I have to travel to Chicago next week for business and I've never been there. What are some essential places to try...

and don't sleep

The Goose Island brewpub on Clybourn Ave is independent of the rest of the Goose Island company and they have really good beer and food. It's probably my favorite place in the city.

Went to uni in Chicago. Potbelly's is OK. Not that much better but more expensive and less food

Only thing I'd rec is Harold's fried chicken. $3.54 for a 1/4 dark, fries, and a slice of bread and coleslaw. All drizzled with hot sauce. Was the shit when I'd go on my binges. Order, go to neighboring liquor store, get my 1/5 and come back and order is ready.

>Potbelly's
eh? that's not exclusive to chicago, is it?

>Harold's Fried Chicken
seconding this.

Kuma's Corner has decent burgers and beer, but if you're not into hard rock/metal it might be grating.

If you end up in union station Gold Coast Dogs is one of my favorite hot dogs. I like them better than portillos (prefer their beefs). They have really good fries.

I completely didn't realize that potbelly was regional, it makes perfect sense now that I think about it. Really good stuff.

100% correct about Harolds.

Idk but I live in Cali and they don't have it there or nyc

OP here, we used to have Potbelly's in Ohio. Tried it and it was bretty gud; think I had the wreck sammich.

Judy's Pizzeria. It's not deep dish.

t. falseflagging fat cucks

There's a fucking area call food district or something should yelp it

Potbelly started in Chicago, but it's become a chain. There was one near where I worked in Houston, and we got catering from there a lot.

Go to Buona Beef if youre near one. Similar to Portillos but better.

Honey Butter Fried Chicken in avondale has the best fried chicken you'll ever taste.
Au Cheval in west loop has the best burger you'll ever taste
And fuck you, try either Lou Malnati's or Pequod's pizza.

Good point about trying Lou Malnatis since its there for tourists

Go to the Billy goat, get the double cheeseburger,trust me. Going there reminded me of midgar from final fantasy.

>Billy goat

Over rated trash

nice meme

>Keep your wits about you I downtown. Chicago crime is no meme.

The vast majority of gang violence is on the south and west sides of the city.

Portillos and Comiskey Park are the only good places to get hotdogs.

Eat a deep dish pizza, you fag.

This. Crime only happens in nog-neighborhoods and what the fuck would you be doing there in the first place?

And don't give any money to the homeless. I know you think it's really cool seeing homeless people for the first time, and you want them to know you're a kind and compassionate human being, but you're just making life for Chicagoians harder when you enable those winos.

Find a Fontano's, eat an Italian beef sandwich

Find some good Polish sausages

Have a cake shake from portillos. Don't bother with the hot dogs there, they're not unique enough to warrant missing out on their delicious cheeseburger, which is their crown jewel imo.

Or just get both.

Portillos has good Italian beef sandwiches, too.

And french fries. Portillos has the best french fries.

...

holy shit that's my hometown
go do dear franks and judy's pizzeria

They do, they really do, but something about the bread at Fontano's just makes it win for me.

Portillo's fries are top tier. But Jim's... Jim's has literally OP fries

>I know you think it's really cool seeing homeless people for the first time

Only flyovers have never seen a homeless person before

alinea
just put it on your corporate card
expense that shit

>Crime only happens in nog-neighborhoods and what the fuck would you be doing there in the first place?

Hyde Park and the University of Chicago happens to be set right up against some bad neighborhoods, but is a great place to visit.

why do they leave the stems on the peppers in those things?

are you supposed to pick it off and eat separately?

you can eat a pepper stem user, it won't kill you.

Potbelly's is expensive trash, its not even exclusive to Chicago.

why would you want to tho?

why not? a stemmed pepper is more pleasing to the eye.

Go for tavern-style pizza

they only do in photoshoots

OK well shove this whole thing in your mouth

Oh? Well I guess that makes sense. I only got one of those sonic dogs one time but I could swear it had the stem.

...

>a small, pickeled pepper stem is comparable to an unprepared cherry stem

Parachute in Avondale was nice, took a date there. Small but good food and spirit program. A friend has recommended The Purple Pig to me, could be good.

>t. Cultureless Hoosier

It won't kill you you hipster faggot

i'll have you know that my wife's son choked to death on a cherry stem.

