Fun places for lunch in Chicago??

[somethingshiny]

We are going to the Field Museum on Saturday for JT''s 4th bday. I need ideas for places to go for lunch. We won''t be on any time limit but I do want to stay in the same general vicinity for ease of travel. A fun or interesting place would be great!

There will be 4 adults and 1 child. Thoughts? TIA!

 

[miraclesrule]

I don''t know about "fun", but you can''t beat the cheese deep dish at Pizano''s. I am still dreaming about it. I salivate when I think about it...seriously. It''s crazy.

Brown Eyed Girl or some other Chicago folks may be able to give you suggestions. I had a blast on the last night of our trip at the Italian Village. OMGosh our waiter had us laughing the entire night. It was awesome. I love Chicago.

The Park Grill is nice, but you''ll want to strap on some ice skates and go for a spin, so I don''t think I''d take a child there. It was bad enough for me to watch and not skate, much less a child.

I hope you have ordered your tickets in advance. Well, maybe it only sold out early when we were there because it was Valentine''s Day Weekend and they were running a special. Anyway, food for thought....er no pun intended.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 2/22/2010 9:58:06 PM
Author: miraclesrule
I don''t know about ''fun'', but you can''t beat the cheese deep dish at Pizano''s. I am still dreaming about it. I salivate when I think about it...seriously. It''s crazy.


Brown Eyed Girl or some other Chicago folks may be able to give you suggestions. I had a blast on the last night of our trip at the Italian Village. OMGosh our waiter had us laughing the entire night. It was awesome. I love Chicago.


The Park Grill is nice, but you''ll want to strap on some ice skates and go for a spin, so I don''t think I''d take a child there. It was bad enough for me to watch and not skate, much less a child.


I hope you have ordered your tickets in advance. Well, maybe it only sold out early when we were there because it was Valentine''s Day Weekend and they were running a special. Anyway, food for thought....er no pun intended.

Unfortunately, I don''t know how much help I''ll be since my favorite places downtown are 1) on the nicer end (i.e. Le Colonial); 2) sushi; 3) tiny places (like Toro Sushi, my favorite restaurant). We tend to go downtown for special occasions mostly. Um....I don''t know if they do lunch, but The Melting Pot could be fun, especially for kids! Yummy chocolate fondues! And the Grand Luxe is big, has good portions and an extensive menu, and it''s at a great location on Michigan Avenue. It''s not anything special as far as food goes (it''s basically the big brother to the Cheesecake Factory - same company owns both) but nice for ambience and you can take the 146 bus from the Museum Campus (northbound) straight up Michigan Avenue and it''ll drop you off right there. There''s not much near the Museum Campus unfortunately - the closest is the South Loop and you''ll want to take a bus, taxi or drive there, so you if you are, you might as well go somewhere else on Michigan or downtown. I also know of a great tapas place but that''s probably not the best for a kid. Hmm...let me think about it some more!

Oh and if you want pizza, Gino''s East is supposed to be great. Giordano''s is pretty good too for Chicago style deep dish but it takes FOREVER to get your food.

Miracles, I went back and ice skated this weekend and had a blast! Unfortunately, brunch was only on the weekend and I was craving some of that caramel monkey bread from the Park Grill and we went on Friday

I haven''t ice skated since my first and only time in 5th grade where I fell about 6 times in a row and quit. Apparently my coordination has improved - no rail-holding and I didn''t fall once! Woot!

 

[miraclesrule]

I''m so jealous. I wanted to walk right back over to the grill and rent some skates. I''m glad that you had a chance to skate in the rink. I wish i would have been able to visit La Colonial, but I guess I will have to wait for the Spring. Although I will probably be in Maui at that time.

Pizano''s is the best deep dish pizza...bar none. Don''t let anyone tell you otherwise. You can trust me...I''m a foodie.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 2/23/2010 12:58:13 AM
Author: miraclesrule
I''m so jealous. I wanted to walk right back over to the grill and rent some skates. I''m glad that you had a chance to skate in the rink. I wish i would have been able to visit La Colonial, but I guess I will have to wait for the Spring. Although I will probably be in Maui at that time.


Pizano''s is the best deep dish pizza...bar none. Don''t let anyone tell you otherwise. You can trust me...I''m a foodie.

I''m going to go again, I think. I didn''t realize how much FUN skating is! $10 for skates, no time limit, isn''t bad at all, and great location!

Ooh Maui!! I''m so jealous!

 

[Callisto]

I would second finding a pizza place. I;m not sure how far all the common ones are from the field museum but they''re all delicious and almost always kid friendly.

 

[somethingshiny]

Pizza seems to be the consensus. We will be driving. (I''m a bad mom and tried to get train tickets too late. The one train we needed was already sold out...) I''m sure we could just enter pizza places into the GPS.


OR should we take a bus or taxi for lunch and leave the car at the Museum?? We''ll break for lunch and then return to the Museum after.

 

[Elmorton]

SS, go online and look for the trolley schedule. I don''t know if they run it during the winter, but my MIL swears by it when she''s out at the museums. There''s really nada for lunch out by the museums, so I''d run back to Michigan and go from there. If it were me, I''d leave the car at the museum and taxi or shuttle around downtown for lunch, since parking can be a pain (though if you scope out garages before hand, it''s not too bad - there is something to be said for the square grid streets system).

 

[somethingshiny]

Thanks El. I''ll look at the schedule and see if we can leave the car parked for the day!

 

[Morgie44]

I'm not sure if you are looking for a specifically 'Chicago' restaurant or a chain is ok, but there is also Rainforest Cafe and Ed Debevic's. If you are going for Pizza, Gino's East would be my pick for most kid friendly, because you can write all over the walls. The Signature Room (95th floor of the Hancock Tower) has a pretty good lunch buffet that is reasonable (compared to regular dinner prices) I am not sure if they have the lunch buffet on weekends though. I think it is around 20? and your son will probably get a kick out of the view and elevator ride. Heaven on Seven is also a kind of fun place.
As for transportation I would definitely park at the museum and cab it.

ETA - I think that the free trolleys have been discontinued, but I could be wrong.

 

[winternight]

Spiaggia (sp?) has a great cafe for lunch at the end of Michigan Avenue, its excellent Italian food at a reasonable price for the quality.