A Local's Guide to Chicago

Chicago is a big city, and it can be hard to find a quiet place to sit and read, think, or just do nothing without people crowding around you making noise. Here are my three favorite places in the city for a little escape. 1. The 9th flo or of the Harold Washington Public Library . This floor contains the Winter Garden, which can be rented out for social functions. When it's not being used, it's a great place to sneak away and read a book. Its openness and natural lighting from the glass atrium are a section of the library not everyone knows about. Head on up here sometime and tell me if it's not a great place to get away with a book for a while. 2. The Crystal Garden Ballroom at Navy Pier. This is another open space with natural lighting. It is run as a restaurant by the Stefani Signature Restaurant Group, but when it's not hosting an event, it's a nice place to sit in the one acre botanical garden and enjoy a good book, or just sit and unwind. 3. Olive Park, jus...

I've tried different sites, but keep coming back to the GCM Travel website (Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor). If you live in Chicago, click on My Travel and put in the expressways that you commonly travel. It uses cookies, so the next time you pull up the site, you can click on Reports, then Travel Times and it will show you the current travel time (Travel Time), the average historical travel time (Average Travel Time), distance and speed between various points. And if you click on the hyperlink for Average Travel Time, it will pull up a graph showing peak travel times during the day. This can be very helpful: leaving an hour before or after the peak can make a world of difference for your commute time! Update June 12, 2008 Ok , I have to add to this post. I've been trying out the traffic.com website lately and like one of the features. You put in your A (starting point) and B (destination) addresses, and it will show you the most direct route, with an estimated time of arri...

Wabash Tap Headed home from the Bears game but in the mood for another drink (or two)? Maybe you left early because it was just too darn cold but want to watch the end of the game. Head west on Roosevelt from Soldier Field, then south on Wabash to 1233 S. Wabash. The Wabash Tap is a fun neighborhood bar for watching the game or meeting friends. They have a wide variety of beers on tap, pool table, HDTVs for watching the game, and Golden Tee, if that's your thing (video golf). Tonight we left the Bears game early and were able to watch them pull off a win against the Broncos: Go Bears! It was good being able to warm up, order up a cheeseburger and a basket of tator tots, wash it all down with a pint of Guinness and watch the end of the game! Kasey's This is another great neighborhood bar in the historic Printer's Row neighborhood (701 S. Dearborn). The tavern is over 100 years old! The crowd here is diverse: sitting at the bar you may have a trader off work sitting o...

Rosebud on Taylor They are celebrating their 30 th year! Opened in 1977 on Taylor Street in the heart of Little Italy neighborhood (also known as Tri -Taylor, as it's bound by Roosevelt Road Western Avenue, and the diagonal Ogden Avenue). This is a very nice place to bring friends, family or clients to enjoy an elegant Italian meal. Originally named Bocciola della Rosa (Italian for bud of the rose, after a native Sicilian flower), they changed the name to the English 'Rosebud,' which was much easier to pronounce for those that no parla italiana . The missus craves their Antipasti Salad (crisp lettuce mix with imported meat and cheese, tomato, cucumber, red onion, pepperoncini , roasted red peppers and Italian dressing), and I always make sure to leave room after Spaghetti and Meatballs or Chicken Vesuvio for their delicious Tiramisu and a cup of cappuccino! Bella Notte Italian for "beautiful night," that's just what you'll have if you bring a date to...

Thin Crust (although they have deep dish also) I'm going to post this while it's still fresh in my mind (and my belly)! We just ordered pizza from one of our favorite places for pizza: Leona's They've got one of the tastiest tomatoe sauces I've ever had on pizza. And they've got restaurants all over the Chicagoland area. As their website says, they've been run by one family since 1950! We love both eating in and having their pizza delivered. Their restaurants are family friendly, and they should have something for any appetite. The missus prefers the giardiniera , having grown up in Minnesota, where catsup is considered spicy! If you're not in the mood for a cold beer with your pizza, their Red Zinger Lemonade is very refreshing! Our other standby for pizza is Connie's They started operations in '63 on 26th Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Our oldest daughter used to say "let's go to the place with the flying truck!" Their mai...

Chicago is known for its ribs, so this one should be easy. My brother-in-law and I went to see if we could find our favorite Rib restaurant, and were surprised at what we found. A neighbor of mine recommended we try Hecky's first. We headed to the one at 1234 N. Halsted Street (hey, that's an easy number to remember!). They have a very casual restaurant in a small strip mall next to a gas station. But their baby back ribs were some of the best I've ever had! The meat comes right off the bone, the sauce has a delicious , smoky flavor, and the cole slaw was just as tasty. The restaurant is in a truly urban setting (across the street from the Cabrini Green housing projects), so if this bothers you, be fore-warned. Others recommend that you instead go to the Evanston location. I've never been there, but I've read that some claim the food is better than the one on Halsted Street. I've never been to the Evanston spot, but I've always had good luck with the o...

For me, my favorite place for steak is Gene & Georgetti Italian Steakhouse . I've been to some of the other big names in Chicago, but keep coming back here for great food. The staff is kind, the food excellent, and the prices are reasonable. From their website you can see that they bill themselves as a 'classic old-time Chicago place to dine.' The restaurant has more of an 'old school' feel. They aren't trying to be the trendy place to 'be seen,' but they are proud to boast that they have regular customers going back 50 years. If you're looking for a suggestion for steak in Chicago, try them and see if it's not the best steak you've ever had! I myself prefer the filet mignon, and when I asked them how big it was, the waiter just laughed. "Afraid you won't be able to eat it all?" he asked. When it arrived, it was no petite filet! I almost couldn't eat it all, but it was so tasty I couldn't stop eating it!