Chicago baby friendly places with good food?

[sara]

Hi

My husband and I are long-time Egulleteers and now new parents. We are soon heading to Chicago for several days with our 2-month-old son. We are used to dining well in Chicago and would like to continue doing so (some of our favorite places: Avec, Spring, North Pond) but in the company of our kid. Since we will go to Chicago very often during the coming year, we seek your advice. What are some restaurants with good food (need not be fancy, but should be solid--any variety is fine) where our baby would be welcome and we would not be totally disruptive if he made some noise? (We do take him out if he's really crying or something, but it'd be nice if the place was noisy enough to absorb some normal babbling, etc). Also, we strongly prefer establishments that aren't smoke-filled and those without long waits.

In terms of location, we are usually at the Omni off N.Michigan or the Westin River North--places we can stroll to from there (without requiring us to put the car seat in a cab) are best.

Thanks in advance for helping us keep delicious meals in our (sleep-deprived) lives!

Sara

[nsxtasy]

I'm not really familiar with that aspect of dining, but I'll make a couple of points nonetheless. One is to dine at off-hours. Many restaurants are open all afternoon, and are typically mostly empty between, say, 2 pm and 4 pm, so it would not be disruptive at all. Steakhouses, in particular, tend to be open all afternoon, more so than some of those fine-dining places that aren't open at lunchtime.

Also, you might get some good suggestions from the concierges in your hotel. When my cousin was staying in that part of town with his two young, not-always-well-behaved children and we were going out to eat, the hotel concierge recommended Grand Lux Cafe, and it turned out to be a very good choice. The pizza places tend to be good for kids (even infants) too.

Furthermore, most places that do a nice (but not high-end) breakfast/brunch/lunch are fine for kids - Bongo Room in Wicker Park and the South Loop; Kitsch'n in Roscoe Village and in River North; Orange in Lakeview and the South Loop; Wishbone in the West Loop and on N Lincoln; Flo in Wicker Park; and M. Henry in Andersonville. So if these meals work with your schedule, bring the kids. They're fine during the week, but get busy on weekends, so on Saturday or Sunday, go early or, where available, make a reservation.

we strongly prefer establishments that aren't smoke-filled and those without long waits.

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Smoke is no longer a concern, thanks to Chicago's recent Clean Indoor Air ordinance. Ask to be seated away from the bar area, as smoking is still permitted in the bar areas of restaurants (until July 2008).

If you are dining at off-hours, waits are not an issue. Otherwise, many places here now accept reservations on opentable.com, even at the last minute.

Edited March 29, 2007 by nsxtasy (log)

[iguana]

At 2 months, your baby will be so portable! We've had great luck with our (now) 2-year-old at just about anyplace in the Chinatown Mall (Lao Szechuan, Spring World). You can go in the Mayflower Grocery and look at the fish in the tanks, then buy Pocky. The mall stores face an inner walkway so if you have to step outside, you're not right on the street and there are lots of cool storefronts to look at. There is a red line stop for Chinatown-- that would probably be easier than a cab.

Hot Doug's is great for kids too-- Doug himself describes it as "Kid-friendly, adult hostile." Go around 11 to avoid the long line. We had good luck at Goose Island (the one on Clybourn) too, especially when ours was very young. The booths make for discrete nursing if needed.

I don't know about much off of North Michigan, but I encourage you to hop on the El (subway).

Good luck and please report back!

Cheers, Jen

[notbatgirl]

Yes, please report back -- we just had a baby and are avid foodies, and have begun to worry about our restaurant experience getting severely downgraded because we're toting a child around. (Note that I would consider being relegated to steakhouses and pizza places as "severely downgraded.) BTW, for those in Madison, we took our 5 week old to Sardine and it was great -- loud enough that no one noticed any babbling, and the waiters were very friendly. We've also been with her to El Dorado Grill for Sunday brunch, twice, and had a very positive experience.

At 2 months, your baby will be so portable!  We've had great luck with our (now) 2-year-old at just about anyplace in the Chinatown Mall (Lao Szechuan, Spring World).  You can go in the Mayflower Grocery and look at the fish in the tanks, then buy Pocky.  The mall stores face an inner walkway so if you have to step outside, you're not right on the street and there are lots of cool storefronts to look at.  There is a red line stop for Chinatown-- that would probably be easier than a cab.

Hot Doug's is great for kids too-- Doug himself describes it as "Kid-friendly, adult hostile."  Go around 11 to avoid the long line.  We had good luck at Goose Island (the one on Clybourn) too, especially when ours was very young.  The booths make for discrete nursing if needed. 

I don't know about much off of North Michigan, but I encourage you to hop on the El (subway).

Good luck and please report back!

Cheers, Jen

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[notbatgirl]

p.s. Sara and other Madisonians, maybe we should start some sort of foodie parent group so we can all go out to eat together and overwhelm the other diners....

At 2 months, your baby will be so portable!  We've had great luck with our (now) 2-year-old at just about anyplace in the Chinatown Mall (Lao Szechuan, Spring World).  You can go in the Mayflower Grocery and look at the fish in the tanks, then buy Pocky.  The mall stores face an inner walkway so if you have to step outside, you're not right on the street and there are lots of cool storefronts to look at.  There is a red line stop for Chinatown-- that would probably be easier than a cab.

Hot Doug's is great for kids too-- Doug himself describes it as "Kid-friendly, adult hostile."  Go around 11 to avoid the long line.  We had good luck at Goose Island (the one on Clybourn) too, especially when ours was very young.  The booths make for discrete nursing if needed. 

I don't know about much off of North Michigan, but I encourage you to hop on the El (subway).

Good luck and please report back!

Cheers, Jen

←

[sara]

I will report that Cempazuchi, the Mexican place in Milwaukee, has great food and was very friendly to us when we brought the baby in Wednesday night. They let us park our stroller at the wait stand, got us a booth so we could stick his seat in there, and didn't spend too much time asking questions/cooing over our cute kid. Lots of families in there that night, and the food was awesome as usual.

[iguana]

Some friends had a great time with their 2-year-old in Green Town last weekend. They said Greek Isles was great with a little kid-- plenty of bustle and noise. Most of the other Greektown restaurants are similar and would be a good bet. Happy dining!

Cheers, Jen