NeoPatrick, I hope that I'm not too late in post this reply. Haven't been following this website in the past several days as planning my own get-away for next week.

First, the name of the restaurant is "erwin" with a lower case "e". But my recommendations are as follows:

Here's a couple of suggestions for you for late night dining. Don't know if you'd be interested in these, but, here we go...

If you were looking for something a little more upscale, then I'd recommend Graham Elliot - located at 217 W. Huron. Open until 1 a.m. The owner/chef is Graham Elliot Bowles - formerly of Avenues in the Peninsula. Conversation-challenged earlier in the evening, but later at night...maybe something to look into.

Also, Aigre Doux (over by the Merchandise Mart) is open until 11 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.

The Gage (a "gastropub") is fairly close to the Goodman - right across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Open until 2 a.m. Mon.-Fri., midnight on Sunday, until 3 a.m. on Saturday.

Closer to your hotel: Volare (if you are looking for Italian). Now this gets *very busy* on Fridays and weekends with long(er) waits, but weekdays later in the evening may be doable. Open until 11 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; 10:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Up in the Boystown area, when you are going to "Weekend at Wellington", I'd recommend Yoshi's (on N. Halsted a little more than a block north of Belmont) - open until 10:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs.

And the Casbah Cafe (if you would be interested in Middle Eastern dishes) - open until 11:00 p.m. everyday except closed Saturday.

hmm, I have to laugh (no offense) but the first thing I discovered is that graham elliot is lower case letters too! Must be a Chicago trend? graham elliot seems like a great menu. Anyone who serves a "deconstructed snickers bar" or serves foie gras with rice krispies has to have a great sense of humor, but it has two strikes against it. When I see a detailed website with a great menu but no prices I can only assume one thing -- they need to hide the prices because they are way too high for what they are. So if a dish is $49 then say so. Why hide the prices and make people guess if it is $21 or more than double that? That really annoys me. And the music on their website is really annoying. If that is indicative of the "conversation-challenged" then I understand. But it does look intriguing.

Volare rang a bell. I looked at it and yes, I remember eating there, but don't remember much about it.

I don't know if this is close enough for you, but we ate at Quartino (626 N. State) on our last trip and found it to be very good. The portions are sized for sharing, so that most dishes comfortably serve two. They serve food until 1am.

Your hotel is also near Gene & Georgetti's, Wildfire Grill (grilled steak, chicken) and Carson's (barbecue) -- not that I like red meat or anything.

I am unashamedly enjoying every word of this post & replies as we will be staying just 4 blocks away and the food recs are great.

I was hoping someone would mention a place close by with good bar food or maybe a place with music (blues?) also with food. I think Patrick mentioned a "supper club" in his first post that wasn't addressed, (was it?.

Anyway, great post - and someday Patrick, we'll probably bump into each other. We certainly seem to frequent the same places. So glad that you & Lee are still frequent travelers.

I'm curious, exiledprincess--are the kitchens really open that late, or just the bars? If so, maybe we are really developing some after-theater chops!

Yes. According to their website the kitchen is fully open at Quartino until 1 AM even during the week. Restaurant stays open until 2!
Looks like a nice menu too.

That "supperclub" like place I mentioned is -- I think -- Petterino's by the Goodman.

Why, bless me! That was a Capital offense! Actually, blame it on my poor proofreading and/or not getting enough sleep lately.

No, not a Chicago trend in lower case, per se. Just a coincidence.

Living in the approximate neighborhood, I used to go to erwin quite often - but then there were other places more pleasing to my palate.

With respect to the lack of prices on the menu: Not by any means the only place that does it anymore - haven't you noticed? Getting to be fairly common, IMHO, because prices are rising so rapidly. I usually don't trust MenuPages prices anymore and even wouldn't attest to the veracity of the restaurants' own websites nowadays. The entrees at (ahem) graham elliot are in the $30-35 (or less) range - apps in the $10-13 range.

Hope you enjoy the shows, NeoPatrick.

P.S. The production of "Amadeus" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre got a good review from the Trib. I was hoping to get over that way - after my trip - and after paying for my trip!

I noticed on the graham elliot website that it states their dining room is open until only 10:30 p.m. I could have sworn we were there some time later than that but I'd call to confirm, if you were interested in trying it out.

