-5th most dangerous area in Chicago. It has a lot of Hispanic gangs. Avoid Garfield Park (highest murder rate in USA), O-Block (you cannot get in here anyway, the police have it blocked off and only people on a lease can enter, Englewood, North Lawndale…. Don’t drive through these areas at all.
Chicago proper is a really cool city to visit or live in when your still relatively young. The suburbs are mediocre and over priced. I like areas like West and East Garfield Park and Lawndale but they are really really dangerous… still a lot of fun.
Great city. We visited last summer Definitely go to a cubs game Do the architecture cruise if you have time- second city comedy Art institute navy pier was good at night but more of a kids family thing I
Excellent, I see @Nook has replied to this thread already. He's the man when it comes to Chicago and the surrounding areas.
Probably the only 2 reasons I want to visit Chicago are to maybe see the CME and eat some Giordano's or Lou Malnati's pizza. One of my managers flew in a frozen Giordano's and reheated it in the oven for us at a get-together. That was around the time I realized there was another level of pizza. lol. Up until then, pizza was pizza to me. I was going to take an Amtrak up there a few years ago (just for giggles), but ... yeah.... not yet.
I was in Chicago for a couple of weeks once and I don't think I saw a single vegetable when I was there. Italian beef, maxwell street polish,and don't forget the Portillo's cake shake. Get ready for the meat sweats and pre-diabetes. I'm sure you can probably eat healthily somewhere in the city, but it you can, you really have to look for it.
Big city feel without the NYC downsides. I would probably only live DT. to this date still has the east brunch I’ve ever had at wild berry soemthing. The GF signed us up for the wait list (>1hr, said she was crazy) but was well worth it .
They're opening up a Portillo's not too far away from me and all the ex-Chicago fans are salivating and posting about how it's the holy land of restaurants. I swear that place is going to be like In N Out was when it was opening and a few months later you can walk in and be first in line. I don't think I've ever had a hot dog that was an "other worldly" experience, but wth, I may try it when it opens. Well, maybe way after it opens. Don't really care about "cake shakes", though. lol.
