Chicago Architectural Tours
 

Will be in Chicago for a quick visit mid-July - need suggestions for a reputable tour business
preferably from personal experience...also, would like a couple of suggestions for mid-range ($), any type of cuisine for both dinner and breakfast

You should take a look at the free Chicago City Greeter website. You must reserve in advance. The tour will be just for you. maybe 3-4 hours. We wanted to see Chinatown and our greeter suggested we also see Pilsen (Mexican) because of the paintings on sides of buildings. I realize this is not your interest but you will see many suggestions of Chicago neighborhoods you can visit with a City Greeter. Our was a long time resident and retired. You meet in the Cultural Center so he first took us upstairs to see the mosaics and stained glass, a hall dedicated to the Civil War.
On our own, we enjoyed the Art Institute which has some wonderful salvaged architectural pieces on display.
We did not have time to take the architectural boat tour which seems to get top ratings from fodorites.

If you ask the City Greeter service for someone knowledgeable about architecture, you will probably do fine. Chicago is so spread out that we were interested in seeing some of the neighborhoods, not just the downtown area. They try to match the volunteer with your interests. We were very happy.

www.architecture.org/tours
The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers many tours, a broad variety, excellent.

We did the Architecture River Cruise and enjoyed it tremendously. You get quite a different perspective when you see everything from the water.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/Chicago-...o/venue/270350

Just remember that tours frequently sell-out during the summer months. But, you don't want to be stuck on the boat during a downpour. Check the weather a couple days before you plan to take the tour and buy your tickets then.

As for restaurants, it depends on where you're staying and what you consider mid-range. You can search www.chicagoreader.com or www.chicagomag.com by cuisine, neighborhood or price. Both also list events and other points of interest.

We just did a boat architecture tour with Shoreline Sightseeing - www.shorelinesightseeing.com which we bought via Groupon.

Our favorite meals were dinner at XOCO http://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/xoco.html and a tasty deep dish pizza at Giordano's http://giordanos.com/

Lee Ann

We also used Shoreline Sightseeing for our tour in April. The person giving the tour was very knowledgeable and had a nice [not overbearing] sense of humor.

We had a nice dinner here - the lasagna was melt in your mouth delish:
http://www.312chicago.com/

Deep dish at Lou Malnati's is a must do; keep in mind it takes about 45 minutes for a pizza, so plan accordingly.
http://www.loumalnatis.com/

And a Chicago dog!

The Chicago Greeter is a nice program but pay attention to how far in advance [10 business days] you have to book. We didn't and ended up taking a tour by just showing up at the office. They go out every 30 minutes. Those are called Insta Greeter Tours. We were the only 2 people, so the guide asked us what we wanted to see and she took us around to those areas and filled in with some of her own ideas. A nice hour.

http://chicagogreeter.com/

I took the Shoreline tour once with friends when the CAF tour was sold-out. Since I knew the stories, I realized when he gave incorrect info. When I questioned him at the end of the cruise, he stood by his statements.

One of the reasons CAF is so popular is because they have a rigorous training program for their guides.

Oh well, since I wasn't quizzed on the facts, the tour was great; I didn't know any better.

CAF is a non-profit organization. We joined as members when we lived in Chicago. They offer many walking tours and also have some bus tours, all highly recommended. Their volunteer docents are excellent.
They used to be only ones offering architectural boat tours as that is their expertise but other companies have now started offering them too.
You can visit their offices and shop on S. Michigan Ave too.

I took the CAF tour and loved it. The guide was very knowledgeable regarding the history of the city and the buildings in it. I spent about an hour in the shop.....it's time-worthy as well.

Neither did we, DebitNM. We had a good time and managed not to freeze on the boat. :-)

Lee Ann

Thanks to you all - very good leads and impressions will surely enable us to enjoy the broad-shouldered city!