I will be meeting up with my husband in Chicago next week who will already be there on business. This is my first visit to your city and I'm very excited.

We're booked at the Fairmont (not my first choice). I'd prefer a smaller boutique hotel. oh well - Does any one know if they are undergoing renovations/construction? Is it within the loop?

We'll also be there to celebrate an Anniversary. We live in San Francisco, another culinary mecca.....love high end restaurants and would appreciate any restaurant advice (especially for our anniversary night). A special, intimate, non-touristy/trendy place that is more than jeans. French, italian or asian fusion would be perfect. We will happily cab to a restaurant outside the loop area.

ExhiledPrincess if you're reading this, I've copied all your "must-do" advice. Wonderful and thank you!!!

No idea on the Fairmont, but two quick restaurant suggestions...

Topolobampo (if you can get a reservation) or Frontera Grill (Rick Bayless's restaurants)

http://www.fronterakitchens.com/rest...staurants.html

Terragusto - Rustic Italian, homemade pasta, all local and organic ingredients. Note that it's BYOB; there's a very good liquor store down the street, at Addison and Leavitt.

http://www.terragustocafe.com/

I haven't heard about any construction at the Farimont, but it's not in the loop. It's at the north edge of Millennium Park in the River East or New East Side Neighborhood. You may want to ask if they can upgrade you to a room with a view of the park.

Another restaurant suggestion would be Spiaggia at Michigan and Oak Street. http://tinyurl.com/3uwqba

I'm sure you eat all the sushi you can handle in SF, but if you want to scope the scene here, there's a good place near Terragusto (I live in that neighborhood) called Kaze. They do some interesting combinations and toppings.

http://www.kazesushi.com/

Oh, and if you want to check out the very best in Chicago sausages, go to Hot Doug's. It's a bit out of the way but 1090923840723489 percent worth the effort. Just check out his specials.

http://hotdougs.com/specials.htm

Antelope Sausage with Warm Apricot-Rum Sauce and Lancashire Cheese

Über Garlic Pork Sausage with Sweet Curry Mustard, Vintage Van Gogh Cheese and Roasted Garlic Cloves

Check out www.metromix.com

Also "Check, Please!" segments on PBS - channel 11 in Chicago feature very personal experiences for many of the downtown restaurants. And there are so many, and the choices are so subjective, that may help.

I'm pretty sure you can view the abstracts of their comments on the PBS- Channel 11 website.

I like the area of the Fairmont, to me it is quite Central. Better than far North or far South of Grant Park, for instance.

The Loop, River North and North Michigan Avenue areas are all quite close, all would be fine. Don't know anything specific about the Fairmont, though some rooms have gorgeous views.

Of course the best known high-end restaurants are probably Grant Achatz' Alinea and Charlie Trotter's. A new place called Sixteen is now open in the new Trump Tower Hotel and has been well-reviewed. There are many, many others. I believe Aria is in the Fairmont, and has nice food.

Thank you so much everyone!

I'm looking into all the restaurant recommendations. They all sound great. Even Hotdougs....oye. 2FF we are *always* open to more sushi sampling.

I noticed on another post that "Looptopia" will also be in full swing while we're there. This worries me, I am envisioning a lot of craziness and crowds (New Orleans Mardigra) type crowds???? I hope not! Could any one give me an idea of what to expect.

topping....

Looptopia is fairly new, a hype, IMHO. Isn't this the one where they keep everything open all night 1 night?

Don't worry about it.

The big squeeze is always during Taste of Chicago, which I absolutely detest beyond anything you can imagine.

And the crowds for parades, air show, Venetian Night and most of the big long standing fireworks displays are the most crowded.

If you are coming right now, you will hit the tulips, they are super late this year, and you may hit them just past their prime.

JJ5 is correct, Looptopia is only tonight. If you're coming next week, it will be long gone.

Corina,

Please also consider Le Colonial for your special dinner. It has a wonderful feel to it. Also, while I haven't seen Arun's mentioned recently, it is widely cited as one of the very best Thai restaurants in the US (and Harrison Ford's favorite restaurant). Arun's is 5-8 miles from where you are staying, however.

Hoping you fall in love with Chicago,

Kevin

I loved Taste of Chicago - JJ5, what is it you hate about that event?

Oh, I forgot about Arun's! Also would recommend this for you--we have lots of Thai restaurants in town, but nothing else is like Arun's. I took a friend from Seattle there, who said in all his eating adventures in 62 countries he hadn't had anything like it.

Crowds, dirt, raw stuff that is supposed to be cooked, cooked stuff that is supposed to be hot that is cold, garbage, too many people packed together, nowhere to eat in leisure, terrible examples given for some of the venues because they run out of stuff or have insufficient space to to prepare it-and that's just the part that deals with the product. Very over-priced, parking is horrid, bathrooms sometimes worse.

Don't judge the restaurant by the sample of that food at Taste, eating it within a meal in a leisurely environment, cooked properly- most times they are as different as apples and oranges.

There are so many great restaurants downtown that you do not need to travel to get to more, IMHO.

Also you want leisure and TIME to eat in leisure, do not forget that aspect of a good meal experience- even if you are a high end foodie.

Marilynl, Arun's is my favorite dining experience in Chicago. YUM! I'm a baby when it comes to not eating anything too spicy, so I let our server know, and everything was just perfect. Mmm, now I want to go again . . .

Crowds, dirt, raw stuff that is supposed to be cooked, cooked stuff that is supposed to be hot that is cold, garbage, too many people packed together, nowhere to eat in leisure, terrible examples given for some of the venues because they run out of stuff or have insufficient space to to prepare it-and that's just the part that deals with the product. Very over-priced, parking is horrid, bathrooms sometimes worse.

None of those things bother me - LOL!

Alinea and Charlie Trotter's were just listed as two of the top 50 restaurants in the country by Restaurant Magazine, I doubt you will be able to get into either without a pretty hefty lead time.

Schwa is another one that got a lot of critical acclaim when it opened, the owner closed it up after hosting some of the world's top chefs but recently reopened

http://www.schwarestaurant.com/

Spiaggia is usually listed as THE top end Italian place in the city.

Everest is one of the top places for French, it's been around a long time so it might be easier to get into
http://www.everestrestaurant.com/

Arun's seemed to have lost a bit of it's luster when the local critics downgraded it by a star, it is a fair distance outside of the city center and a pretty long cab ride.

Unique in Chicago might be North Pond, in a refurbished building within Lincoln Park. Very intimate and romantic, serving well-prepared American food depending on what is fresh in the market. Prairie-style building.