Travel - Chicago Tips

As you probably know, Alex and I met in business school in Chicago.

In case you visit Chicago, here are some tips from Alex. These were tips he shared with Rob who is visiting in the next month.

The place you want to go to is Kingston Mines- you want to see the blues rather than jazz in my opinion.  Kingston Mines has amazing food (creole-style) and two full rooms/stages.  A band will be playing on one, and when the finish their set, another band starts on the other stage and the whole place migrates over there.  They’re open until at least 4am.

http://kingstonmines.com/

B.L.U.E.S. is just down the street too.  Here’s a couple rankings: http://www.timeout.com/chicago/music/the-9-best-blues-music-clubs-in-chicago

http://www.10best.com/destinations/illinois/chicago/nightlife/jazz-blues-clubs/

Green Mill and Blue Chicago are also pretty legendary places.

Go downtown to Millenium Park during the day (cool at night too!) and at a minimum definitely go see the giant silver egg and take some pics there.  It’s really cool.  The Art Institute and Field Museum are also right there too, and Soldier Field.  This is where Lollapalooza is held every year, too

https://www.google.com/search?q=millennium+park+egg&biw=1164&bih=881&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvqfX2k__LAhVG5CYKHUmCBlsQ_AUIBigB

Eating: I will seriously yell at you if you don’t go to Chicago Bagel Authority in Lincoln Park at Armitage and Sheffield.  It’s amazing for either breakfast or lunch.  They have an insane amount of really good sandwiches- they steam their bagels and get a very unique taste.  And the neighborhood is very cool to walk around in.

http://eatcba.com/

Late night, Chicago is all about burritos (very limited pizza by the slice) and hot dogs.  There is a bigger Mexican population that you’d think- they generally head straight up- the Mexican food is a lot better than in NY!  This is a late night favorite- Taco Burrito Palace #2.  Limited ambiance but really great food.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-and-burrito-palace-2-chicago-2

For pizza, try to get some good deep dish.   This blog seems to know what they’re talking about and have lots of recommendations.  I’m a fan of Lou Malnati’s

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/the-best-deep-dish-pizza-in-chicago.html

Second City is a classic comedy club- looks like there are some tickets available for next weekend:

http://www.secondcity.com/tickets/

For staying, you’ll want to find something relatively central.  Taxis are plentiful and you’ll end up using them a fair amount no matter where you stay.  You want to definitely be east of 90/94 and between the Loop in the south and below Belmont to the north.  Probably something in the eastern section of Fullerton would be relatively central.