CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

November 13th, 2010

Sweet Home Chicago: An AHA Meal Planner

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending this week’s AHA  meeting are blogging together on CardioExchange. The Fellows include Susan Cheng, Madhavi Reddy, John Ryan, and Amit Shah. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in Chicago this week — whether it’s a poster, a presentation, or the word in the hallways. Here’s our first post.

Chicago has been my home now for a year and a half since I started fellowship. As many of you know, it has a lot to offer, including architecture, downtown beaches, and Oprah Winfrey. Most of all, though, here in the Windy City, we are very well known for our fine food.

I have compiled a list of my favorite restaurants, most of which are in a reasonable price range and should have availability over the next few days. Be warned though, once you are eating in “the Loop” you are going to pay at least $30-$40 per person (there is no real way of getting around that). Let me know which ones you like, which ones you would not recommend, and when you get there, don’t forget to tell them that John sent you!

Deep dish pizza:
Lou Malnati’s

Chinese:
Ed’s Potsticker House
Happy Chef  Dim Sum House

French:
Chez Joel
Avec
Blackbird
Cafe Matou

Mexican:
Frontero
Maiz (cheap, good margaritas)
Fonda del Mar (seafood)

Steak:
Chicago Chop House
Gibsons

Italian:
Area ->  Heart of Italy (23rd and Oakley)
A Tovola (pricey) (next to UIC)

Sushi:
Marai
Japonais

Ethiopian:
Ethiopian Diamond

Irish:
Duke of Perth

Indian:
India House
Little India

Udupi Palace (South Indian), West Devon Ave.

Vietnamese
Argyle Street (Pho 777, Tank Noodles)

Korean:
Cho Son Ok (N. Lincoln and Montrose)

Thai:
TAC Quick (Sheridan and Irving Park, near Wrigley field, ask for authentic menu)
Spoon Thai
Arun’s (expensive but good, 4 stars)

Categories: General
Tags: ,


You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Sweet Home Chicago: An AHA Meal Planner”

  1. Alfonso E. Sierra, MD says:
    November 14, 2010 at 9:09 am

    Don’ neglect restaurants with themes based in Spain and LatinAmerica kitchens, John. There are real jewels in the Chicagoland.

  2. Saurav Chatterjee, MD says:
    November 14, 2010 at 10:20 am

    My first AHA presentation and attendance-still feel a bit overwhelmed…..so much to see and learn.Thanks Dr Ryan for the meal planner-will put it to good use-and thanks again moderators for providing some kind of framework for making an attempt at optimal use of the opportunity of the Annual Scientific Sessions………

  3. Susan Cheng, MD says:
    November 14, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    John, thanks for these awesome restaurant recommendations. Eating out in definitely seemed like the thing to do after getting into Chicago yesterday, although I found it a challenge to get into almost any restaurant last night. At the more popular places, the entrances were super crowded and the waiting lists were incredibly long. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the influx of people into the city for the conference or the fact that it was just another busy Saturday night in downtown Chicago — perhaps both? The deep dish pizza place we tried had a 1 hour 45 minute wait. The bar and grille a half block down had a 45 minute wait. So we ended up at a small Spanish tapas place a block down, which surprisingly had lots of open tables. After ordering only a few tapas appetizer plates, which were absolutely delicious (Alfonso, you were right!), we were completely satisfied. This was due to the portion sizes being much bigger than what we were used to. I had heard about food portions being generally larger in the midwest than on the coasts, but I didn’t expect quite this difference. It made me think of the literature on U.S. trends in food portion sizes ( http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/289/4/450) and obesity ( http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/82/1/236S). I wonder if, following legislation aimed at cutting down relative sugar content in snack foods and beverages, the next public health policy priority should be controlling food portions — as illustrated by the recent extreme example of a twinkie diet (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html ). In any case, I’m no longer worried about going over my meal budget this trip, since I know now that I’ll be getting my money’s worth and more!

  4. Susan Cheng, MD says:
    November 14, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    Also, I just overheard in my hotel elevator that there’s a small chain of places called “Orange” that specialized in something called “Frushi”, i.e. fresh fruit wrapped in sweetened rice. I also heard that Argo tea cafe is a great small chain of really good tea shops. Planning to try these out later today…

  5. BARRY DALE, MBBS FRACP says:
    November 14, 2010 at 5:32 pm

    For the best coffee experience in Chicago I would recommend Intelligentsia Coffee at 53 E Randolph St, Chicago.
    Great coffee and a great experience