Categories: Restaurants
At The Table: Chicago Restaurant Week
Author: Constance Cooper
From February 22-29, 35 of the city’s best restaurants will feature a three-course prix-fie lunch for $21.95 and a three-course dinner for $31.95.
February 22-29, Chicago will host its very first Restaurant Week. Featuring seven days of fabulously priced meal promotions, Restaurant Week gives Chicagoans and visitors alike the chance to indulge themselves at some of the city’s best restaurants while still keeping their wallets nice and fat. For one week only, 35 of the city’s restaurants will feature a three-course prix-fie lunch for $21.95 and a three-course dinner for $31.95. Although the prices are exclusive of beverages, tax, and tip – they remain unheard of values for the restaurants participating. A full list of these restaurants can be viewed at the Chicago Restaurant Week official website, and reservations can be made via OpenTable.
The following are just a few must-visit spots participating in Chicago Restaurant Week:
17 West at the Berghoff
17 West Adams Street
Chicago, IL 60603
312-427-3170
website
A German beer hall opened in 1898 by immigrant Herman Joseph Berghoff, the Berghoff was the oldest restaurant in Chicago when it closed its doors in 2006. Owned and operated by Carlyn Berghoff, Herman’s great-granddaughter, 17 West at the Berghoff maintains the Old World charm of the Berghoff Restaurant but with lively contemporary touches all its own.
Aigre Doux Restaurant and Bakery
230 West Kinzie Street
Chicago, IL 60610
312-329-9400
website
Named one of Chicago Magazine’s “Best New Restaurants of 2007” - Aigre Doux, whose name literally means “sour sweet,” features the elegant, restrained New American cuisine of husband-wife team Mohammad Islam (executive chef) and Malika Ameen (pastry chef). The impressive culinary resumes of this powerhouse couple includes working together at the helm at L.A.’s famed Chateau Marmont. Aigre Doux’s menu features such stunners as Roasted Lobster Bucatini with asparagus, squash, and crispy leeks as well as Colorado Rack Of Lamb with truffled grits, fennel, roasted peach, and a fava bean salad.
Aria
200 North Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
312-444-9494
website
Chef de Cuisine Leon Gunn has created a menu of paradoxes for Aria - featuring “global comfort food” that deftly blends adventurousness with familiarity. Aria also features a sleek sushi bar/lounge billed as “Chicago’s only sushi club” - with sari-inlaid tables, private recesses draped in gold and amber shears, and a soaring global soundtrack.
Carnivale
702 West Fulton Street
Chicago, IL 60661
312-850-3017
website
Lively, colorful, and hip, Carnival offers playful Nuevo Latino cuisine in a nightclub-like setting. Featuring delicious cocktails such as the spiced rum Horchata-tini, as well as made-to-order guacamole and a fresh ceviche bar, Carnival caters to an up-and-coming crowd of young foodies looking to mix dinnertime with party time.
David Burke’s Primehouse
616 North Rush at Ontario
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312.660.6000
website
No visit to Chicago would be complete without a big, juicy steak. Opened in 2006, David Burke’s Primehouse has already taken its place among the city’s most storied steakhouses. The crowning jewels of menu are Burke’s boldly flavorful dry-aged steaks, which hang for up to 40 days in the restaurant’s salt-tiled aging room.
Fulton’s on the River
315 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
312-822-0100
website
Located on the Chicago River, with stunning views of the downtown loop, Fulton’s is a classic Chicago seafood and steak house with quite possibly the best oyster bar in town. Although the steaks are scrumptious at Fulton’s, seafood is the real star of the menu. Featuring everything from barramundi, to kampachi, to ono-wahoo, to corvina, Fulton’s seafood menu is guaranteed not to disappoint.
Naha
500 North Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
312-321-6242
website
New American dining with bold Mediterranean touches characterizes Executive Chef Carrie Nahabedian’s menu of sophisticated comfort food – featuring such unique creations as Braised Kurobuta Pork Cheek with Amish shell beans, winter root vegetables, and smoked Manuka sea salt, as well as Tasmanian Ocean Trout - hot smoked and blossom honey glazed, served with black beluga lentils, portabella mushrooms, and balsamic syrup.
