Hubby and I are off to Chicago this weekend for a concert and have a tighter dining budget than usual. Anyone have any hidden dining gems to offer for lunch or dinner? We're staying in the Mag Mile area.

I am not familiar with budget gems in that area... but you can easily grab a cab and head north on Clark. A couple of my favorites are La Creparie and Mia Francesca. There are some nice spots where you are staying and can be affordable by spliting main dishes, or sticking with appetizers. Have fun!

Where is your concert and will you have a car? The gems that come to mind are not down in the area you are staying.

See if you can get into the Dining Room of Kendall College. We had a great dinner there on our anniversary.

It is staffed by students of the Culinary Arts program, with the students nearest their graduation in the kitchen, and newer students are the waitstaff. It was an unbelievable meal, a great menu, with beautiful views of the city. The room itself is okay, service...well, let's just say that is not why you would come here!

It is also BYOB, which saves a ton. Our bill, which included 3 appetizers, 2 entrees (I had ostrich filet with blueberry risotto, husband had pan seared scallops with duck confit crepes), 2 desserts... $60! We left a very large tip, as the tips go to a scholarship fund!

The graduates of this program are a who's who of the Chicago dining scene! So you never know where the student in the kitchen may end up!

They take reservations through www.opentable.com. I can assure you, you would not be dissappointed! They serve lunch as well.

What concert are you seeing?

Have a great stay!

Kristy

Almost forgot...you will need to take a short cab ride--probably $4 from Mag Mile.

Thanks all. No, we won't have a car (I lived in Chicago several years ago and know better than to bother with a car - too much hassle downtown!) I'd already forgotten about Mia Francesca -it's good to see that it still is around. For those who asked, we're headed in to see U2, hubby's favorite band!!

With a U2 concert, consider Dublins (or maybe its The Dublin) on Rush or State where they meet at Cedar. It is a couple steps above pub grub and close to Mag Mile. Another fun thing near there is Cru a wine bar, an elegant setting if you enjoy wine flights without being too expensive, light food too. Enjoy Chicago!

It's been a while since I've been there, but the Berghoff (on Adams) used to be a great deal for a meal. Is it still?

My husband and I really enjoyed Boston Blackies, 164 E. Grand. http://www.bostonblackies.com/

Limited menu but great burgers. Chili looked good to, we plan to try it next time!

The Cubs are home this weekend so I wouldn't reccomend venturing to Mia's unless you went early. If you have not been here for a couple years, check out Millenuim Park (Park Grill has good food).

Metromix.com is the place for dining options in Chicago.

Fontera Grill by Rick Bayless is yummy and authentic Mexican (for sure not refired beans, rice, and cheddar cheese piled on everything). At the corner of Clark and Illinois. Wonderful food.

We had a wonderful lunch, Friday, at Pierrot Gourmet at the corner of Rush & Superior. It is attahced to the Peninsula Hotel.

All of the dishes were well received. I had spicy marquez sausage & sweet peppers tarte flambée. The others had truffled wild mushrooms and a crusty open faced smoked salmon sandwich. The dishes ran in the $11-13 range without drink.

There were some very tempting pastries, but we were all full.

If you get warm enough weather, there are a few outside tables.

Keith

lilrhody,

My hubby and I will be at the concert Saturday night -- which night are you going? We're excited; this will be our third U2 concert (the radio is playing Desire as I type!) and probably the best seats yet (remains to be seen, but I got them through the fan site in the pre-sale).

We're eating at Carmichaels beforehand. Neither a hidden gem nor much of a bargain, but it's within a few blocks of the UC and they're a client of my husband's.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Thanks again all. I practically lived at Cru when I lived in Chicago so I'm glad to see it getting a nice plug!

SusanM - we're going Saturday night too. We got our tix through the presale too - but even though we got through within 3 minutes of the sale opening we got crappy seats (300 level). We had better luck for the Toronto shows in September (100 level near the stage) through regular old TM.

Unfortunately most of the hidden bargain gems are off in the neighborhoods, wonderful ethnic delights that are frequently BYOB which drops the bill considerably. There are a couple of BYOB steak type places that are a real bargain but they are up in the neighborhoods, Tango Sur is the one I've tried, Las Tablas is the one I haven't

Closer to downtown, we always get out of Cafe Iberico on LaSalle for under $15 a person if you get 3 or 4 tapas and sangria.

Heaven on Seven, both on Rush and Wabash, is relatively inexpensive and good food.

Boston Blackies which was already mentioned has excellent huge burgers.

You could take the el down to Chinatown and have dim sum.

Some more casual suggestions-Portillo's for Chicago dogs/sandwiches, Mr. Beef on Orleans for Italian beef sandwiches, Lou Malnati's/Giordano's/Gino's East for pizza

A couple of Chicago restaurants have more casual cafe style restaurants attached to them with lower prices, Keefer's has Kaffe
http://www.keefersrestaurant.com/kaffe.html

Berghoff has Berghoff Cafe
http://www.berghoff.com/Berghoff/cafe.html

And Shaw's has the Blue Crab Lounge although the prices don't look so much cheaper than the regular menu

One final thought, if you want to try a nicer place, lunch is almost always cheaper, sometimes with similar menus so if you want to try a nicer place, see if the lunch menu is better priced than the dinner menu.

Go to Trattoria No. 10 Friday only between 5-8 pm for the $12.95 bar buffet ($6/person minimum bar tab)

McCormick & Schmick has a $1.95 bar menu 3:30-6:00 pm (2 drink minimum). I believe they still also have the $16.95 lobster dinner with sides, but it's been a couple of months since I was there.

Kinzie Chophouse (Kinzie & Wells over by the Merchandise Mart) has a $2.95 bar menu 3:00-6:00. This is a wonderful steakhouse, and their prices are more reasonable than most.

Golden Budha on Randolph (Chinese Steakhouse). Lovely decor, reasonable prices, luncheon specials.

Hope these might interest you.