Todd

Looking for good Sunday brunch locations that are not stuffy or formal but have excellent food.

Suzy

Brunch at House of Blues is not stuffy and a lot of fun. Usually, you need to make reservations a couple of weeks ahead.

Michele

Here are a few casual brunch places that are very popular: Toast, Orange, Stanley's. Just a warning that "popular" usually means really long waits, and none of the above places take reservations. Also most of these are a bit out of the way, if you're staying near the loop or Michigan avenue areas. Toast has several locations (Lincoln Park & Bucktown among them), Orange is in Lakeview & Stanley's is in Lincoln Park.

Bistro 110 (just off Michigan Ave) also has a very good jazz brunch. It's slightly more formal than the previous ones, but it's still fairly informal & not stuffy. And the bonus is they take reservations (or at least they used to).

Enjoy!

shbeth

Bongo Room on Milwaukee in Wicker Park. A bit urban trendy, and a bit of a wait, but mmmmm! Then there's the twisted spoke on Ogden, the best bloody mary, er, as they call it 'road rash' around.

Racy

On the less-dinerish side is the Napa Valley Grill downtown, which has good food on the not-so-cheap (I think the selections were about $13, including a bellini or mimosa and muffins). Lobster hash and an eggs Benedict-like dish with crabcakes were a couple of noteable selections.

The space is warmly decorated and has a fireplace or two. It's nice to have an a la carte option downtown (so many places are buffets, and it's hard to justify those price tags if you're not a HUGE eater, or bring a lot of zip-loc bags).

HTH,
Racy