WTD: Chicago restaurant suggestions for Canrivores and a vegan

Will be downtown at the Intercontinental.

I am familar with Chicago’s veg and vegan restaurants, but need something that will suit myself and carnivore friends. Would like something nice, but nothing too formal. Focus on good food, nice atmosphere, and of course a quality wine list.

Thank you in advance!
Cheers!
Eric

Budget? Are you looking for a restaurant that can do both Vegan and satisfy meat eaters? If so that is a tough one.

George

Well, more the other way around. A restaurant that caters to non-vegetarians, but CAN do vegan dishes.
As for budget, not Alinea. Say…approximately $25 entrees.

We recently had a lovely evening at a new spot, The Kitchen. The chef is Johnny Anderes who used to run the kitchen at Telegraph which was an interesting spot - and they do a good mix of meat and vegetarian. Our party of three had one vegetarian and he was very pleased with some unexpected choices. The photo on their website makes them look quite casual but we found the room - on the river - charming and more upscale than expected with very good service. Wine list is online - we liked the options but got into a Rose mode and finished off a bottle of each of the three … they were all very nice.

My daughter cooks on the line at Embeya - upscale Vietnamese (similar to Slanted Door in SF) and they have a separate vegetarian menu. The room is gorgeous and the service very good indeed. Their wine list is pretty extensive with over 50 Rieslings for example. I’m biased but have really enjoyed our meals there and they’ve received some top notch reviews (1 of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants, etc)

Note that Restaurant Week is coming up (much to the chagrin of the kitchen staffs who run for two solid weeks with no breaks! ) from January 30 to February 12th so places do book up a bit faster than normal.

Thank you Siun., I will look those up.

Both are good calls. Nightiwood may be able to help and they are BYO friendly

I loved Embeya and someone I sent there also had a great meal.

Thank you for all of these recommendations!
I was also told about The Boarding House. I think THAT will be the place.

Cheers!

Boarding house gets very erratic reviews locally

Tapas at Mercat a la Planxa, tons of excellent interesting choices for a vegan, and killer for carnivores.

Embeya is also a very good choice.

Good call on Mercat.

Had a feeling I would be seeing this.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh tapas…very cool! Thank you!!

Love Mercat … I’ve always really enjoyed meals there and they have a very generous restaurant week menu which even includes that insanely good desert.

I’ve only been to Boarding House once and was disappointed. It’s quite near my office and several of us thought it would be a new frequent post work drinks/meal spot but service was less than good and food was meh at best. With so many great options in town, no reason to settle though the chandelier was cool.

Thank you Siun and Alan for the input on Boarding House. That’s unfortunate seeing that the menu looks really good.
Mercat seems to be a fav!

And for the next day, it’s between Park Grill and GrillRoom. Thoughts?? Thank you guys for the help!

Neither . Better options would be Michel Jordan’s in your hotel (better, not great), David Burke’s Primehouse (a couple of blocks from your hotel) or Chicago Cut (on the River at LaSalle),

True. Or Bavettes.

I’ve only heard mixed reviews about Boarding House but I’ve never been.

JD

My one dinner at Boarding House was “meh” - no particular complaints but no reason to go back.

Also for the grill meal, Benny’s Chop House, which is three blocks west of the hotel, has provided us with excellent meals and service. Great list, too, but steakhouse pricing as you would expect.

I haven’t done a steak thing in a while so no pointers but everyone I know who goes to Bavettes adores it. If I wanted classic steak house, I’d be hard pressed to decide between Chicago Cut and Burkes’ but I’ll have to take a look at Benny’s now as well.

And I booked Mercat for tomorrow night thanks to the nudge here … a friend is in town and we’re braving restaurant week madness. We’ll be doing Embeya mid-week as well.

Edited to add that Mercat has this crazy sounding dessert:

CROQUETAS DE XOCOLATA - Chocolate Croquettes with Banana Marshmallow, Rosemary Caramel, & Arbequina Olive Oil

That is quite sweet but oh so wonderful … don’t miss it if you go!