Mena's Palace is a local's favorite that serves NOLA comfort food for breakfast and lunch. They serve 25/30 different po boys. Johnny's Po Boy's is in the FQ on St. Louis and has outstanding po boys. El Gato Negro has great Mexican food using local ingredients. Clover Grill is open 24/7 for breakfast and good burgers and it's inexpensive. Rampart Food Store has good po boys. Antoine's, Mr. B's and Luke both have a 3 course prix fixe lunch for $20.00 if you want to step up a notch. Antoine's has 25 cent martini's at lunch. Luke has 50 cent oysters and half price drinks each weekday from 3 PM to 6 PM. Dine at the bar if you like. Domenica in The Roosevelt Hotel has half price pizza and half price drinks between 3 PM and 6 PM every weekday. Evelyn's Place is a great dive bar a block off Canal on Chartres Street with good gumbo and muffaletta's.
Mena's Palace @ 200 Chartres St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 525 - 0217.
http://www.menaspalace.com/
Johnny's Po Boys @ 511 Saint Louis St., New Orleans, LA 504 - 524 - 8129.
http://www.johnnyspoboy.com/
El Gato Negro @ 81 French Market Place, New Orleans, LA 504 - 525 - 9752. http://elgatonegronola.com/
Clover Grill @ 900 Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 598 - 1010.
http://www.clovergrill.com/
Rampart Food Store @ 1700 North Rampart Street, New Orleans, LA 504 - 944 - 7777.
Antoine's @ 713 Saint Louis St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 581 - 4422.
http://www.antoines.com/
Mr. B's Bistro @ 201 Royal St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 523 - 2078.
http://www.mrbsbistro.com/index2.php
Luke Restaurant @ 333 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 378 - 2840.
http://www.lukeneworleans.com/

Domenica @ 123 Baronne St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 648 - 6020.
http://www.domenicarestaurant.com/
Evelyn's Place @ 139 Chartres, New Orleans, LA 504 - 522 - 2216.

Commerce Restaurant is a couple of blocks W of Canal in walking distance of FQ and has good inexpensive lunch. Daisy Dukes serves good breakfast, lunch and dinner open 24/7. Yo Mama's Bar and Grill has good inexpensive food and great burgers. The Trolley Stop Cafe on St. Charles Avenue has outstanding breakfast and lunch that's inexpensive. Go for the early bird $2.99 special. Angeli on Decatur has cheap late night eats such as pizza, burgers, sandwiches and pasta with a Mediterranean flair. Cafe Maspero serves very good reasonable NOLA cuisine also. Coop's is a great NOLA dive joint that serves outstanding comfort food and cold drinks. You can also watch the game there on their many TV's.
Commerce Restaurant @ 300 Camp St., New Orleans, LA 504 - 561 - 9239.
Daisy Duke's @ 121 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 504 - 561 - 5171.
http://www.daisydukesrestaurant.com/
Yo Moma's Bar and Grill @ 727 Saint Peter St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 522 - 1125.
http://www.yomamasbarandgrill.com/
Trolley Stop Cafe @ 1923 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 504 - 523 - 0090.
Angeli on Decatur @ 1141 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA 504 - 566 - 0077.
Cafe Maspero @ 601 Decatur Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 504 - 523 - 6250.
http://www.neworleansonline.com/dire...?locationID=83

Coops Place @ 1109 Decatur St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 525 - 9053.
http://www.coopsplace.net/

Mimi's in the Marigny and Port O Call are fine places for inexpensive dining. The burgers at Port O Call are outstanding. Buffa's Lounge has good tamales. Three Muses has great music, cold drinks and good food.

Mimi's in the Marigny @ 2601 Royal St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 872 - 9868.
Port of Call @ 838 Esplanade Ave., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 523 - 0120.
http://www.portofcallneworleans.com/
Buffa's Lounge @ 1001 Esplanade Ave., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 949 - 0038.
http://www.buffaslounge.com/
Three Muses @ 536 Frenchmen Street, New Orleans, LA 504 – 298 – 8746.
http://www.thethreemuses.com/

hi again, I have been trying to plan my chosen itinerary but we have hit a snag. No room at the Shack Up Inn for the time we are passing through Clarksdale. Does anyone have any other suggestions of either a nice B&B style of accommodation there or another town en route from Memphis to Natchez where we could overnight? Also recommendations for places in Nashville would be appreciated. @ BKD: thanks for the Natchez B&B info I am definitely going to get in touch with Gail there and try to reserve a room on our chosen night.