Alinea and/or Schwa.

>purple pig
It's not. There are no good restaurants on MIchigan Ave. Tourist chow.

Thirded. & Mannys Deli. Best Reuben's in the city.

^ but OP is too poor.

Is Heaven on Seven still good? Havent been there in over ten years.

>Fontanos
Spent many years living across the street from their family. Great people.
t. UIC grad

Wow thats so interesting

Little Italy is a great neighborhood. Old man Fontano was a fixture (I'm not sure if he's still alive), the kind of old school if he liked you he looked after you kind of guy. I did a shit load of coke one night with one of his kids (in their 30s) and the guy who is the heir to the wine shop in Old Town. I lived across the street from them, he needed a place to bump up. It was an odd night.

That was a long time ago. If I recall right he married into the family, may have had a different name. Little Joe's was a great bar/restaurant as well - Little Joe who's ~80 yr old mother cooked the food and sat at the end of the bar drinking Tia Maria & Tuffanos, where mob guys and city officials would drink and dine together... Old school neighborhood stuff. Good times.

>NYC shithole is somehow better than the Chicago shithole

Chicagoans just aren't used to the NYC shitsmell the city and it's people carry with them everywhere. They probably found you off-putting.

>Deep thoughts from buttfuck nowhere where everyone with potential leaves
Thanks for participating

No. I'm a flyover who frequently travelled to NY and CHI on business. That was my impression of the people in both cities. CHI = assholes with an inferiority complex; NYC = abrasive, but genuinely decent.

they could probably smell the incest and manure on you

Calling BS in this right now. Youre trolling. And if you've ever left your shit hole home town you'd know that even the junkie rich kids from Naperville are friendlier than the shitheads who mill around Penn Station. At any rate, if you judge the city your in by the zombies at a train station you truly are a flyover whose opinions and existence is truly not worth considering. Sorry if your feelings are hurt.

Smells different than the human feces and urine you're used to, I'm sure.

>potential

You must be talking about the "artists", "pro-campers", and criminals.

Or those who haven't gotten their job through family connections and/ or social connections and can't otherwise live without them and laude their bootstrappiness, those that are intelligent and entrepreneurial, those that aren't losers without skills, creativity or talent and blame everyone but themselves for their failures in life.

I just left a conference there. I had some good pizza at Lou Malnati's and heard from a local that Giordano's is a tourist trap.

I know you're not interested in deep dish, but I don't care. That's the only thing worth eating in Chicago, unless you can find a hotdog place like Devildogs.

Harold's is good too. The one I went to had glass across the counter thicker than what you see in the White House so I'm pretty sure it's where the locals eat.

Last time I was in chicago I had McDonald's. It was really good, I highly recommend you try it.

The company is covering all expenses while I'm there

>state clearly I was on business trips. Assumes I'm interacting with train station layabouts. Screams about CHI layabout bums are friendlier than NYC layabout bums.

You seem to know a lot about train station layabouts. Is that a hobby of CHI assholes too, to hangaround train stations and sample the "culture" of other cities' train station bums? Figures.

I used to go to Little Joe's quite a bit, but since they open at 5 (if you're lucky) and my day drinking habits require me to start drinking around 3, I started going to the Mad Mouse brewery inside Moxee in Maxwell.

Joe's is a really chill place, they just don't have the same beer selection as they used to

It's called commuting asshole. And more people pass through those stations than populate your """country""" we don't use the term 'layabout' FYI. Try harder next time yuropoor.

No shit. My tour was early mid-oughts. Is Joe still alive? Friendly nod.

Whoops. It's noon in Sydney. Fucking cancer.

This anonHyde park is fine and UoC is kinda cool to visit but lot of homeless around there and I get an email still about twice a month abt someone getting mugged in the area.

Also was women by gunshots a few times while I went there. The neighborhood's around it are shit but there's a ton of cops around

*woken

Chicago is a fake big city. Its such a disappointment.

However the internet shits on the only uniquely Chicago and delicious food, Deep Dish. But it easily the one good thing the city has produced.

Chicago dogs are only good at portillos and its a hot dog so it isn't acutally good. Italian beefs are awful and are worse than every single beef sandwich ever invented. Don't let anyone from Chicago convince you other wise.

