nsxtasy

You can drive from Andersonville to the Gold Coast in 15 minutes if it's not rush hour. The ride from the Berwyn el stop to the Chicago/State el stop is normally around 30-40 minutes. However, it's worth adding that for the next three years, CTA trains on the Red Line will be taking a lot longer due to a construction project, as noted here. If it weren't for that, I would agree with LAZ's suggestion of looking anywhere along the Red Line, including Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Rogers Park, etc., as well as Evanston on the Purple Line, with its extraordinarily diverse dining options. BTW, I'm surprised you didn't mention M. Henry in Andersonville, for brunch...

Iron Chef America Flay vs. Bowles (Chocolate Battle) FOOD 60 02/15/2007 8:00 PM Iron Chef America Flay vs. Bowles (Chocolate Battle) FOOD 60 02/15/2007 11:00 PM Iron Chef America Flay vs. Bowles (Chocolate Battle) FOOD 60 02/17/2007 6:00 PM Iron Chef America Flay vs. Bowles (Chocolate Battle) FOOD 60 02/17/2007 10:00 PM Iron Chef America Flay vs. Bowles (Chocolate Battle) FOOD 60 02/18/2007 1:00 AM

Here are some search results for Madison: Munchin' in Madison Madison, WI report What's Wisconsin about food in Madison? Madison WI suggestions Madison, WI report And here are a couple for Iowa City: Eastern Iowa Favorites Iowa City BTW, I doubt that Racine is on your way to Madison or Iowa City, but if you are going up along Lake Michigan, I can give you some suggestions in Milwaukee as well as Sheboygan...

I believe the $240 in California includes gratuity, but the $250 in New York does not. As to whether it's "fair", that is a value judgment and is entirely subjective. I have paid high prices for Mr. Keller's food, and have felt quite satisfied with the value. I have also paid high prices for Mr. Achatz's food, and did not feel it was worth it. IMHO, of course. I agree - and that's a lot of what they will be paying for. In any case, I am looking forward to his restaurant being here. Whenever there are more dining choices, we all benefit.

You're probably right, but there are other places (in addition to Masa) that are way above the already-sky-high Alinea. For example, the prix fixe at per se is currently $250, and Keller's other place in California is up to $240 now. It was less than half that much when I ate their only three years ago.

My first reaction to this was, could it be that much worse than Alinea? At Alinea, the small tasting menu is $135, the big tasting menu is $195, and the typical bottom line ends up being $300 or more (sometimes much more, depending on your taste in alcohol). Then I looked on the website for his restaurant in Vegas, which says, "Six course tasting menu: $225/person; Sixteen course tasting menu: $360/person". It seems to me that there is now a very top tier of restaurants which are charging simply for the name recognition, rather than the food or the experience. You can have a wonderful dining experience at some of the nicest places in town, with some of the best food, for under $100. It's getting more and more difficult to justify places that are now charging three or more times the price.

Last year I ate at L'Antibes, in the Short North, and loved it - elegant but intimate and friendly. I've also loved Worthington Inn every time I've been there. I was delighted to see both listed in the top ten places in town in the recent Dispatch article. This topic is a few years old. I see several mentions of Maisonette in Cincinnati, which was a wonderful place, but unfortunately closed its doors in July 2005.

AFAIK, each location of a Levy's restaurant is a separate entity, in terms of menu, atmosphere, concept, etc. So I wouldn't expect Fulton's on the River in Chicago to necessarily have any more similarity to the Fulton's Crab House in Florida as it would to, say, Bistro 110 in Chicago, aside from the fact that both specialize in seafood. Like Josh, I've heard lots of good reports about the seafood at Fulton's. Right now it's sitting at number eight on my list of nice restaurants I need to try.

In the location of the current Seasons restaurant, or somewhere else and competing against Seasons?

According to the press, the Ritz closed the Dining Room as a restaurant because they wanted to use it for banquet functions. The possibility of a suburban location is intriguing. Remember, when Banchet decided to locate Le Francais in Wheeling, it was because he wanted to make it too inconvenient for convention-goers, so his customer base would consist more of those with a true interest in the food.

