Chicago: Near North Side and River North
Big Bowl Café 159 E Erie St tel 312/787-8297. Diner with an Asian accent. Filling soups and pot stickers make it a budget choice for weary shoppers.Café Iberico 739 N LaSalle Blvd tel 573-1510. At this authentic and reasonably priced tapas bar, you can share plates of eggplant stuffed with goat's cheese or grilled octopus on potatoes.
Eli's The Place For Steak 215 E Chicago Ave tel 312/642-1393. This glitzy room is perfect for celebrity-spotting and for great steaks, seafood and other nicely rendered dishes - and a famous cheesecake.
Frontera Grill & Topolobampo 445 N Clark St tel 312/661-1434. Wildly imaginative Mexican food: La Frontera is crowded and boisterous; Topolobampo is more refined and pricier.
Gino's East 633 N Wells St tel 312/943-1124. A Chicago tradition: huge deep-dish pizzas (no need for appetizers here) and graffiti-covered walls. Expect to wait.
Nacional 27 325 W Huron St tel 312/664-2727. A popular new Latin place serves food from a variety of Central American cuisines. Salsa dancing on weekends.
Pizzeria Uno 29 E Ohio St tel 312/321-1000. The place that put Chicago deep-dish pizza on the map.
Portillo's 100 W Ontario St tel 312/587-8930. This Chicago-area chain serves good Chicago hot dogs and the best Italian beef sandwich in the city.
Scoozi ! 410 W Huron St tel 312/943-5900. At this ebullient mixture of nostalgic (there's an accordion player) and trendy (it's a place to be seen), the emphasis is on northern Italian, with splendid pizza and risotto.
Shaw's Crab House 21 E Hubbard St tel 312/527-2722. This large 1930s Key West-style dining room is crowded at lunch and after work; its consistently high-quality fare includes baked crab cakes, Dungeness crab in garlic butter, seafood gumbo and popcorn shrimp. Not cheap.
Star of Siam 11 E Illinois St tel 312/670-0100. Terrific Thai food served in a spacious, inviting setting. The Tom yom soup, Pad Thai noodle dish and curries are top-notch.
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