I will be visiting Northwestern Univ. with my daughter in the next few weeks. Any advice on a hotel or restaurants in the area? As I will be paying for college, I would be looking for something nice, clean but not too pricey.

Thx.

One of the Priceline options for the Chicago area is Skokie/North Shore (I think that's how its listed - I'm sure about the Skokie part). Skokie is next to Evanston...maybe a 20 minute drive to the campus. If I were you...I'd bid for a 2 1/2 star (minimum) hotel...I'm sure you'll wind up with something decent. Our P'line experiences in the are have all been good.

I lived in Evanston for three years and enjoyed these restaurants:

Blind Faith Cafe, 525 Dempster Street,(847) 328-6875 (Great for vegetarians.)

Dave's Italian Kitchen, 1635 Chicago Avenue, (847) 864-6000

Pine Yard Restaurant, 1033 Davis Street,(847) 475-4940 (Great Chinese.)

The Lucky Platter, 514 Main St (847) 869-4064

Yesterdays, 1850 Sherman Ave, (847) 864-8464

Try these restaurants - all good values
Trattoria Demi (downtown Evanston, Italian)
Kuni's (Main St. and Chicago Ave., sushi)
Lucky Platter (across from Kuni's, eclectic)
Also try Judy's Bakery on Main Street just west of train tracks.

There aren't a lot of hotels in Evanston. The Orrington is by far the closest and nicest by NWU. The Old Orchard area is a big, upscale mall in Skokie with some reasonably priced chains (Doubletree, Hampton Inn) It's about 15 minutes west of the campus.

More info (check out new Hilton Garden Inn) and maps at

http://www.evanston-illinois.org/

There's a Holiday Inn in Evanston, and also a squaint place called the Margarita Inn.

Yesterday's restaurant is unfortunately closed. You could also try Las Palmas for Mexican.