Cheapish dinner Gold Coast/Old Town/Red Line

Hi there,

Three of us Michiganders will be in Chicago this Thursday. I have made a huge list of places LTH recs I eventually want to try in Chicago, but can only try one this visit with these parameters:

*one of us is vegetarian; though we all enjoy good food, none of us is likely to need to know about any secret menus with swordfish testicles
*Spiaggia/Alinea, etc are out of our range--maybe $15 entree max
*I have recs for Chinatown & Devon if we decide to go that way. Otherwise, we want something within 20 minute walk of Hancock Bldg or reachable by CTA, preferably Red Line.

A "short list" I've recently made includes these places--would you give them a thumbs up or suggest others? Some of these are in locations I'm not familiar with, but I guess we could swing a cab if you think it's worth it. And thanks for such a wonderful forum--my "LTH long list" is so big, I'll need to live to 100 to eat my way thru it.

* Saya Nova
* Cafe Suron
* Semiramis
*Tank Noodle
*Spoon Thai
*Silver Spoon
*Los Nopales
*Wishbone
*Lula Cafe
*Adobo Grill

A question about one of my Chinatown choices-- will Ed's Potstickers scare my friends who are used to W Michigan places (clean, almost sterile enviro)? Spring World, LTH and LaoSze Chuan are my fallbacks which I know they will like, but I am so in desire of fish fragrant eggplant.[/img]

Ed's International House of Potstickers shouldn't "scare" them, although it is not in Chinatown and not easily accessable by L train. In your list, both Semiramis and Spoon Thai are easily accessable, but you must take the Brown Line, not the red line, to get to them. Tank is accessable from the Red Line. Enjoy!

Since the Brown Line and Red Line are accesible from the same platform at both the Fullerton and Belmont stops, I wouldn't let that deter me. The Red Line trains are on the inside track while the Brown are on the outside track with platform between the inside and outside tracks. If the weather is decent (the heat finally breaks), the walk from Hancock to the Chicago Avenue stop on the Brown Line versus the Chicago Avenue stop on the Red Line is only about three blocks farther west. The Brown Line gives a much more scenic view than the Red Line because the whole route is elevated through the Western Avenue stop (used for Spoon Thai) and runs at grade level farther west. The view to the south on the stretch between Belmont and Paulina is particularly good.

Semiramis is close to the Kedzie stop (third stop west of Western) on the Brown Line.

Both Spoon and Semiramis have some nice walking and shopping options nearby. Lincoln Square's core (near Spoon) offers fancier options (see Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce web site for more details). The several blocks north of Semiramis have quite a mix of businesses including several run by people from the Middle East.

Wishbone's Lincoln Avenue location is close to the Paulina stop on the Brown Line, but I wouldn't bother with it. Your list has many better options.

You'll do very well indeed at Lula Cafe (check this link regarding a recent LTH dinner there). And Lula is one of the two or three non-ethnic restaurants in Chicago that is both vegetarian friendly (four to six entrees every night are vegetarian) and also worth eating at (please don't get me started ). As a devoted carnivore and ex-vegetarian, I often order a vegetarian entree at Lula, by choice and for the flavor.

Two caveats:

First, while the regular menu entrees will easily meet your under $15 criterion, many (but by no means all) of the specials will not -- they usually top out at around $22 or $23. If you all have the chicken ($12) or one of the vegetarian entrees (also typically around $12-$15) and split a bottle of the house red ($15/bottle), the three of you could get out for about $22 each, tax and tip included.

Second, Lula is accessible only by the Blue Line, and the nearest Blue Line stop to your hotel is a bit of a walk down into the Loop (I think Dearborn and Randolph would be the closest stop). But that should not be a discouragement.