south loop restaurants
 

Hi: My husband and I will be in Chicago at the end of March for about 3 nights. We love good food, creative cuisine, have traveled to France and Italy a number of times. We are staying at the Hilton, which I believe is the South Loop area.
Does anyone have some restaurant recommendations in that area, or nearby that we should check out?

The South Loop is actually only a few blocks from the Loop. There's an italian place in the South Loop, Gioco, I'm not that big of a fan though. The Hilton has Kitty O'Sheas in it which is fun if you like Irish Pubs. For Italian, cab it to Little Italy ($5). Tons of restaurants there. There's Greek Town too, about 1 mile West of the Hilton that has some good Greek Restaurants. Inside the Loop, there's Italian Village, Berghoff (German), Nick's Fishmarket, Rosebud (pasta/steak), etc. Also, River North or North Michigan Avenue isn't that far either. Check out www.metromix.com and put in South Loop, Loop, River North, Greektown, Little Italy and North Michigan Ave and you'll see that there's TONS of restaurants to choose from. Don't forget to hit a place for Chicago pizza either.

It's really very easy and relatively inexpensive to get anywhere around Chicago, esp. by cab. Chicago is a restaurant city, so there are tons of amazing places. For me, it depends on the amount of money you want to spend and what kind of experience you want to have. Not to be catty, but I think Judy1234's suggestions are very touristy and not 'creative cuisine' at all. Sepia is a new restaurant getting a lot of buzz. I've been for brunch and was impressed. There's also the stand-bys Blackbird and Avec, always very popular. If you have the chance, venture out to the neighborhoods--they are worth the visit--great shopping and restaurants. Do check out metromix, its a great place to start.

Thanks for the help. I will check out those restaurants. We like creative cuisine and are okay spending $125 give or take with a nice bottle of wine.

By the way Superk, I looked up the restaurants and made a reservation at Sepia. It looks just like what I am looking for. Thanks again.

The Berghoff closed a couple of years ago.

Excellent! Let me know what you think.

CAPH52 - FYI, While The Berghoff under the oriignal owners closed...it reopened...new owners, new menu, same location, same name.

We are back from Chicago. We had a good time although it was windy, cold and then pretty rainy on Monday.
We totally enjoyed Sepia--the atmosphere was nice, the food was great. I had a veal chop and my husband had short ribs. The presentation was cute--in cast iron pans.
The next two nights we went with other people to restaurants they chose--Spaggia--it was good but the food was rich, quite pricey. Then we went to Shaws crab house. I had some salmon and it was okay.
The last night, we decided to go to Blackbird. It was noisy but the food was fabulous. Every dish was creative and looked like a work of art, with great blended flavors. We both tried the halibut and it was so delicious. We had a goat cheese tart for dessert and it was fabulous. Thanks for the recommendations,

Hooray!! I'm glad you enjoyed my suggestions, drkathej! I love our city and am always happy when people have fun here!

I stand corrected, Laura! However, judging by the reviews on Metromix, The Berghoff many of us knew and loved is, indeed, gone.