Pump Room
1301 North State Parkway
Chicago, IL 60610
312-266-0360
website
Originally opened in 1938, the Pump Room has hosted decades upon decades of celebrities – everyone from Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, to Bette Davis, to Frank Sinatra, to Jim Belushi, to Mick Jagger. Maintaining four AAA diamonds since 1978, the Pump Room features contemporary American cuisine with subtle French influences. Often compared to New York’s The Rainbow Room, this historic restaurant and bar is definitely the place to visit for an experience that is truly, uniquely Chicago.
Sushi Samba Rio
504 North Wells Street
Chicago, IL 60610
312-595-2300
website
Named Chicago Magazine’s best rooftop bar in town – this Brazilian-Japanese-Peruvian hybrid restaurant features an indoor space that feels just like outside – where you can experience summer even amid February’s chill. This colorful, high-energy restaurant boasts a deliciously eccentric menu designed by Chef de Cuisine Abel Cortez, an extensive and intricate sake menu compiled by Sake Sommelier Moncia Samuels, all set to a vibrant, pulsing samba beat.
Check out places of interest near At The Table: Chicago Restaurant Week:
17 West at The Berghoff
17 W. Adams St.,
Chicago, IL 60603
The Berghoff, a traditional 19th-century German beer hall located in Chicago's downtown, has been re-born under the direction of the founder's great-grandduaghter Carlyn Berghoff.
312 Chicago
136 N. LaSalle St.,
Chicago, IL 60602
This seasonally influenced Italian-inspired American eatery buzzes by day with politicians (City Hall is across the street), and buzzes with diners heading to the nearby Cadillac Theater at night.
Make a Reservation
Ai
358 W. Ontario Street,
Chicago, IL 60610
This River North Japanese Sushi Restaurant & Lounge opened it's doors in late-September 2007. From the siblings who brought Ringo Japanese Restaurant and Tsuki to Lincoln Park, comes this lounge/restaurant with authentic Japanese cuisine.
Andy's Jazz Club
11 E. Hubbard St.,
Chicago, IL 60610
Cafe Central
455 Central Ave.,
Highland Park, IL 60035
This casual European-style cafe offers a wide selection of fine-dining specialties. Diners can come for lunch or dinner to enjoy the French cuisine, a favorite of Chicago's affluent North Shore.
Gabriel's Restaurant
310 Greenbay Road,
Highwood, IL 60040
French and Italian cuisine fill the menu of this fine-dining restaurant in one of Chicago's suburbs.
Sweet Thang
1921 W. North Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60622
This Chicago bakery offers a variety of traditional French and American pastries for breakfast, lunch or an afternoon coffee break. Be sure to check out their specialty cakes for any occasion.
Tapas Las Ramblas
5101 N. Clark St.,
Chicago, IL 60640
This traditional Spanish tapas restaurant is perfect for kicking back and relaxing. Set in a casual neighborhood away from glitz and glam, feel free to stroll in wearing jeans and a T-shirt and enjoy culture that won't break your wallet.
17 West at The Berghoff
17 W. Adams St.,
Chicago, IL 60603
The Berghoff, a traditional 19th-century German beer hall located in Chicago's downtown, has been re-born under the direction of the founder's great-grandduaghter Carlyn Berghoff.
312 Chicago
136 N. LaSalle St.,
Chicago, IL 60602
This seasonally influenced Italian-inspired American eatery buzzes by day with politicians (City Hall is across the street), and buzzes with diners heading to the nearby Cadillac Theater at night.
Make a Reservation
Ai
358 W. Ontario Street,
Chicago, IL 60610
This River North Japanese Sushi Restaurant & Lounge opened it's doors in late-September 2007. From the siblings who brought Ringo Japanese Restaurant and Tsuki to Lincoln Park, comes this lounge/restaurant with authentic Japanese cuisine.
Andy's Jazz Club
11 E. Hubbard St.,
Chicago, IL 60610
B.L.U.E.S
2519 N. Halsted St.,
Chicago, IL 60614
Chicago blues house features local artists every night at 9:30 p.m. Cover varies.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
220 S. Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60604
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is the heartbeat of Chicago. The CSO has numerous concerts and special events throughout the year. See the full list at their website. Tickets range from $10 to $200.
