weekend getaway on student budget- chicago

[cheessus]

im in a long distance relationship and we decided that it may be interesting if we just met up in some random city every few weeks for a weekend getaway. about 4 days.

our first city is chicago in the 3rd week of jan. id appreciate any rec's on where to stay, where to eat, what to do/see. itll be our first time there and i think we prefer to stay downtown close to the magnificent mile, though im open to anything. we're both on student budgets, but its not that constrained. so...hotels around ~$150/night, ~$50-100/dinner (honestly i can do one expensive dinner per trip). i guess our budget per weekend is around ~750-1000.

ill probably keep updating this thread as we choose different cities. i know the trip is pretty far away, but this will probably be the most expensive city we go to and so ive got to start budgeting now. plus she wants to choose the hotel by this weekend. thanks!

 

[ChicagoRon]

Hotel - you can probably find a good deal at the Ambassador East. It's privately owned and tends to the lower price range.

Drinks - you'll want to hit the college areas to keep to a lower budget, but there are deals to be had everywhere. Some of the bars on Division will have at least one $3-4 beer special. On Sunday and Monday there are much better specials available.

Food - best deals are ethnic - lots of awesome cheap Mex, Chinese, Korean...

Also, look out for restaurant.com and/or groupon specials.. there are some decent places that have those deals.

 

[photoguy]

To do: if you have any interest at all in art, the Art Institute of Chicago is probably the best US art museum outside of New York. If you are into architecture, the Chicago Architectural Foundation river cruise (about 90 min IIRC) is excellent.

Food: For your one expensive dinner, consider NAHA. (If you happen to find an extra $1000 on the street, go to Alinea.) There is also a really good euro-asian fusion place if you are into that kind of thing, but I'll have to have my fiance remind me of the name.

 

[photoguy]

Also, if you are into architecture you should set aside a morning for a trip out to Oak Park to see the FLWs. (This is sort of stating the obvious, but I'm saying it anyway.)

 

[ChicagoRon]

There is a saturday tour of a FLW house at Schiller and Astor as well, if you don't want to spend the time going out to Oak Park (it's not that much time.. but it would take all of a morning).

 

[photoguy]

Robie House (across from Booth Business School) is great to, but if you do all of these you've used at least a full day.

 

[gladhands]

Or you could go to Hyde Park, and check out a couple of FLW homes, and the Museum of Science and Industry without leaving the city.

You should definitely try a jibarito while you're in town. It's probably the least known of the Chicago-only foods.

 

[dhc905]

I'd highly recommend Stan Properties for a place to crash (they have apts across the city that they let out nightly...most come with washer/dryer, kitchen, etc) for pretty damn affordable prices. http://stanproperties.com/ There's also a whole foods in the same building so if you wanted to cook something special, it's too convenient to not do. They have one in my building in River North, and I put my parents there when they visited. I believe it was ~85/night post tax/fees/etc and it was a jr. 1 bedroom with a full kitchen, etc and actually turned out to be a nicer apartment than mine. Give them a call, not sure if you can book directly from their website. Avec will be open by then, and IMO, the one of the best restaurants in the city and BY FAR the best value. Osteria Via stato is byob on Sunday's and offers some of the better italian food this city has to offer. I'd skip Naha...personal bad experience and those of several of my friends. Doesn't help that it's pretty expensive, and the food was meh.

 

[ChicagoRon]

I didn't want to hate on Naha, but I agree...

When did Avec close? Why ?

 

[otc]

Originally Posted by dhc905

Osteria Via stato is byob on Sunday's and offers some of the better italian food this city has to offer.

The attached pizza place (Pizzarioa Via Stato I believe) is home to some of the best Neapolitan pizza I have had in the city

 

[ChicagoRon]

Originally Posted by otc

The attached pizza place (Pizzarioa Via Stato I believe) is home to some of the best Neapolitan pizza I have had in the city
Has it not gone downhill since Rick Tramonto pulled out?

 

[otc]

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

Has it not gone downhill since Rick Tramonto pulled out?

I dunno...when did that happen?

I was last there in maybe late july/early august and it was very good...I would imagine that once you have the equipment, recipes, and process in place, it shouldn't be hard to maintain the quality of the pizza.

 

[photoguy]

Surprised to hear that about Naha - I ate there September '09 and October '07. Both times were very good, and I've never heard a bad report. Has it gone downhill?

 

[ChicagoRon]

I admittedly haven't been to Naha since probably 2003-right after it opened. But I did not think it was a good value, and hence have not gone back - I haven't heard many reviews that made me rethink until yours.

 

[dhc905]

Yeah I've been once and had quite an atrocious meal in the $150+/2ppl with 1 cheaper bottle of wine range at Naha. Felt completely cheated from a purely food perspective and the waitstaff seemed to have a chip on their shoulder.

Ron - Avec closed because of a fire. Don't know if you saw but early spring a firefighter died putting out a fire on Randolph street - that was the Avec fire. May be somewhat creepy knowing a firefighter died in the restaurant, but the food was so damn good...

Otc - The pizzeria is really good. The proper restaurant is great, particularly if you go Sunday to enjoy the BYOB. They have this woven potato pasta with a mushroom sauce that is off the charts.