Given Chicago's plethora of French and fine dining restaurants, and its relatively recent history as home of two restaurants considered by some as the best in the country - Le Francais years ago when Jean Banchet was at the helm, and Alinea today - I don't find it surprising at all. And I'm not sure how one city in the States would be considered more or less "French" than another, except perhaps for one which was once owned by France (e.g. New Orleans).

Worrisome indeed. I think it might help to put these changes into the proper context, that of suburban hotel restaurants. Not all that many years ago, it used to be that hotel restaurants, and particularly those in the suburbs, were dreadful; they were able to rely on their "captive audience" of guests at the hotel, for dine-in meals, in-room meals, and banquets, all of which were sufficient to sustain their business. There were exceptions, places that were good enough that they had a significant customer base of local residents (e.g. Allgauer's in Northbrook, Don's Fishmarket in Skokie), but those were indeed merely exceptions. Over recent years, people have become more knowledgeable about food, and more demanding of quality. Many hotels were wise enough to see this as a business opportunity, that they could bring in more customers (and more revenue/profits) by improving the quality of their fare. (And, incidentally, restaurants were not the only location for this phenomenon, as anyone who has traveled through many commercial airports has found.) So more and more hotels decided to upgrade their food. Some hotels did it as part of their own existing in-house restaurants, while others made arrangements with freestanding restaurants and chains to open locations with a well-known restaurant name inside their hotels (e.g. Gibson's in Rosemont, Ruth's Chris in Northbrook). Keep in mind, the entire concept here is not just better quality food, but food that is so good that it will make the restaurant a dining destination for local residents. The point I am making is, if these hotels want to be true to this concept, they should be catering to the finer tastes of the foodies in their community, and not to those of the hotel guests. There are enough food-knowledgeable people in the suburbs (and coming from the city) to support some of the finest restaurants in the entire Chicago area in a location like Wheeling (as proven by Le Francais). There's no reason to "dumb down" to their hotel guests.

Well, in all fairness, I interpret this not as a "Philly burger" but rather, a "burger that mimics a Philly cheesesteak". IOW, it's the cheesesteak that's associated with Philadelphia, not the burger. And yes, Philadelphia is already associated with that sandwich. You mean, like... Shawn McClain, in Green Zebra, offers the "UNcheeseburger", consisting of a patty of ground portobello mushroom with bleu cheese, sprouts, parsnips, mango ketchup and baby frisee, on a bun of Coconut Inside Out Roll. Gibson's Steakhouse offers the "big porterhouse burger", consisting of a 72-ounce burger of chopped porterhouse steak on an entire loaf of bread. Grant Achatz, of Alinea, offers the "Alineaburger" on his tasting menu, consisting of a white truffle burger so small it fits on a teaspoon, for a $75 surcharge on top of the $195 regular price of the tasting menu. You mean, like that?

Well, don't forget, the hamburger is one of the few foods (along with the frankfurter, and Brussels sprouts) whose name actually comes from a city (Hamburg, Germany), so in a way, every hamburger is an homage to that city. Also, several famous hamburger chains can trace their lineage to specific cities; the first McDonald's was right here in Des Plaines, and Wichita can claim the first White Castle, way back in 1921. But I've never heard anyone refer to "New York style burgers" or "Chicago style burgers" the way they do for other foods. The history of the hamburger (and its name) are described in Wikipedia, here.

Oh, I agree! No disrespect towards molto e, either, of course. BTW, the link posted above to the 2005 Tribune article on "Chicago's best burger" no longer works. However, the article is still available on their website (click here). Their website also has an article about reader favorites for best burgers from way back in 2002, here, which I like even better because it includes my own favorite, Pete Miller's.

I think there's something funny about resurrecting a topic that's a year and a half old with a post that pictures a review from the Chicago Tribune in 1983...

