Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm heading there for a few nights at the end of October to watch the mighty NZ All Blacks take on the US Eagles at Soldiers Field.

Can anyone recommend things to do, places to see etc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73BtK3pcUY

That looks like a lot of fun. As you can see by the footage in the video, Chicago is a beautiful city and there is a ton of tourist-y stuff to do downtown.You should head up to the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building and have a drink; awesome views in all directions of the city. If the weather is nice, Millenium Park is worth a visit.

But if you reaalllly want to get to know the city, I would recommend you try to get out into the neighborhoods north of downtown and check out some of the pubs and restaurants in places like Old Town, Roscoe Village, Lakeview, Lincoln Square, and Wicker Park. Here you will find the places that the locals like to frequent, not all the other tourists in from out of town.

Have fun!

What kind of food do you like?

Thanks Q. My partner and I have been travelling for the past 6 months and try to avoid the tourist traps, that's why I like to ask locals what they recommend.

Like all types of food monster.

I love the passion you Kiwis have for your All Blacks, matt...they are truly a national treasure. It's gonna be tough for the Eagles.

You're going to have a blast in Chicago...one of my favorite weekend towns. I have two kids who live there, and they always try to take visiting guests on the Chicago Architecture Boat Cruise. It's an hour and a half of architecture and history, with terrific guides who make the city come alive as you cruise the river through town. Here's a link.

http://www.cruisechicago.com/architecture_tours/

Great night life town too. Chicagoans are fun-loving like Kiwis, and you'll have a good time no matter where you go.

Since you are in Chicago. You need to get a good steak. I would recommend Outback for something with a closer to home feel. (jk)

Thanks LST! Will definitely look into doing the cruise. Yes the All Blacks are a national treasure and a team we are very proud of. We are only a nation of 4 mil people and to be world champions in rugby is something we relish. Not to mention they are considered one of the best sporting teams in the world, with something like an 0.87 winning record. Under our current coach we are 32 wins 2 draws and 2 losses and most those games were against top 5 teams. This is the first All Black match on US soil since the game turned professional and its being played at a sold out Soldiers Field. I got my hopes up and saw the Wolves were playing the Bulls on the same day but unfortunately for me it's in the Twin Cities! I'm based in Kelowna, BC for the next year so will definitely head to MIN to watch a Wolves games.

Bleed I will have to try one of these CHI steaks you speak of. Although not at Outbacks. Those Aussies take all the credit for everything good downunder! NZ Steak > Aussie Steak. Now they're trying to claim Lorde and soon they will be trying to claim Steven Adams as their own. They can keep Russel Crowe though!

KiwiMatt wrote:Thanks LST! Will definitely look into doing the cruise. Yes the All Blacks are a national treasure and a team we are very proud of. We are only a nation of 4 mil people and to be world champions in rugby is something we relish. Not to mention they are considered one of the best sporting teams in the world, with something like an 0.87 winning record. Under our current coach we are 32 wins 2 draws and 2 losses and most those games were against top 5 teams. This is the first All Black match on US soil since the game turned professional and its being played at a sold out Soldiers Field. I got my hopes up and saw the Wolves were playing the Bulls on the same day but unfortunately for me it's in the Twin Cities! I'm based in Kelowna, BC for the next year so will definitely head to MIN to watch a Wolves games.

Bleed I will have to try one of these CHI steaks you speak of. Although not at Outbacks. Those Aussies take all the credit for everything good downunder! NZ Steak > Aussie Steak. Now they're trying to claim Lorde and soon they will be trying to claim Steven Adams as their own. They can keep Russel Crowe though!

I really enjoyed Chicago Cut. Best steak I have had in a while. I am sure there are more.

http://www.chicagocutsteakhouse.com/

I'm currently living on the north side.

I will second the Architecture Tour, not one person I know didn't like it.

And for food get deep dish pizza its a Chicago staple. The best place is Lou Malnati's.

If you want to see an area that's a little outside of downtown go up to Wrigleyville. This is where Wrigley Field is, and there is tons of bars/restraunts you could go to.

Well, shoot, Kiwi. Ich bin living in Deutchland since two months ago, otherwise, you'd have a place to crash.

Steven Adams still has some improving to do before he's a dependable 10 and 8 guy, but has actually been a pretty decent player and his mustache alone earns enough respect from me for you to win our bet.

While I can't host you though, I can definitely give some advice having lived there for 8 years or so.

