Any good places downtown that aren't overlly expensive (probably not over $150 for the both of us to eat)?

Any good breakfast recommendations?

How about bars on a saturday night?

Wife and I are heading down for the weekend.

Bongo Room at Wabash and Roosevelt for breakfast. Or, if you don't mind leaving downtown, Orange is at Clark & Belmont.

Dinner downtown for $75/person is totally doable. There are so many restaurants, I don't know where to start. La Sardine is at Carpenter and Washington and that's excellent French food. Actually, most of the West Randolph Street restaurants are good.

O'Callaghan's is at State and Hubbard.
Cal's is dingy and it's at Wells and Van Buren. I think.
My favorite bars are all north of downtown: Gingerman Tavern, Delilah's, Simon's, Schubas.

Where downtown are you staying?

There's actually another Orange at 75 W Harrison downtown.

Sheraton..i think

First time to the city (other than the Airport)

The one on N Water? I live next door.

Not sure, my wife took care of the reservations. Probably.

When do you move to SF?

End of July.

shmoo, what floor are you on?

Dinner: If you dig sushi, our favorite is Bluefin ($80 for the two of you with booze) and our first choice when we come back to town.

Le Bouchon is also great french food. The Halfshell for the best seafood in town (it's a divey peanut shells on the floor kind of place, but don't get it twisted, it's the jam, about $50-70 depending on how much booze you toss back).

Duke's (2616 N. Clark) for a top shelf burger (you can toss back a couple 1/2 lb. Stockyard Angus with a crazy variety of window dressings plus salads, chili, and beers/booze, you can get out of there from anywhere $30 up for the pair, but you can do serious damage on beer there, it's comfy).

Tapas at Cafe Iberrico, Costa Rican steak at Iberrico, shit, there's a ton of great food in town, i just wanted to give you some options outside of fine dining that are more just fine eating.

If you like grilled meat, you can't go wrong with Weber Grill Restaurant (definitely over wildfire), but if you want the gluttonous experience of hours of endless wonderful meat, go to Fogo De Chao ($160 for the pair before booze) but it's an all you can eat brazilian steakhouse or churrascaria. Eat light so you can marathon it for a good 4-5 hours.

Breakfast:Anytime of day is a good time for breakfast, when coming down 94, try and get hungry around the Half Day Rd. Exit, and go to Walker Brothers Pancake house. If you decide to go here, PM me and I'll walk you through the menu by memory.

I like Nookies for the dixie benedicts and smokehouse fritatta. Also, primo fresh squeezed orange juice. Wishbone has good crabcakes. Reza's, on Sundays has a $20 all you can eat champagne brunch that is without a doubt, pretty fucking killer.

Bars: what kind of vibe are you looking for? There's too fucking many bars to pick from, but all of my favorites are off the beaten path and far away from meatheads. If you like good beer selections with great bar food and no bands, try smallbar, quenchers, or kuma's corner. If you want bands with your tasty beverage and/or chow, check www.metromix.com and search for what bands are playing. Schuba's is great. If you're into bicycling, check out handlebar for great vegetarian-biased food.

Generally, the further west you get from the lake, especially west of 94, the farther away from yuppies and meatheads you get, and the food gets hipper and more multicultural. You can get around by train pretty easy, there's a trip planner at www.transitchicago.com.

Have fun, it's the greatest city in america.

Manny's dammit, Manny's

i love manny's. and moon's. and edna's. the list goes on forever

but they've only got a weekend, and the want to live high on the hog. And they may or may not include corned beef.

This place called Avec is so good...mmmm....i need a trip to Chi.

yeah halfshell is outstanding

Thirty-eight. Why?

What do you have a view of?

I can see right in your bathroom window.

hm. did you like that show I put on for you this morning?


seriously. what's your LR window looking at?

I can see the ferris wheel and the movie theater. I usually can't see fireworks though.

I just ate with some friends at Café Iberico a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty damn good -- tapas. And cheap!
Four of us walked out of there, stuffed, for under $60 (pre-tip).

hit a byob place like Tango Sur (argentinian steakhouse) on southport or Las Tablas (colombian steakhouse) on lincoln. their food is awesome and your bill will be hella cheap since you brought liquor.

schubas is in that area too, should you want to catch a show or go there for drinks. schubas also has a fantastic brunch menu.

As long as people are throwing out places outside of the downtown area:
Black Diamond on Broadway, around Argyle has the best Ethiopian food I've ever had. Get yerself a tibs sampler and you'll be very, very happy.

i cannot eat ethiopian food outside of washington, dc. the quality and quantity of their restaurants is unreal. thanks for the rec, if i feel like caving in, though.

This I did not know. Next time I'm in DC I'll make it a point to have some Ethiopian. But, as an FYI, this place is light years ahead of any of the places on Clark St.