Drinking in Chicago
Chicago is a consummate boozer’s town, and one of the best US cities for bars, catering to just about every group and interest, with many open until 3, 4 or even 5am. The city’s drinking areas include the touristy Division Street, the post-college melange that is Wrigleyville and a clutch of places in bookish Hyde Park. Wicker Park is the trendiest hangout zone, while Halsted Street between Belmont and Addison is known as Boystown for its gay bars and clubs. The hundred-plus cafés and coffeehouses across the city may not have taken the place of the traditional taverns, but they’re a growing alternative.
Eating in Chicago
Chicago’s cosmopolitan make-up is reflected in its plethora of ethnic restaurants. Italian food, ranging from hearty deep-dish pizza – developed in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno – to delicately crafted creations presented at stylish trattorias, continues to dominate a very dynamic scene. In recent years there’s been a surge of popularity for New American cuisine. Thai restaurants still thrive, as do ones with a broad Mediterranean slant, many of which serve tapas; and there are still plenty of opportunities to sample more long-standing Chicago cuisines – Eastern European, German, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, even Burmese and Ethiopian. Of course, a number of establishments serve good old-fashioned BBQ ribs, a legacy of Chicago’s days as the nation’s meatpacker. And no visit is complete without sampling a messy Italian beef sandwich, or a Chicago-style hot dog, laden with tomatoes, onions, celery salt, hot peppers and a pickle. The largest concentration of restaurants is found north and west of the Loop. To the west, Greektown, around Halsted Street at Jackson Boulevard, and Little Italy, on and around Taylor Street, are worth a look, while the Near North and River North areas harbour a good number of upmarket places.
Lincoln Park
In summer, Chicago’s largest green space, Lincoln Park, provides a much-needed respite from the gridded pavements of the rest of the city. Unlike Grant Park to the south, it’s packed with leafy nooks and crannies, monuments and sculptures, and has a couple of friendly, family-oriented beaches at the eastern ends of North and Fullerton avenues. Near the small zoo at the heart of the park (late May to Oct Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–7pm; Nov–May daily 9am–4.30pm; free), renowned for its menagerie of African apes and curious red pandas, you can rent paddleboats or bikes. If the weather’s bad, head for the pleasantly humid conservatory, 2400 N Stockton Drive (daily 9am–5pm; free), or bone up on Chicago’s captivating past at the Chicago History Museum, at the south end of the park at 1601 N Clark St (Mon–Sat 9.30am–4.30pm, Sun noon–5pm; $14; T312 642 4600, Wchicagohistory.org), with comprehensive displays on regional and national history, including some rather twee dioramas depicting the Great Fire of 1871 and the World’s Columbian Exposition.
The Lincoln Park neighbourhood, inland from the lake, centres on Lincoln Avenue and Clark Street, which run diagonally from near the Historical Society Museum; Halsted Street, with its blues bars, nightclubs and myriad restaurants, runs north–south through the district’s heart. Any of these main roads merits an extended stroll, with forays into the many book- and record stores. Look for the Biograph Theatre movie house (now a live theatre stage), 2433 N Lincoln Ave, where John Dillinger was ambushed and killed by the FBI in 1934, thanks to a tip from his companion, the legendary Lady in Red.
Millennium Park
Until the late 1990s, the area that is downtown’s Millennium Park was a rather dreary-looking, albeit well-located, slice of real estate. Thanks to a highly ambitious (and hugely expensive, to the tune of $475 million) renovation project that long overran its original 2000 completion date, it’s a showcase for public art, landscape design and performing arts. Its twin artistic centrepieces are equally compelling. First is a stunning, seamless, stainless-steel sculpture officially titled Cloud Gate but universally known as “the Bean”, by British-based artist Anish Kapoor. Inspired by liquid mercury, it invites viewers to walk around, beside and even underneath it to enjoy spectacular and endlessly intriguing reflections of both the city and the sky above it. Nearby, Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa consists of two glass-brick towers set either side of a black granite plaza; giant video images of the faces of ordinary Chicagoans play across them both, and water spurts from them in summer at unexpected intervals to form a lake that’s usually filled with playing children. Further back, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is an amazing open-air auditorium designed by Frank Gehry, who used mighty swirls and flourishes of steel to improve its acoustics. Finally the Lurie Garden features more than 26000 plants in total, representing more than 250 varieties native to the Illinois prairie.