Oh, we still do have all that!! It's just that I like to highlight the stuff we have here that's great that non-natives might not know about. With all the Med and Thai corner places, the hotdog/beef joints outnumber them by a vast margin.
If you get the chance, see the Anthony Bourdain No Reservations show that was about Chicago--it was on a few months ago. One of the places he went to was Fat Johnnie's on the South Side where he had a Mother-in-Law, a tamale with chili on a bun (the tamale is the Chicago-style ones in a "corn roll," not the more traditional Mexican tamale).
FYI--am seeing the Crowne Plaza tomorrow, and the Hotel Monaco Thursday. Interestingly, the lady at the Hotel Monaco sounded like she might be willing to bargain on the price of the hotel rooms...
Interestingly, the lady at the Hotel Monaco sounded like she might be willing to bargain on the price of the hotel rooms...
Oooh. I like the sound of that. That one looked so purty.
If you're staying near Michigan Avenue (or travel there to see Millenium Park) be sure to stop in at The Gage Restaurant. I had the best hamburger of my life at that place, and have had to talk myself out of driving to Chicago just to buy another one on a couple of occasions.
If you want to do a Chicago Architecture Foundation river tour, call early. They fill up fast.
It seems I must take nearly 2 weeks of vacation time from May 18th to end of July. Thankfully F2F falls in those dates. That's one more hurdle cleared. Now I just gotta pay off the credit cards so I can afford the trip. Eeek!
OK, Pete and I checked out the Crowne Plaza today, and were pleasantly surprised!!
The basic rooms are really nice (decently sized, nice not gross comforters). Internet is $10/day, though.
The room that would/could be the hospitality suite? Super! ($300/day) (She showed us two, but we thought the second one would be way better). It's off next to...the bar (which is next to the restaurant). :) They could haul up some furniture to put in it, and we'd have it all the time. I'm a little wary--she was kinda saying we could bring in some food (like bags of chips/nuts she mentioned?) but would want to cater real food? I'm suspecting we could probably do OK though, as long as we didn't really have a buffet sitting out or anything.
And there's two options for Prom--one of the standard hotel ballroom area place, v. basic. OR, having it in a tented area on their outdoor patio (tented just in case of rain--if it's warm, the sides roll up, if it's cold out the sides roll down and they have heater things). That seemed like it would be a pretty neat option to me. (Free with $2000 food/drink minimum total)
They also seemed a little desperate, so she's going to "consider" things, and email me and Juliana with some final prices (and food options).
Definitely a possibility, but Pete and I both think we shall reserve judgment until we've seen the Hotel Monaco on Thursday, and can really compare TOTAL prices across the board.
Yup, the Crowne Plaza really was a nice surprise. The rooms were good and we also saw a King room which was a corner that was spectacular. We also saw a studio suite which was an extra $50 for those of you who just have to.
The potential Hospitality suite next to the bar and restaurant was also great; one big room about 50% larger than the combined rooms from SF that they could populate with sofas. Also, this whole thing was on the second or third floor so easy to get back and forth from the lobby if people are being rounded up. Yeah, only snacks aloud. They'd even have to cater coffee. Still, it'd be nice to always know there'd be coffee ready for us.
The open area with the tent would really work for the Prom and would mean the smokers didn't have too far to go. The most important thing was that we could go as late as we wanted and noise issues were never brought up. The interior option is fine, thought the ceiling is standard height so the room feels smaller than it is.
What about booze, Pete? Pay them or bring our own for the hospitality suite? As for snacks, that's about all anyone needed this past time. I bought party platters that just kinda lay there and got limp. The big hit was the chips and other inappropriate starches.
