universitylad

I'll be visiting Chicago this weekend.

Can anyone recommend a good restaurant near the Steppenwolf theatre for pre-theatre dining?

Rocky

Cafe Bernard / Red Rooster (in back) for French, Cafe Ba Ba Reba for Tapas and Vinci for Italian. They all are consistantly good. There is a new 'upscale' restaurant BOKA (American contemporary), that is getting good reveiws but that I have not been to yet. Check out metromix.com or chicagoreader.com for reviews and additional suggestions.

Callebaut

Vince is good and they'll get you out in time for theater.

Callebaut

I meant Vinci not Vince.

universitylad

Thanks for the recommendations.

I thought I'd try BOKA since the reviews were excellent; however, they were all booked up early in the evening and I'm attending a matinee. They do have patio seating which is first come, first served.

Cafe Bernard looked great too, so I've made reservations there.

Anyone else with experience on these places? I'll post my review after I'm finished eating

DrG

Red Rooster is informal and inexpensive and serves excellent feood.

universitylad

Since it was nice out BOKA had tables open on their terrace; therefore, they called to let me know there were more openings. We ended up eating at BOKA.

Excellent.
The salmon was fresh and tasty with a side of exotic mushrooms and perhaps pasta. First course had several great looking salada available but I chose a pasta with morels; very good--if someone was a vegatarian, it could be a main couse.

I would definately recommend BOKA. Next time I will try Cafe Bernard to see what it's like.

exiledprincess

Universitylad, I can see why you would want to be in the patio on such a lovely spring afternoon. I too have wanted to get down to BOKA, but haven't been yet, so on my "to-do" list.

Please do try Cafe Bernard/Red Rooster next time.

Did you go to see Lost Land? What did you think?

universitylad

Yes, I walked by Cafe Bernard and the menu looked great there too! It was a tough call about which of the two to choose.

Actually, I went to see the baseball play _Take Me Out_ which is closing today. It was excellent.

Lost Land was playing at the same time downstairs; it looked good too. I might be back for that!

exiledprincess

UL, Lost Land is closing at the beginning of June (6/5, I think). It's been sold out for sometime because of JM being there. I've seen mixed reviews. I know that they have 20 seats available each day EARLY, but I've been hemming and hawing about going. I'm a social butterfly in late May/June, so I don't think I'll be able to see it.

Note to you: the guys behind BOKA are going to be opening a new restaurant, Landmark, at the end of June just south of BOKA. I understand it's in the old rehearsal area of Steppenwolf, so you probably saw lots of stuff happening around there when you went yesterday.

flamingomonkey

Try Kabul House, an Afgani restaurant across the street and just to the south of the theater, if you're looking to try something different. It's at 1629 N. Halsted, in the below ground level of a three flat. Very good food, and reasonably priced.