I just wanted to give you a heads up that the CMA Fest will be June 7-10 in Nashville. You might be planning to get here after that, but if those dates cover when you plan to be in town, you should know that it's a huge event downtown and hotels are probably pretty full already. If you're into country music at all it could be fun to go, but if you aren't, I'd avoid downtown - the crowds are crazy.

Normally, though, I'd recommend a hotel downtown if you plan to do typical tourist things. There are lots of chain hotels. The Hermitage is great but expensive.

You don't say when you are traveling, which will greatly affect what you can experience.

About Chicago:

Chicago is a world-class destination for cuisine. With so many great restaurants, I would hate to have you dine somewhere which doesn't give you the full magnitude of the city's restaurant scene.

Quite frankly, I would be very, very sad if Chicago was only known for deep-dish style pizza, Chicago-style hotdogs, or Italian Beef sandwiches. Know how Chicago-style hotdogs came about? Developed so the very poor citizens could get at least some vegetables in their daily diet with their sausages. So, absolutely nothing wrong with getting one - but please consider the level at which Chicago is now known around the world.

And, for your own sake, you should really take a look where these restaurants recommended to you are located in the city, because you won't have a lot of time to fritter away traveling to them.

Kuma's Corner. Quite frankly, I don't know of *ANY* locals who would wait 1.5 hours for service there. Tourists, yes. Surbanites, yes. But not locals. That's because they know when not to go - specifically during weekends and during the busiest period for lunch. (P.S. If you have no problem with wasting up to 1.5 hours waiting on service, then go to a Chicago institution such as Hot Doug's. Still, I would personally never recommend going there with such a short amount of time at your disposal.)

I would be happy to make some restaurant suggestions, based on what you think you would be doing and where in the city you'll be. If you would post back once you have made a tentative agenda...

I truly recommend that you use the FREE Chicago Greeter service. You can choose your tour by either neighborhood or by interest. Since you aren't familiar with the various neighborhoods of Chicago (these are not the suburbs), a good place to start is by looking at the Explore Chicago website, which gives you a brief overview of them. Again, with your short period of stay here (and I assume the possibility of jet lag), you'd probably want to stay fairly close to the downtown area (the "Loop"). I suspect that you might have some interest in the Gold Coast, Old Town and Lincoln Park neighborhoods - at least the area closest to the lakefront (around Lincoln Park, the park) and/or the DePaul University area, which is about a mile inland from the lake or possibly the Loop.

The really excellent thing about the Chicago Greeter service is that these are lead by locals - and, I think in the past, they provide you with a 1 day CTA pass, which allows you unlimited transportation throughout the entire city for 24 hours. So, you have someone very familiar with the area showing you around and answering your questions as they arise (and who doesn't forget to ask something until the last moment?).

When you go to the Chicago Greeter website, you'll find that there are also InstaGreeter tours of various areas of the city, including the Loop (as well as Pilsen, Old Town, Hyde Park and 1 other which I cannot remember offhand). These would be tours in a group for which you don't have to make specific reservations in advance.

In addition, if you are coming when they are running, truly consider the Chicago Architecture Foundation's River Cruise - although they have many fine walking tours. The city developed around the Chicago River and almost all of the architectural gems associated with Chicago, which you have seen, are located along the banks.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation's main location, the ArchiCenter, is located across S. Michigan Ave. at the south end of the Art Institute. Go there. Not only do they have a nifty gift shop with many quality items, but you can view all of the tours for that day on their board. And, if it is still open when you are here, view the Chicago Model City (you'll see information about it on their website.)

Also, during the course of the summer months, the Chicago History Museum conducts various tours, mostly those neighborhoods around the museum itself. The Chicago History Museum is on N. Clark Street, just south of North Avenue. I mentioned the Old Town, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park neighborhoods above. There is the point where you can *EASILY* enter all three. The CHM is in the Gold Coast, and across the street (to the east) from Old Town as well as across the street (to the south) of the south end of Lincoln Park. Can't get any easier than that to visit all three.

So, now getting to the rest of your visit. I've traveled the Great River Road to a short distance south of St. Louis. I meant to go all the way to the Delta one year, but spring floods scratched that plan. So the rest of the journey is still on my "to do" list.

However, one of the things which I myself would look into is Civil War reenactments. The American Civil War (or War Between the States, depending on the source) is a seminal event in American History. Especially in light of the special anniversaries involved (for example, the Battle of Shiloh was fought April 6 and 7th, 1862 - 150 years ago). Shiloh National Military Park is to the east of Memphis as a point of reference.

