Food and jewelry recs in Chicago? First time visit

[blingbunny10]

I'm going to Chicago for a few days, staying at a couple hotels in The Loop and River North. Anybody have any must visits or jeweler recs? I will take a few colored stones along in hopes of getting some reasonably priced settings. My list so far:

-pizza at Lou Malnati's
-steak at Chicago Cut
-hot chocolate at Katherine Anne's
-Millenium Park
-Diamond Zone(?)

Any great coffee shops or cocktail bars? Any other jewelers I can pop in to see without making an appointment? I reached out to DZ as I've enjoyed working with them online, but it seems they aren't available while I'm in town. Please share if you have any recs!

 

[ecf8503]

Dimend Scaasi?

 

[blingbunny10]

Dimend Scaasi?

I've heard great things, but I think they don't sell settings if you don't buy a diamond through them?

 

[marymm]

Dimend Scaasi?

I've heard great things, but I think they don't sell settings if you don't buy a diamond through them?

I believe they have an exception if you let them know you are PriceScope member - at least, I know this was true as of December 2014...

 

[blingbunny10]

Dimend Scaasi?

I've heard great things, but I think they don't sell settings if you don't buy a diamond through them?

I believe they have an exception if you let them know you are PriceScope member - at least, I know this was true as of December 2014...

Good to know - worth a try! Thanks, marymm.

 

[blingbunny10]

Also just found out one of our hotels is 3-4 blocks from the Jeweler's Row district (!), so I will likely wander around these shops if it's not too miserably cold.

 

[Elizabeth35]

Eataly is fun for a casual meal and glass of wine.
Also recommend Park Grill which overlooks the Bean.

 

[ame]

For a cocktail check out Dot Dot Dash. It is a tiki-style bar. Kinda pricey but the drinks have a LOT of booze, and it's a fun atmosphere. We went around 4-5pm on a weekday so it was way less crowded. You go in through an alley and then down to the bar.

We also found Doc B's really had nice drinks as well. Their squash soup is THE BEST I have ever had, as well. Since I rarely drink, for me to like two places up there, is saying a lot. There is a Doc B's on Walton right across from the entrance to Bloomingdales (and next to that Doc B's is a Hendrickx Belgian bakery--their macarons are THE SHIT.) and another right outside the Grand street entrance to Nordstrom. I think it's like Grand and Lake or something like that. There's also an Eataly right there IIRC.

I think Giordano's is better pizza than Lou's btw. There is one nearish the bean.

Wildberry Cafe is great for breakfast as well, also nearish the bean. No reservations, and the earlier you can get there the less you will wait.

My cousin lives up there and always talks about a wine bar called Purple Pig which I think is right by the mecca Nordstrom. She said it has nice desserts and appetizers to go with the wine. I have never been bec I don't drink much, but not a wine person.

Oak Street between Michigan and Rush has some mega bling if you want to check out the honkers. Graff, etc.

Other great steak meals we've had there:
Morton's on Wacker (OH,MY.GOD. But it's a pretty penny. Plan for at least $100-$150 a head.)
Gibson's on Rush near Oak, it's like caddy corner to Hermes (also insane. We go there for lunch instead.)

 

[asscher_girl]

I go to Chicago once a year for work and before I even book my fights/hotel, I book food reservations I love eating in Chicago!!

Here's a few:
NoMi
Mercadito
NAHA
Pump Room
The Publican
Mercat a la Planxa
Purple Pig

For late night fun check out The Redhead Piano bar and for late night night drinks stop at Pops for Champagne bar.

Enjoy!

 

[blingbunny10]

Thanks elizabeth35, ame, and asscher_girl for all good info! Eataly looks like a fun spot for wine/nibbles before dinner. I wondered about Hendrickx, The Publican, and Purple Pig - good to hear they get high marks from you ladies. For pizza, I was looking at Lou's, Giordano's and Gino's East. I will have to try them all eventually, and would have on this trip, but I did not think my body could handle all three in one weekend!

Any more jeweler recs? I plan to swing by RL Jewelers - Curious if any PSers have heard of them? I'm hoping they turn out to be the IDJ of Chicago for me.

 

[ame]

REizza:
I am fat and I love pizza. I have been to all three you mentioned, as well as the original UNO, and we go back to Giordano's just about every time now. It's our favorite (though, really, I still love Uno too, it's just always got a freaking killer wait when we go. Every. Time.) There's enough locations of Giordanos for us to not be worried about a wait and I think I recall them having a call-ahead thing that was more effective than the others. Lou's let you do it when you arrived, but not prior to. We often stay at the Hard Rock at Wacker and Michigan and there's one right across the street from the hotel, so we go to that one most often. It's also right by Wildberry Cafe for breakfast. That was one of my favorite scores.

Hendrickx was a flukey thing. We had just left the Walton St. Doc B's and were about to go into the Bloomingdales when I looked over and saw it, and was like "my cousin told me they have amazing pastries." We went in and I saw the Macarons and I was like "oh god. I must have." They are huge, and they are AMAZING. I bought 8 and they didn't last the day.

I liked Eataly, but that is a place that is dangerous for me since I don't live there. I want to buy all of the things, and I don't have a place to put them right away. I want one here.

I am pretty sure Mercadito is the place my cousin took us, as they know the owners, and I recall it being AMAZEBALLS. Like, oh dear god.

I usually only stop in the fancy pants jewelers up there, and then Dimend Scassi. I went one more place, they had a lot of antiques, and I cannot recall the name of it nor can I recall where it was. We stumbled into it. I haven't really checked anything else out.

 

[blingbunny10]

Haha, ame - I love that response. Well, being in Chicago has stretched my stomach a bit. After breakfast today, I made burritos with our leftover steak, then we ate a ton of fried food and sat around drinking beer and champagne all afternoon, topped off by ice cream sundaes. Now I'm waiting on deep dish pizza to be delivered to our hotel.

We visited a few places on Jewelers Row and I will post a detailed account to help anyone else interested in Chicago jewelers, but here is a teaser:

 

[madelise]

My Diamond Zone (eBay jeweler) is in Chitown!

 

[blingbunny10]

Thanks, madelise - I had reached out to DZ before the trip, but they didn't have any time available for me.

I did visit a few other places and am sharing here, in case it might be helpful to others in future:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/a-visit-to-jewelers-row-chicago.219788/#post-3991730#p3991730']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/a-visit-to-jewelers-row-chicago.219788/#post-3991730#p3991730[/URL]