Go to bed Carter

>not interested in shitty deep dish pizza.

So, you want GOOD deep dish? Lou Malnati's, definitely. Looks like you have three choices. Just google "malnati's deerfield" and it'll give you the numbers and a map.

If you want a really good gyros, go to Wally's in Park Ridge, corner of NW Highway and Oakton. It's a bit of a trip from Deerfield, though, around fifteen miles and half an hour. Map:

google.com/maps/@42.0250504,-87.8521425,16z

If you'd like to try some Persian food, Reza's at 5255 N. Clark in Chicago is excellent. Downside is having to go into the city itself. About a 45 minute drive, 20 or so miles from mid-Deerfield.

>Chicago crime is no meme.
Agreed, but it looks like OP is staying in Deerfield. That's one of those "million dollar mansions everywhere" suburbs. The biggest crime he's likely to run into there is some asshole "affluenza" teenager running him over while driving home drunk from a rave.

Potbelly's Mediocre Overpriced Sandwiches, Inc. Yay. Not really worth it, it's basically an upscale Jimmy John's.

Do it! Doooooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt!!!!!!

>Italian beefs are awful and are worse than every single beef sandwich ever invented

Meh. They're all right once in a while, but nothing special. The biggest problem is that most places (1) use too much way-too-dry overcooked beef, (2) slop a bunch of "au jus" onto the bread and make it soggy, and (3) use green peppers that have been sitting in water so long that they've lost all their flavor. If you do it at home you can do it right.

Anyway, hope you have a good trip, OP. Try Lou's, it's great stuff.

dont go to portillos, go to literally any hot dog stand on the street instead

go back to asp bretcock

Chicago people are funny because they insist on whatever hotdog/gyro/Italian beef joint they grew-up near or get lunch from everyday at work is the one you have to check out because its the best one in town.

>Go to Chicago 5 years ago
>Eat at recommended small hot dog shops
>Chicago dog is garbage at every place
>Move to Chicago
>Get dragged to Portillo's
>Its actually not bad.

>If you do it at home you can do it right.

Where do you get beef that is sliced thin enough to do it at home? I don't have any interest in making Italian beefs at home but there are a number of dishes that benefit from deli thin slices of raw meat but I haven't been able to find any anywhere except at Mitsuwa way the fuck outside of Chicago.

I'm not the guy you're replying to, but my local asian supermarkets sell raw beef that is sliced very thin.

You can also do it yourself. Buy a piece of beef and toss it in the freezer for a little while so it firms up. Then slice it with a sharp knife.

Or ask your butcher to slice it for you.

>Or ask your butcher to slice it for you.
They refused to, mostly because butchers don't typically have the deli slicer anyway.

>You can also do it yourself. Buy a piece of beef and toss it in the freezer for a little while so it firms up. Then slice it with a sharp knife.
This method is very shitty and decent cuts of beef are not sold in a size where you can really attempt. You end up with unevenly sized small chips of meat when cutting up a steak for instance. Even with a sharp knife, lots of pieces still end up too thick. Its impossible at home to get the sheets of meat that is great for things like cheesesteaks and sukiyaki.

>my local asian supermarkets sell raw beef that is sliced very thin.
Usually they do but the Asian supermarkets in Chicago specifically don't except the Japanese one I previously mentioned. As far as I know. I suspect the Korean ones might but they are nearly as far away as the Japanese one.

You have a shitty butcher.

You also have a dull knife and/or shitty knife skills.

I was expecting both Giordano's and Portillos to both be overrated meme restaurants given the hype but honestly they were both pretty good.

How do you turn this cut of meat

You can get a kick ass meat slicer for 150 bucks

if you want a good Bahn Mi
try out Ba Le Sandwiches

Even with the sharpest knife in the world, how do you turn this typical cut

Into this. You can't at home.

You can do something passable by cutting on a bias, i.e. diagonally.

But instead of buying a single pre-cut steak I'd buy a larger piece of beef. The equivalent of 3 or 4 steaks, but still left together in one piece. That should be available at any butcher. Heck, even my local supermarkets could provide that since they cut their own steaks.

Partially freeze it so it firms up, then slice with a sharp knife.