Another: http://www.busypeopleinc.com

I don't need to avoid talking about it. In fact, I'd like to know more. When I use Google, I find an address that appears to be for a restaurant: Devotay Inc www.devotay.com 117 N Linn St Iowa City, IA 52245 (319) 354-1001 However, when I click on the link, I find a website about online cooking classes. Assuming Devotay is indeed a restaurant at this location, is there a website where I can find more information about it (menus, etc)?

I dined at Sanford a while ago, and it was one of the best dinners I have ever had. Simply outstanding, as good as the very best places here in Chicago. It's also interesting to hear the references to Biro and Sheboygan in this topic, as I have eaten there as well. Biro may get more attention due to their television series. However, my favorite place in Sheboygan is Margaux, where I had an excellent dinner last year.

The problem with reader reviews is that most people don't fill them out unless they have (or perceive) a bad experience and want to "get back at" the restaurant, so there is a built-in bias. At least, this is my guess, from having seen a lot of negative reader reviews for many places that I know are excellent and making most of their customers very happy indeed.

Also worth visiting: Milwaukee Public Market

I second the recommendation for Piron. Their chocolates are awesome. Most days you'll see Bob Piron in the back of the shop, making the chocolates. Go there early if you want to see him with a clean apron, later in the day to see him with his apron full of chocolate smudges!

I've found a lot of good advice (listings and reviews) in the dining guide on OnWisconsin.com, the entertainment website of the local newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. In particular, Dennis Getto, their food critic, annually compiles a list of his top 30 restaurants and best new restaurants; both lists include affordable and ethnic places as well as expensive fine dining establishments. The dining guide is searchable by location; a search for Waukesha County will turn up listings in both Pewaukee and Waukesha. However, I'd also like to note that one of the best meals in my life was in Milwaukee near downtown, at Sanford. It's a nice place and not inexpensive, so it's not exactly what you're asking about, but it was worth every penny. If I had to eat only one meal in Milwaukee, my choice would be an easy one.

Yup. Lawry's serves prime rib, but not steaks. Now, if we wanted to come up with a list of the best prime rib in Chicago, we could. There would be some overlap between the two lists, but many steakhouses don't serve prime rib, just like Lawry's and other places don't serve steaks.

Here is a list of the major Chicago-area steakhouses that most often get recommended, in this topic and in others. Also shown are links to their websites, where you can find location information, menus, hours, etc. I've indicated which ones are in the city, and which in the suburbs, by "C" or "S" after their names: Gibson's (C,S) - www.gibsonssteakhouse.com Carson's (C,S) - www.ribs.com Joe's ( C) - www.icon.com/joes Pete Miller's (S) - www.petemillers.com Wildfire (C,S) - www.wildfirerestaurant.com Keefer's ( C) - www.keefersrestaurant.com The Capital Grille (C,S) - www.thecapitalgrille.com Morton's (C,S) - www.mortons.com Gene and Georgetti ( C) - www.geneandgeorgetti.com Saloon ( C) - www.saloonsteakhouse.com Smith and Wollensky ( C) - www.smithandwollensky.com Chicago Chop House ( C) - www.chicagochophouse.com David Burke's Primehouse ( C) - www.davidburke.com/primehouse.html Tramonto's Steak and Seafood (S) - http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/prope...propertyID=1724 Ruth's Chris (C,S) - www.ruthschris.com Sullivan's (C,S) - www.sullivansteakhouse.com The Palm (C,S) - www.thepalm.com Mike Ditka's ( C) - www.mikeditkaschicago.com Don Roth's Blackhawk (S) - www.theblackhawk.com Erie Cafe ( C) - www.eriecafe.com Harry Caray's ( C) - www.harrycarays.com Asking which one is the best is tough. Each of the above has plenty of fans who say it is the best, as well as a few detractors who disagree. You're not likely to reach anything approaching consensus on this topic (unlike, say, on a board for New York City, where 90+ percent of the respondents will nominate Peter Luger's). Your chances of finding a satisfactory steak at any of these is pretty darn good. Also, someone in the above discussion (most of which is several years old) mentioned Eli's The Place for Steak; it closed in 2005.