Chicago Restaurant Week 2009

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Plans have been announced for Restaurant Week 2009, as noted in an article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune.

There are actually two different groups of restaurants with Restaurant Week events for three different weeks.

February 20-27, over 130 restaurants will be participating in the Restaurant Week sponsored by the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. During this period, these restaurants will be offering special prices for three-course meals, usually on a special, limited menu for the promotion. Most restaurants are participating in the promotion for both lunch ($22) and dinner ($32), although a few are doing so only for lunch, and a few only for dinner. Some have their special Restaurant Week menu posted on their website, and I'm sure more will do so between now and the actual week of the promotion.

January 25-30 and February 1-6, the 14 restaurants comprising Chicago Originals, an organization of independent restaurants, will be running a similar promotion, with three-course lunches ($24.09) and dinners ($29.09). Some restaurants will throw in a bottle of wine for an additional $20.09.

Make your reservations early, as this is a popular promotion.

Last year there were some complaints here on eG about the restaurants which participated, that they did not include the dozen or so very top restaurants in the city, places like Alinea, Charlie Trotter's, etc. (People were outraged they couldn't get a $300 dinner for $32! ) This year, there are two high-end entries participating: Seasons (lunch and dinner) and NoMI (lunch). Beyond our temples of haute cuisine, the next tier of Chicago's restaurants, our "casual fine dining" restaurants, is well represented; some of our very best such restaurants are participating in these two promotions. In addition to the very fine dining Seasons and NoMI, the tourism bureau's promotion includes Aria, Atwood Cafe, Bistro 110, Brasserie Jo, Cafe des Architectes, Cafe Spiaggia, Carnivale, Coco Pazzo, David Burke's Primehouse, Fulton's on the River, La Sardine, Le Colonial, the Lobby, Merlo on Maple, Naha, one sixtyblue, Pane Caldo, Park Grill, Quartino, Rhapsody, Roy's, Seasons, Topolobampo, and most of the steakhouses. The independent group includes Bella Bacino's in LaGrange, Cafe Central in Highland Park, Cafe Matou, Hemmingway's Bistro in Oak Park, Kiki's Bistro, Mundial Cocina Mestiza, Oceanique in Evanston, and Sweets and Savories. These are all excellent restaurants and worth visiting!

One caveat - This promotion represents a greater bargain at some restaurants than at others; in particular, a few restaurants offer other promotions that may represent similar savings, and this is usually noted on their websites.