Bob

Will be Chicago this summer. Noticed a lot of opinions on restaurants - none of which covered Chinese restaurants. No good ones in Chicago??? Looking for inexpensive to moderate price range for Chineses and others.

Neat bars???

Thanks for your input.

sabrina

Chicago has a tremendous Chinatown. A mainstay and consistently very good restaurant is Three Happiness Restaurant. That's a start. But you really can't get a bad meal in Chinatown here.

mk

Bob, My favorite chinese restaurant is Yu's Mandarin in Schaumburg (45 min away from the city near Woodfield Mall). I don't know if you are just going to be in the heart of the city or not. But this place is always crowded, no matter what night it is and has great food! But if you are limited to chicago area, go to Three Happiness or Phoenix for dim sum. Or else they have lots of other authentic restaurants. I do believe there is a Ben Pao (lettuce entertain you chain restaurant) in downtown area.

Lahti

Sorry to be a grump, but while I liked Three Happiness okay, I never in 8 years in Chicago had a Chinese meal that was up to the standard of other major cities, and certainly not San Fran. Sort-of-Cantonese mush seems to be the order of the day much of the time. No, didn't make it to Schaumburg, but if you are looking for dishes prepared without wilting the vegetables to slime or ungreasy eggrolls with identifiable ingrediants, you may have a tough time. That's only my opinion, but I think there's a reason why you didn't find many raves about Chinese food.

But there are so many other GREAT ethnic restaurants in Chicago, WHY go for Chinese food??? You absolutely MUST try the Greek restaurants, there are exquisite French and neo-American places, some great Afghani and Armenian places, tapas bars, and one or two very nice Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese places, if Asian food is what you want.

maria

Bob,

Our favorite choices in Chicago are the Spanish tapas restaurant/bars that always have great food in a wonderful atmosphere and can be extremely reasonably priced for an evening if you enjoy drinks/wine over a couple of hours and order a variey of tapas in the course of the evening. Our favorites are: Cafe Iberico, Arcos de Cuchilleros and Emilios Tapas as well as the Cafe Baba-Reeba. Hope you know what tapas are, if not here is a quick explanation:
Tapas are, literally, small appetizer size portions of all kinds of hot and cold foods that can be as simple as a bowl of olives or as sophisticated as smoked salmon with garlic mayonaise on grilled bread, etc...lots of seafood choices (grilled garlic shrimp, mussels in great sauces, etc...) but also lots of veggie choices (potatoes in garlic mayo, green beans, potato omelet, marinated mushrooms, etc) Also, at the Cafe Iberico, the chocolate flan (custard) for dessert is to die for...good luck, Maria

Kevin

As a Chicago native, I can say that the Asian food scene is awesome! On the near south side is "old" Chinatown. It is well regarded for its various restaurants, and is frequented by many Chinese. On the northside is "new" Chinatown, or "little Saigon" I frequent establishments here more, due to living near here. There is a strong showing of Vietnamese, as well as Cambodian, Thai, and Chinese. Prices are great and the food is outstanding! Chicago has been lucky to be be a big destination point for Asian immigrants. But then again, I do not believe that there is anywhere in the US that has a more varied restaurant scene. So if you are looking for a gastronomic tour de force, Chicago is your destination. Want more specifics? Drop me a line.

Cheers!

Kevin

Gail

I would agree with Lahti's assesment and recommendation. When in Rome eat where the Roman's eat. I'm not suggesting you subsist on deep dish pizza and EYE-talian beef sandwiches , neither of which I can get decently in SF, but outside of Detroit Chicago probably has the best Greek restaurants in the US.I think one is best served, no pun intended, by going with a city's or region's strong suits. My experience is that Chinese food in Chgo is nothing to write home about.There is great food in Chgo, but I don't think Chinese there falls in that catagory. And do have an EYE-talian beef sandwhich while there.

Kim

Hi Bob,

You also asked about neat bars. For beer, I would recommend the Hop Leaf on Clark on the North Side. They have a great beer selection, including a big selection of Belgian beer. It's a small bar with a great jukebox - think classic blues. If you like jazz, go to Green Mill, Green Dolphin Street, or Andy's. For blues check out B.L.U.E.S on Halsted, or a little further afield, try Rosa's - it isn't that easy to get to though. Also, for a great room to see a band, try Fitzgerald's in Berwyn. If it's dance clubs you want, hopefully someone else can address that.