Don’t just stand there... eat something! Chicon 2000 Dining Guide A guide to eating in Chicago for the members of the 58th World Science Fiction Convention By Leah A. Zeldes Art by Brad W. Foster A Taste of Food to Come Food for fandom....................................................................3 RTFM: How to use this guide.............................................4 Call first.............................................................................. 6 Yes, you need reservations................................................ 6 I can get it for you wholesale....................................... 7 Tipping is not optional.......................................................7 Remove propeller beanies before dining..........................8 Chicagraphy........................................................................... 9 Sorry, no air cars.................................................................12 Taxis.................................................................................. 12 Buses.................................................................................. 13 The L.................................................................................. 13 Trolleys..............................................................................14 Boats.................................................................................. 15 How to eat like a Chicagoan..............................................16 Pizza................................................................................... 16 Hot dogs and Italian beef.................................................18 Gyros and saganaki.............................................................22 Chicken Vesuvio........................................... 23 Shrimp de Jonghe............................................................. 24 The Big Meat....................................................................25 More Chicago favorites....................................................29 A little about Lettuce........................................................32 Best of the imports...............................................................33 Looking down on the city...................................................34 Close at hand........................................................................ 36 Illinois Center...................................................................39 Chicon Dining Guide 1 © 2000 Leah A. Zeldes 2 Restaurant rows...................................................................41 Randolph Market............................................................. 41 Rush Street........................................................................ 43 Navy Pier.......................................................................... 45 Chinatown......................................................................... 63 Greektown......................................................................... 76 Little Italy......................................................................... 83 Hurrah for the red, white and blue!................................ 48 Regional American.......................................................... 50 New American..................................................................53 Barbecue........................................................................... 58 Diners.................................................................................59 Oy, gevalt...................................................................................60 On the Pacific Rim...............................................................61 Beyond the Great Wall.....................................................61 The sushi nation................................................................67 Elsewhere in Asia............................................................. 68 The Auld Country................................................................70 On the Continent.................................................................71 Bon appetit........................................................................ 71 Opaa!.................................................................................75 Preeyatnava apeeteeta, Smacznego............................... 77 Ciao...................................................................................78 jOle!................................................................................... 85 For Latin lovers...................................................................86 jQue rico!......................................................................... 86 Nuevo Latino....................................................................88 The Subcontinent.................................................................89 Points East............................................................................ 90 Something fishy....................................................................91 Vegetable love and kosher cuisine...................................93 Caffeine and sugar fixes.....................................................95 The pause that refreshes....................................................96 In the night kitchen............................................................ 99 Whatever.......................................... 101 Food-plus.............................................................................104 Skiffy interest.................................................................. 104 Theme restaurants.......................................................... 107 Art.................................................................................... 108 Music...............................................................................108 Shopping..........................................................................109 More fast food.................................................................... 110 Let your fingers do the walking...................................... 111 Local delicacies.................................................................. Ill Groceries and party supplies.......................................... 113 Supermarkets................................................................... 113 Smaller markets...............................................................113 Liquor stores................................................................... 114 Convenience stores and drugstores.............................. 114 Acknowledgments..............................................................114 Food for fandom Welcome to Chicago, one of the world’s greatest restaurant cities. While its stockyards history long ago gave it a reputation as a top meat-and-potatoes destination, in the past several decades Chicago has grown immensely in the style, depth, breadth and richness of its varied cuisine. From the rarified, New American style of Charlie Trotter to the earthy, finger-licking flavor of Al’s No. 1 Italian Beef, Chicago offers something good for nearly every taste and pocketbook. Chicon attendees are lucky enough to be right in the midst of the greatest concentration of the best of Chicago’s restaurants. Indulge and enjoy! Chicago, Chicago, I’ll show you around Your guide through the galaxy of Chicago dining is a very minor neopro, a longtime Midwestern fan and fanzine editor (better known as Leah Zeldes Smith), a 15-year resident of Chicagoland and a professional foodie. For the past decade, I have been writing about the food and restaurants of Chicago for the Lerner Newspapers, a chain of 14 editions. I volunteered to produce this busman’s holiday because it struck me as a way to introduce my favorite people — fans — to my favorite restaurants. As a food writer and critic, however, my knowledge of Chicago restaurants is broad but not deep. There aren’t any places whose entire menus I know by heart. You don’t get to be a regular anywhere in my business. Except for the late-night diner down the street from my office, there are few eateries I get to more than two or three times a year. And there are many I never get to. Chicago has some 19,000 restaurants. Even as dedicated a foodie as I am — and I eat out four or five nights a week — can’t get to them all. There are well over 500 restaurants within a mile of the Hyatt, the area on which this guidebook concentrates. I have been to perhaps a third of them, many not very recently. This guide, therefore, comprises some of my own knowledge and personal recommendations, some gathered from fellow food writers and other foodies, and some information garnered from the restaurants themselves. We sent questionnaires to several hundred restaurants within roughly a mile of the hotels. In some cases, that’s all the information we have about a restaurant. I’ve left out places I know to be real losers — but I can’t claim that every eatery listed here is a winner, either. This is by no means a comprehensive guide. I’ve tried to include the nearby restaurants I know and like best — you’ll find those highlighted with TTT — and others I felt Chicon Dining Guide 3 © 2000 Leah A. Zeldes 4 worth your attention, as well as restaurants of types I felt fans would be looking for. I know not everyone is interested in haute cuisine. However, I confess that this guide is probably slanted more toward finer dining than not. The con is in a high-rent district, and that’s the type of place I get to most often in this neighborhood. Unfortunately, most of the cheap eats downtown cater