In terms of food, you just missed the best hot dog place in town, Hot Doug's, which just closed a few weeks ago, but you should definitely get a Chicago style hot dog (no ketchup), which you can get just about anyplace in town. In terms of burgers, Kuma's Corner is widely held to be the best in town. You should get deep dish pizza just because that's what you're supposed to do in Chicago. It's good, but personally, I'm not as big a fan. It's just so heavy. Lots of places have them though and you can't go wrong with Lou Malnati's or Giordano's. In terms of what else to eat, it's really up to you. Chicago has everything you could want, and you can find the best ranked places on Metromix or yelp. Sushi, Ethiopian, Thai, you can find really good restaurants of any kind. There's some great Vietnamese places up at the Argyle stop on the red line. I imagine in NZ you're more likely to have good Thai or Sushi, so you might want to check out the good Ethiopian restaurants, and I found some really good South American restaurants I liked too--Peruvian (Taste of Peru is in a strip mall on the far north side, but has some of the best food in town) or Argentinian food. Good empanadas! And I'm sure you can find a good steak place too, I'd recommend Brazilian or Argentinian though over American. American steaks are mostly grain-fed rather than grass-fed, so unless you go to a nice place where you can specifically order a grass-fed steak, I find American steaks kind of fatty. I'd avoid Outback, both because they're a chain and they're Australian.

In terms of neighborhoods, it depends on what you're looking for. If you're into the clubbing scene, River North. Gold Coast for expensive shopping, and there are tons of flagship stores on the Mag Mile, Michigan Ave. Not really my thing, but it's a pretty quintessential Chicago thing to check out. If you get on the red line and go to North and Clybourne, you'll also find some good shopping there, but a younger crowd, fewer tourists, and less expensive stuff. Q is right to mention Wicker Park (a little more northwest of downtown), which is definitely the biggest young, hip neighborhood, tons of great brewpubs, restaurants, clothing, shoe, and design stores, and stuff if you're not too annoyed by hipsters. I would totally go there if I were just visiting. Ukrainian Village also has some really good bars/restaurants in a similar vein. Back north, Old Town is nice, and Lakeview is also pretty cool and has a lot of places to eat and shop (including Kuma's Corner for the best burger in town) and boystown if you're looking for a young gay clubbing crowd. Roscoe Village and Lincoln Square are also all nice and a little more quiet. Great places to find a bar with outdoor seating if the weather is nice. I used to live in Andersonville, which is a little ways north, but it's cool. Lots of good places to eat and some pretty cool interior design shops. In Uptown nearby, you can check out the Green Mill, which used to be an Al Capone hangout and is now a shabby-chic (emphasis on the shabby) jazz club that is one of the best bars in town for my money. Wrigleyville, honestly, unless you're interested in hanging out with a bunch of recent midwestern college grads looking to relive their frat or sorority days, I'd avoid it in the offseason. If there were a Cubs game, you should definitely check out Wrigley Field, otherwise in my opinion, that neighborhood is like a trashy sports-bar hookup neighbrohood (sorry Glasshands).

In terms of stuff to do, Chicago is best in the summer when there are festivals outside all the time, but there are still plenty of fun things to do when it's a little cooler. I've actually never done the architecture tour, so I can't comment on that, but I've heard good things. I haven't gone to the top floor of the Sears tower either, but I know they've got a glass box there. For the view itself, you can just go to the Signature Lounge toward the top of the Hancock Tower. You'll pay $17 for a martini (strong) but otherwise you have to pay about $20 just to go to the observation deck anyway, and this way you get a drink! They also have a leaning window thingy at the Hancock now. Youtube it. The Field Museum is top notch. There's an aquarium, but I imagine living on an island you've seen better. Chicago has some great conservatories (greenhouses), so if you're longing for some tropical plants in October, there's a good one in Lincoln Park (on the north side) and Garfield Park (on the south side). Also, the Museum of Science and Industry on the South Side is probably the best museum in town, if you ask me.

And actually, that raises a good point. Nothing else that I or anybody else has mentioned so far has been on the South Side. There's a hard history here, but in short, Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in America, and the south and southwest sides are almost entirely black and very poor (with Hyde Park as a little vanilla filling). It's actually spoked like a wheel, with a couple spokes of hispanic neighborhoods as well, but check out this map to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Chicago#mediaviewer/File:Race_and_ethnicity_Chicago.png

Even for white people like me who live in Chicago, the South Side (which is code for black Chicago) is almost totally unknown, which is a shame. Some of that is that it is really violent down there, since there are a lot of gang shootings. But that's actually a little overblown. The bigger part of that is that there's such a bad economy down there there's not much to do. So it's not hard to spend a lot of time in Chicago and then be surprised when you hear Chicago is like 40% black. I'm sure there are some great soul food restaurants down there, and if you want to hear some gospel music, I guarantee you could find someplace down there on a Sunday morning that would blow you away. But it's a reflection of the divide in that city that as a white guy who lived on the north side, I couldn't begin to tell you where to find that. There are a couple blues clubs, the biggest is probably Buddy Guy's.

Are you staying at a place with AirBnB? That can be a nice cheap way to stay in Chicago, since it can be a little expensive, and those can sometimes be found in a cool neighborhood so you don't have to worry about transportation after a late night. Again, check out Metromix, yelp, and groupon for guides to the best specific bars, restaurants, and stuff. There's just so much stuff out there, even guys like me who lived there 8 years can barely scratch the surface.