Of course, this is just an example thrown out for you, but if you have any interest in this very sad but extremely interesting period of American history, please look into it. I'm going to give you a page from the National Park Service so you can look further into the subject (click on the Civil War Sesquicentennial hyperlink on the left side of the page - then continue on with the hyperlinks on the bottom of the next page for Tennessee and Mississippi), if it interests you. www.nps.gov/shil/index.htm

Sorry, I forgot to give you some websites:

www.explorechicago.org
www.chicagogreeter.com
www.architecture.org
chicagohistory.org

Hope these help you during the Chicago leg of your tour.

Hi exiledprincess, I will be in Chicago from June 3rd to 6th, then on to Memphis for 3 days, then a couple of days en route via Natchez/Clarksdale. 3 or 4 nights in New Orleans June 11th to 14th then Nashville via the Natchez Trace Parkway for a few days. It seems like a really busy time to visit as we are finding difficulty in sourcing reasonably priced central accommodation in Chicago. Thank you for all of the excellent links.

The cheap place that my DW and I stay in Chicago. This is the largest HI hostel I have stayed in. http://www.hichicago.org/
It is an easy walk or bus ride to the lake, museums, Michigan Ave. etc.

Chicago is a big convention city. The American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting is scheduled for that time in early June (over 31,000 attendees) as well as a couple smaller conventions. These conventions will affect the availability and pricing for hotels.

You don't have to stay in a hostel, as there are other options to explore first.

You might look a little further afield than the "downtown" (the Loop), River North or the Mag. Mile. Perhaps the Belden-Stratford in Lincoln Park (about 15-20 minutes north of the top of the Mag. Mile by bus route #151 - but right across the street from Lincoln Park, the park, including the Lincoln Park Zoo and Lincoln Park Conservatory, and you can easily walk to the Mag. Mile through the park, if you wish). Or perhaps the Days Inn Chicago, which is located in the Lakeview neighborhood, immediately across the street from the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Both of these are in two of the better neighborhoods with many dining and evening entertainment choices - they're just a little further away.

Also, you could consider a B&B such as the Gold Coast Guest House or the Flemish House of Chicago in the Gold Coast neighborhood (the last would be my preference if you are looking for a great location).

I hope that you realize that it will already be pretty hot down in the south in June.

Fe, too bad about the Shack Up Inn. Did you try sending them an email? They may be able to help you find another place. Must be something going on there at that time.

Honestly, if you can't stay at the Shack Up, you may just want to skip Clarksdale. The Shack Up is part of the "charm", though others may disagree.

I do recommend that you go through Oxford, home of William Faulkner and the University of Mississippi. It has a lovely square with restaurants and small nightclubs and the University of Mississippi is a really beautiful campus. There are B&B's and the nicest people you would ever want to meet. It's an hour south of Memphis.

If it were me, I'd head straight to Natchez and spend a couple of nights there. If you wanted to slowly work your way down to New Orleans, take HWY 61 to St. Francisville, LA and spend the night in one of the many plantation homes. That's a beautiful area and you could tour several of the houses. That would leave you at the most a 2 hour drive to New Orleans.

Check the Five and Dime in Clarksdale.

The Lofts at the Five and Dime @ 211 Yazoo Avenue, Clarksdale, MS 888 - 510-9604.
http://www.fiveanddimelofts.com/

If you have time stop by Greenwood, MS where you will find some outstanding casual local dining at Lusco's, Crystal Grill and Giardinia's. Giardinia's is in The Alluvian Hotel which is a 4 * hotel owned by Viking Range. The Crystal has good plate lunches, seafood and steaks. Giardinia's and Lusco's both have outstanding seafood and steaks. Lusco's is old style in a fairly rough neighborhood but safe with lots of history and famous names that have been there. Everyone dines in a booth with a curtain same as Giardinia's. Spend the night at The Alluvian and dine at Giardinia's or Lusco's for dinner.
Alluvian Hotel @ 318 Howard Street, Greenwood, MS 662 - 451 - 1500.
http://www.thealluvian.com/
Crystal Grill @ 423 Carrollton Ave.,Greenwood, MS 662 - 453 - 6530.
Giardinia's @ 314 Howard St., Greenwood, MS 662 - 455 - 4227.
http://www.thealluvian.com/restaurants.html
Lusco's @ 722 Carrollton Ave., Greenwood, MS 662 - 453 - 5365.