Sorry, marilynl, I didn't see your question until now.

The Gage's dining room is open until midnight, as I recall.

Actually, there are several other places I can name that are open late but I was trying to keep in the spirit of NeoPatrick's question. Not so much the "comfort food" part, but the moderately-priced issue would be a factor. You know that these will all be more than moderately-priced because you are looking at extended hours in that area of the city.

Some other places are:

Aria in the Fairmont - even has a post-theatre menu option. I can't confirm for sure about this lately (because I haven't been there in a couple of months), but there even used to be advertisement on the Harris Theatre playbills specifically mentioning this.

Mercat a la Planxa (in the historic Blackstone) serves until 11 p.m. weekdays - midnight on Fridays and Saturdays - 10 p.m. on Sundays.

If you wanted to get small plates with your nightclub dancing, Le Passage has The Drawing Room ("culinary cocktail lounge").

A bit of an update.
First of all I found out that Turn of the Century at the Goodman is at 7:30 on Thursday and over by 9:15 so made reservations at Petterino's, which is right there. All that worry about LATE dining, proved to unnecessary.

Booked Le Colonial for our first night when we get in on Tuesday.

Reza is Saturday night -- no theatre planned that night.

Probably meeting a friend for late dinner at Rosebud on Rush (10:30 on Wednesday) -- going there after show on Wellington. She has an evening meeting near there, so we're hoping the timing works out before she heads back to Evanston.

And we have brunch on Sunday booked at Vinci by the Steppenwolf.
I'm really intriqued by both Osteria via Stato and Quartino's. Well, we still have a couple of nights. And we WILL do that white pizza for lunch at Osteria via Stato pizzeria.

We really did enjoy Quartino when we were there in August. Hope you have a great trip! I love Chicago and I hope I can get back up there in October.

I know that you may already have all your plans set but a great show on chicago's pbs channel called check please has some great recommendations for restaurants that regulars really love and others go try out. I enjoy seeing the variety that they go to and maybe there are some suggestions on that website that would be great for a foodie like you.The website link is:

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?erube_f...staurantList=1

Enjoy your time here!

I've added Quartino for after theatre on Friday night. We'll be seeing Voysey Inheritance at The Greenhouse on Lincoln Avenue near Fullerton, so can take the Red Line right back down to Quartino on State near Ohio/Grand.

Now let me ask a question. I gave my "itinerary" to my friend in Evanston (who used to be in the hospitality industry and whom I always thinks really knows Chicago restaurants". But when I said we were going to Reza's on Ontario, she responded with "do you mean Reza on Clark? You have to be kidding. That place has just turned awful and the service is a joke". I brought it up on Chowhound and found a slew of those same comments, mainly from people who say they "quit going". Is the one on Ontario different?

Haven't been to either Rezas, but they are run by the same people as far as I know. The one on Clark is in Andersonville on the North side, with the other in River North.

i don´t know if this fits into your time frame/geographical setting, but we ate at kendall college cooking school when it was out of town, and now they are downtown.

I hope to go next visit to chicago.

they have a great variety of types of lunches/dinners and at times speciality meal plans all week.

www.kendallcollege.edu

p.s. i would be very interested in the websites you use to look for apts. in chicago. is there another one beside vrbo you like? thanks.

Oh Patrick, don't make me cry about Reza's! I haven't been in years, but took comfort in the fact that it was there happily feeding customers. Downhill!?! Unthinkable for a Persian person. I wonder what is happening?

Was scanning through the rec's and saw your note that "foods do well for Lee". One in your area that you might like for breakfast comfort food is Tempo (State & Chestnut). Also worth the wait on weekends is the Original Pancake House on Bellevue (1/2 block east of Rush and a couple of blocks south of Division). It's great comfort food and basically an institution.

Also fun is Pop's for Champagne just a few blocks of south of your apt.

And, if you like Bin 36 - and, I agree, the food isn't much to get lathered over - you might try getting a few shared dishes downstairs at A Mano. Same owners, step up in food offerings. Pleasant, calm atmosphere, too.

Also, one block east of your apt. is 1492, a tapas place that I really like. It's in an old greystone and just super comfy with good food. The sangria is good, and they have 1-2 cavas at a good price.

Sorry, but my quote from your OP should've been "COMFORT foods do well for Lee." Forgot that key word.