My best girlfriend and I will be in Chicago this weekend, and we'd like to have dinner at a cool, place to be seen restaurant where they would have good martinis.

Any suggestions?

A great area for restaurants and bars with a scene is the Rush/State/Division area. Did you have any type of food in mind? Nine on Randolph is quite the scene. Tru is great.

I would suggest Narcisse, Japonais, or Sushi Samba Rio. Another cool new place is Solstice in Lincoln Park. I am partial to Wicker Park/Bucktown restaurants like Spring and Cafe Absinthe and there are lots of great bars in the area.

Everyone tells me Le Bar at the new Sofitel is a hip spot to see and be seen...supposedly John Cusack (Cusak?) hangs out here when he's in town (I'm not a John Cusack groupie, just passing on what I've been told). I haven't been there yet, but will be checking it out myself at the end of the month.

What about Ralph Lauren's restaurant? Cool place or not a cool place?

RL is a good restaurant. I wouldn't say it has a "scene" but it's decorated like a private club--leather, hunting pictures. The food is good and it's connected to the store right off Mi.Ave.

Ralph Lauren is great for lunch, and in the heart of all the shopping.

The hottest spots right now are Japonais and Boka. Impossible to get a reservation this short notice, unless you wouldn't mind going early/late.

Japonais has the most amazing drink called the Floating Orchid (edible), drink with caution...they go down like water but will kick your behind (and they are $9!)

My younger sister and her friends tend to like Carmines on Rush - almost any place on Rush/Division is good. If you want down and dirty singles chicago, try Butch McGuires....assuming its still around!

I just received an email of Chicago' magazine's best restaurants-if you email me I'll be happy to forward it to [email protected].

Tavern on Rush, or Hugo Frog Bar, or Gibson's (in the Rush/Division area) and then go to the Sofitel bar.

However, I agree with Alex: Sushi Samba, or Japonais are really in right now. (And probably a little younger than the above referenced restaurants). The bar across the street from Sushi Samba is great. go to www.metromix.com for suggestions.

Alex-Do you know this from your own personal research?

Anybody been out to Marche's lately?
We ate there twice and really enjoyed it.

Kal-capone

I haven't been recently but I loved Marche last time I was there.

Frequent,
I vote for Japonais as well! It just opened and its THE place right now...Mia Lim (owner) has a great reputation for trendy, hip, restaruant/lounges...Also, Nine is another hip place and the martinis are supposed to be good as well..upstairs from Nine is Ghost bar which is pretty happening...

Kal,

You know I do! I have a single friend who is really into the scene and takes me to all the new places. Otherwise I would be terminally unhip - I would probably never go anywhere other than the Map Room or the Village Tap.

I wanted to point out that in Chicago the places to see and be seen are not necessarily the same as the "best" restaurants. For example, Tru is fantastic (one of the best in the city, if not the country) and I am sure you can see celebrities there from time to time (not that I ever have) but it really isn't a "scene" restaurant. Japonais and Sushi Samba both have good food but they aren't Tru or Charlie Trotters. They are, however, very cool places to hang out and be seen. I threw Narcisse in because in addition to still being a place to be seen, it also was rated in the top 10 martinis in Chicago in the Citysearch readers poll. I like going there for champagne. I haven't been to Boka yet but I intend to. I have also heard good things about avec, which is by the same owners as Blackbird, but I have not been there.

Hope this helps!

Alex

Ahhhh...the things we DO for our friends!
You better keep up your research for our visit in Aug 2004!

Kal, I definitely will! : )