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Saturday Night Dinner between Oakbrook Terrace and Lincoln Park (IL)

ewindels

By ewindels
in The Heartland: Dining

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ewindels

ewindels

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I'm staying with friends this weekend in Lincoln Park, and attending an early theater performance in Oakland. Any recommendations for GOOD dinner joints on the way back to LP?

Thanks!

Food, glorious food!

“Eat! Eat! May you be destroyed if you don’t eat! What sin have I committed that God should punish me with you! Eat! What will become of you if you don’t eat! Imp of darkness, may you sink 10 fathoms into the earth if you don’t eat! Eat!” (A. Kazin)

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Alex

Alex

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I'm staying with friends this weekend in Lincoln Park, and attending an early theater performance in Oakland. Any recommendations for GOOD dinner joints on the way back to LP?

Thanks!

Are you talking about Oakland on the Southside? If so, that's quite a distance between there and Lincoln Park, so it would help if you narrowed things down: driving or public transportation? food and cost preferences? how casual (or not)? Etc...

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"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

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nsxtasy

nsxtasy

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In addition to the important information Alex asked about, it would also help if you give an idea of what day and time you'll be eating. There are a lot more places open at 9 pm than at 11 pm, and hours on Sunday night are often different from Saturday night.

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nsxtasy

nsxtasy

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The other thing to consider is the distance. Oakland isn't all that far from Lincoln Park (roughly 7-8 miles); depending on exact locations and time of day, it's typically 15-25 minutes by car/cab, or twice that by public transit. I would either concentrate on eating close to your destination in Lincoln Park (home of some great restaurants such as North Pond, Perennial Virant, and Boka), or else choose among the many "destination restaurants" in any of the greater downtown neighborhoods, which are all roughly in between Oakland and Lincoln Park. As you might imagine, there are literally dozens, even hundreds, of great places in and around downtown Chicago, so we would need more information about your preferences, as Alex mentioned, in order to narrow down to something that would be particularly appealing to you.

Edited by nsxtasy (log)
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ewindels

ewindels

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Sorry, gang: OakBROOK, not OakLAND. 5PM show at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakland, letting out 7:30, so... 8ish? We're driving. Preferences: I've loved Blackbird, and Girl and the Goat (though that was awfully noisy). We're going to Filini tomorrow night, so maybe not Italian again. Doesn't have to be very polished / upscale like Blackbird, I would love a good and reasonable wine list.

Food, glorious food!

“Eat! Eat! May you be destroyed if you don’t eat! What sin have I committed that God should punish me with you! Eat! What will become of you if you don’t eat! Imp of darkness, may you sink 10 fathoms into the earth if you don’t eat! Eat!” (A. Kazin)

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nsxtasy

nsxtasy

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Sorry, gang: OakBROOK, not OakLAND. 5PM show at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakland

Okay, we're making some progress (although you seem to be intent on repeating your error :smile: ). The Drury Lane Theatre is in Oakbrook Terrace, which is right next to Oak Brook. Both towns, Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace, are about 20 miles west of the city and you're looking at maybe 30-40 minutes to drive from there back to Lincoln Park on a Saturday night. (Yes, one town is spelled as separate words, and the other is not.)

One option is to eat in the area around the theater. For creative contemporary American cuisine, Vie, in Western Springs, is maybe a ten-minute drive from the theater, and rivals similar restaurants in the city. There are also a couple of excellent seafood restaurants in that area: Parker's in Downers Grove (which also features Neapolitan pizza in addition to their seafood), and Reel Club in Oakbrook Center (the big shopping mall in Oak Brook).

And, as previously noted, another option is to eat once you get back to Lincoln Park. North Pond is excellent, featuring James Beard Award finalist Chef Bruce Sherman along with its exquisite setting in the middle of the park, with the city skyline looming over the opposite shore of its namesake pond. Perennial Virant features Paul Virant in the kitchen - the same chef-owner as at Vie, but with a menu tilted more towards small plates. And Boka is also excellent (it's part of the same restaurant group as Girl and the Goat and Perennial Virant).

Since you're driving, I would go with one of these options, which will be much more convenient than driving to yet another part of town.

All six of these places are on Opentable so you can check availability there. Some of them fill up well in advance, especially for a Saturday, so the sooner you can make a reservation, the better.

Edited by nsxtasy (log)
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ewindels

ewindels

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Thanks so much, this is great!

Food, glorious food!

“Eat! Eat! May you be destroyed if you don’t eat! What sin have I committed that God should punish me with you! Eat! What will become of you if you don’t eat! Imp of darkness, may you sink 10 fathoms into the earth if you don’t eat! Eat!” (A. Kazin)

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