What I LOVE About Chicago (Lincoln: how much, theatre, camp)

[GQpilot3]

1. Feels like an oasis to me in the midwest
2. Great urban living
3. A cosmopolitan vibe
4. Meshing of different cultures
5. Nightlife is pretty good
6. Very trendy place and doesn't get the credit it desesrves in many catigories
7. The areas to stay out of are pretty well defined
8. House music is big
9. Get most things the other big 2 american cities offer at a better price
10. A lot of sexy women

[seeriously]

I LOVE Chicago, but not the food. Double crust, triple crust, double cheese, yuck! Old seafood, overly seasoned to hide the fact, and did I mention cheese? Cheese everywhere! But I love the City, the attitude, the people and their zest for fun. And back to food... they do steak well! Love the metra, hate the parking prices downtown, love Lake Shore Dr., Magnificant Mile, the gangster influence, Grant Park, the architecture, the theaters, the neighborhoods, but not the fashion. Love Navy Pier, the western burbs, and miss Marshall Fields. Love Christmas in the city, free concerts in the park, and Starbucks everywhere.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by verobeach

I LOVE Chicago, but not the food. Double crust, triple crust, double cheese, yuck! Old seafood, overly seasoned to hide the fact, and did I mention cheese? Cheese everywhere! But I love the City, the attitude, the people and their zest for fun. And back to food... they do steak well! Love the metra, hate the parking prices downtown, love Lake Shore Dr., Magnificant Mile, the gangster influence, Grant Park, the architecture, the theaters, the neighborhoods, but not the fashion. Love Navy Pier, the western burbs, and miss Marshall Fields. Love Christmas in the city, free concerts in the park, and Starbucks everywhere.

From what I've gathered, you either love or hate "Chicago" food. Some people are grossed out by Chicago style hot dogs or deep dish pizza. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by verobeach

I LOVE Chicago, but not the food. Double crust, triple crust, double cheese, yuck! Old seafood, overly seasoned to hide the fact, and did I mention cheese? Cheese everywhere! But I love the City, the attitude, the people and their zest for fun. And back to food... they do steak well! Love the metra, hate the parking prices downtown, love Lake Shore Dr., Magnificant Mile, the gangster influence, Grant Park, the architecture, the theaters, the neighborhoods, but not the fashion. Love Navy Pier, the western burbs, and miss Marshall Fields. Love Christmas in the city, free concerts in the park, and Starbucks everywhere.

You hate our award-winning, highly-coveted (by most) food, but love Starbucks? Thats odd.

[Attrill]

I love the fact I can afford a house with a yard close to downtown and public transit, a great theater scene, Lake Michigan, Quencher's, Map Room, Hopleaf, Chiditarod, the White Sox, the Bears, Fire, Cross country skiing in Lincoln Park, great museums, Paul Kahan, Rick Bayless, Takashi, Doug Sohen, Michael Carlson, Sun Wah, Taste of Lebanon....and on and on....

Originally Posted by Steve-o

You hate our award-winning, highly-coveted (by most) food, but love Starbucks? Thats odd.

No kidding. When food in Chicago is mentioned and anyone starts talking about pizza and hot dogs I figure they don't live in Chicago or they really need to get out more.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Attrill

...No kidding. When food in Chicago is mentioned and anyone starts talking about pizza and hot dogs I figure they don't live in Chicago or they really need to get out more.

Not everyone has big bucks.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Not everyone has big bucks.

There are plenty of places I included where you can eat a meal for about $10 - Hot Doug's, Xoco, Takashi's Noodles downtown, and Big Star for example. You can eat at Taste of Lebanon for less than $5. They're all equal or cheaper than a deep dish at any place in the city. That is a BIG part of what I love about Chicago - great food for much less than you'll find in any comparable city in the US.

Oh - I forgot Kuma's

[seeriously]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

You hate our award-winning, highly-coveted (by most) food, but love Starbucks? Thats odd.

Yeah, I hate hotdogs, go figure. And award-winning if you're from Nebraska and you're tired of the nightly dish of meat, potatoes and peas. All I know is there were times when I couldn't find my food under the blanket of cheese and famous, raved about seafood houses like Shaws would put 4 rubbery shrimp atop some pasta and call it scampi. Love Chicago but the food... not so much.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by verobeach

Yeah, I hate hotdogs, go figure. And award-winning if you're from Nebraska and you're tired of the nightly dish of meat, potatoes and peas. All I know is there were times when I couldn't find my food under the blanket of cheese and famous, raved about seafood houses like Shaws would put 4 rubbery shrimp atop some pasta and call it scampi. Love Chicago but the food... not so much.

Check out lthforum.com for some good places. You're definitely not going to the right ones, Shaw's is pretty crappy and overpriced.

The "award winning" comes from places like the James Beard foundation, Chicago is very well represented in national culinary awards and is definitely in the top 3 food cities in the country.

[OrangeAndBlue]

I love many of the things that have generally already been said. In my view, it's one of only a very small number of US cities that offer a true urban experience (size, density, public transit, walkability, diversity, nightlife, culture, etc.) but at a much lower cost of living, so I can actually afford to live in a decent home in a nice part of town. I also love the lakefront location with its parks and beaches and being centrally located in the country means that it's fairly easy to get just about anywhere relatively easily for a getaway. I like that we have four seasons, and while winter can be brutal at times, I think it is because of the long winters that the warmer seasons are so much more enjoyable, because everyone takes full advantage of these times of the year and the city offers a lot to do then.

Food: I love the food here, but I belong to the camp that isn't a huge fan of the typical types of food that most people consider Chicago food (deep dish, hot dogs, italian beef, generally cheesy and greasy heavy stuff). That is only one type of food available here, and fantastic stuff can be found all over the city - from the the very upscale to the very cheap. Many of the best places just don't usually find their way onto a tourist map and are generally not in the vicinity of North Michigan Avenue.