2 days in Chicago (with all the Blackhawks fans)
 

Went to Chicago last Friday with a friend, She really wanted to see a concert by a singer named Melody Gardot. http://www.melodygardot.com/

I agreed to go and we decided that in order to get the most out of our 2 days we would just fly up and back from St. Louis. (thank goodness for Southwest).

We got into Midway and went to take the CTA train into the city, along with a million Blackhawks fans heading downtown to the parade celebration! It was a busy and excited train-load of fans.

I did Priceline & got ($85 +tax) the Chicago Hilton on S. Michigan, which turned out to be a lovely hotel. Asked at the front desk about getting a room with 2 beds, and she also gave us a room with 2 bathrooms!. Who knew that even existed, but it certainly was nice to have.
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hote...inois/index.do

We wanted Chicago Pizza for lunch and because of the parade festivities, ended up on a way too long and roundabout walk to Giordano's. http://www.giordanos.com/
They have you order ahead of time, so we waited about 45 mins for a table, but the pizza arrived just a few mins after we sat down. (this was a 3 blister walk..I really didn't do well with my footwear planning)

Did a little shoe shopping at a great Nordstrom's sale (yes, one can buy shoes even if one has 3 blisters) and then went back to hotel to change. We had a 6:00 reservation at http://www.cafebabareeba.com/chicago
Great sangria, nice tapas selection and only about a 10 block walk from the Park West, where the concert was. http://www.parkwestchicago.com/

Park West is a good venue for a concert, except that the tickets said concert was starting at 7:30 and it was open seating. We got there just at 7:25 and had a fine choice of seating. I think it really was "doors open" at 7:30. They have mostly small cocktail tables with 2 seats spread around the floor and on several higher levels. I think any spot in there would be perfectly fine to see a performer.

Melody Gardot is quite a character and an excellent vocalist. It's not really the type of music I listen to regularly but I enjoyed the concert.

We found Cafe Cito for breakfast the next day. Cuban coffee and espresso and breakfast "pressed" sandwiches and fabulous sandwich cookies that had some kind dulce de leche filling with coconut on the outside. http://cafecitochicago.com/

Went to the Art Institute to see the Matisse exhibit. It's only in Chicago another week, but then will be at MOMA later in the summer and through early fall. It was an incredibly well done exhibit with emphasis on Matisse's progress towards modernity. It only covers 1913-1917.

We had stored our bags at the Hilton, so after stopping for a coffee at the Corner Bakery, we retrieved them and headed to Frontera Grill. They had said over the phone that people started lining up at 4:00, restaurant opens at 5:00 and dinner seating started at 5:10. We were the first on line and I ran across the street to buy a bottle of water and when I got back there were at least 15 people on line behind us!

My friend and I both have impatient husbands who would never wait an hour to be seated at a restaurant, so it felt sort of liberating to just do that. We were on a time crunch as our plane left at 8:15, so had to be at Midway at 7:15 and thought we had to leave restaurant by 6:20 or so to get to Midway on time. Had a great dinner, guacamole first, several Topolo Margaritas and then we split the halibut (wild Alaskan halibut, cooked over the coals brushed with sweet-spicy salsa negra, served in a sauce of roasted tomatoes, chipotle chiles, bacon and pineapple. Pineapple-infused fresh masa tamal, grilled snap peas, halibut "bacon.") and a special of Chile Rellenos which had one pepper with pork and one with cheese. Unbelievably wonderful.
http://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/grill.html

Made it to the airport in plenty of time. It was a great weekend.

Liz, if I ever get to Chicago, I will pull this back up as it is very informative. I would love to eat at Rick Bayless' restaurant, and your meal sounded divine.

Liz, I saw the Matisse exhibit in April and agree with you. It was excellent.

Gotta say I've stood in line at Frontera before and probably wouldn't do it again and not b/c the food wasn't worth the wait. The food was outstanding but I'm probably more like your husband.

Must have been amazing to see the city go crazy for the Blackhawks!

Thanks for your trip report. It was fun to read. Chicago is a great city.

Great report, Liz. Glad you enjoyed Chicago. I was only there once but it quickly became one of my favorite cities.

And thanks for mentioning that Matisse is coming to MOMA. I had no idea, and it's been a while since the last one. was here.

Sounds like a great time!

We've only been to Chicago once, and really want to go back. Had one of our favorite meals ANYWHERE at Topolobampo(?), the other Rick Bayless restaurant, which takes reservations.

~Liz

Great report-Thanks
Going there in October for the 1st time, will keep this !!

Nice report about one of my favorite cities.
Thanks, Liz.

Glad you had a great trip Liz! Sometimes it pays to ditch the husbands and do what you want on a girls only trip! Come back soon!

I read most trip reports but since I do not post my own I rarely make a comment on others.

Yours had just the right amount of info. I hate the trip reports that go into minute by minute detail.

I want to go to Frontera Grill.

Great report, Liz! Glad you enjoyed your time in Chicago.

I'm very interested in the room with two bathrooms. Sounds right up my alley.

Sharon, the 2 bathroom thing was great. We each showered and dressed without getting in each others way. I obviously had the "guy" bathroom...the blow-dryer was in the other bathroom, but otherwise they were exactly the same.

I have never seen the double bathroom thing before, I guess if you booked there you could request a room with 2 baths.

Thanks for the trip report on Chicago, Liz. We got there quite often and yet we don't know the city very well, so will use some of your info for future trips. Thanks!!

Please forgive this short highjack, Liz! :)

Cali, if there's ever anything you think I might be able to answer for you about Chicago, please give me a holler. I owe you bigtime for all your help with the North Shore!

Thanks CAPH, I just might ask you next time we are back that way. Our niece has moved there recently so she has some ideas, but she is just learning about all the places to go, so it will be great for us (and her) to get some info from you.

Anytime, Cali! You can e-mail me at my screen name at aol.

Thanks CAPH.

Saving for Hilton info.

We love Chicago, but never think to write a report about it because it's so close to home.

We also did the "priceline thing" a couple of weeks ago and were put at The Felix, quite a nice, modern, trendy botique hotel. Our absolutely fantastic dinner at
Sullivan's Steak House will definitely be repeated in the future.

We have stayed at The Hilton and had the 2 bathroom rooms. The rooms were so small in that old building that when they remodeled, they made 2 rooms into 1--so the 2 baths.