Heading to Chicago tomorrow for the Kitchen & Bath show (I know, exciting as hell ain't it!) and I'm going with a full camera crew, all of which are guitar heads like myself. So where do I go, in the city, to look at some sweet ass guitars?

As for food, I've been told to hit the Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder and I will also be hitting The Palm for my lobster fix, but any other restaurant suggestions are welcome. I'll be there Thursday through Sunday and have some down time each day. Not my first trip to Chicago by any means, but perhaps the first trip where I may have some extra time. Tell this southern man where to hang out. I wouldnt mind hearing some live music either!

You need to go to Gene and Jude's for a hot dog. It's on River Rd and Grand Ave. Not Chicago, but close enough. Then go to Belmont and Harlem and hit Caluta's for a stuffed pizza. None of that thin New York garbage. Mrs Cid and I usually go to Blue Chicago for live music. Hit Midwest Buy and Sell for on Irving Park Rd for used gear, and Chicago Music Exchange for vintage gear and Make N' Music for awesome high dollar gear.

pizza in chicago is the worst (well maybe except atlanta - but that's barely a city) but try the hotdogs with ketchup .... glen

Gene and Jude's should be right down the street. I'm staying at the Sofitel on North River Road at Balmoral. Mmmmm stuffed pizza. I love Pizza Uno and always thought that was the place to go until I talked to locals who informed me that was the touristy place to go. I'm going to try and hit all three shops, they sound cool. The Chicago Music Exchange looks absolutely amazing from the website!! Can't wait for that one. I'm a Custom Shop Strat nut so Make N' Music looks awesome too. Good suggestions man, thanks.

I swear to you there is no pizza as bad as Scranton...Jersey and NY have the only good pizza on the planet...I go back to Wall NJ and bring home frozen pizza from an Italian place my buddy owns. He makes them special for me.

I will also second the hotdogs with ketchup...tell 'em Elcid sent you!

New York pizza is for women and hippies (and for men who wear women's clothing) who don't like meat or real man toppings on their pizza. Oh, and saying Atlanta has bad pizza is like saying Phoenix has bad lobster, they just don't correlate .

And you are right, Atlanta is barely a city. I was born there and the only reason I ever venture down that way is if I want to see a Braves game or I need to hit the Apple store. Speaking of Apple, what are your thoughts on them, you know as a company?

At least you use a good camera and like good guitars, otherwise we would have nothing to talk about. You root for the wrong baseball team, like the wrong pizza, use the wrong computer.... Ok, am I banned yet?

No problem man. Unos is terrible. MRs CId and I are about 40-50 miles out of Chicago now, but sometimes we will drive down just for Gene and Jude's or Caluta's. If you are going to go CD shopping dont forget to hit Rolling Stone on Harlem and Irving. Average CD price for new cds is $7-$10
Glen, I've killed people for less.

hehe... Scranton is probably bad too.... i'd like to think you can find a better pizza joint there than Chicago though, plus you can catch some AAA Yankee baseball after (better than many big league teams)!

Pizza Uno - is that the crummy chain they try to pass off as "deep dish" around here often located in strip malls next to TGIF and Chili's? They really need to be shut down - frozen pizza from ShopRite supermarket is better ... glen

For guitars, definitely hit the Music Exchange. It's overpriced and the staff is not all that helpful, but there's a lot of nice stuff to check out.

Also go to Andy's Music - few guitars but a lot of weird stuff you won't find hardly anywhere else. http://www.andysmusic.com/

For food - do the Hoagie Hut on the north end of town. It's on Sheffield and Lincoln. Best dogs around.

Cid pretty much nailed it for you but I would also recommend to check out
Musician's Network on 5505 N. Clark St, Fat cat Guitars is cool too but it out in the burbs on 2271 Randall Rd in Carpentersville IL. There are a lot of great restaurants in Lincoln Park/North side of Chicago area, there are plenty of pubs and music joints to take your pick! I would suggest you get the Illinois entertainer magazine, most music stores have it for free! there you can find all kinds of music stores, live band joints and more... pretty much the whole entertainment scene in Chicago!

Hope that helps!

Make'n Music is fabulous. Salerno's pizza on w. taylor is fabulous. I always like to hit the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor of the Han**** building at least once while I'm there. You'll pay 10 bucks for a drink, but it's one of the best views on Earth. There's usually some pretty good jazz at the Underground Wonderbar. Have fun, I love Chicago.

Ditto on Make'n Music.
Glen, this may be your forum, but calling Chicago pizza bad is like calling the Pope'e mother some very bad names and can get you some nasty phone calls at weird times of the night.
That said, Chicago Pizza:
Ginos East good, a tad touristy, but a well known shop. People will tell you "Home Run Inn", stay away.
Look for a Palermo's, Aurelio's, even a Nancy's franchise will run circles around your Uno franchise.
Look for any local place that has the nod from a local guy.

Where are you doing the show? McCormick Place?
If you wanna spend a whole lot on steak and have a story to tell, I suggest either Gibson's Steak house or the Morton's of Chicago here, you won't leave hungry, and you will have portions that make you questioning your sanity for trying to eat that much food.

Music depends on what you wanna see, if you wanna go see a swing band, hit the Green Mill, Blues, Buddy Guys' or I can send you to a place that will scare the hell out of you, but you'll hear a great band.

Right across from Gibson's (btw local celebs frequent there) is Jilly's Piano bar, not a bad lil place to hang out and hear some Sinatra.

http://www.hob.com/tickets/searchres...sp?vregion=MDW

HOB is a great venue, also another great steak place is Smith & Wollensky's, best chateaubriand I've ever had.

Sunday out my way is Symphony X at the Pearl Room, I'm there for that show, most def.

use this or Metromix.com to find out the other shows going on if you wanna see a concert or whatever.

http://illinoisentertainer.com/listings/calendar/

If you want good Italian food at a very reasonable price try Sabatinos on Irving just west of Pulaski. If you like Pasta order the pasta with filet sauce, its not on the menu but they make it special and there is nothing like it.

never understood the infatuation with gene and judes. want a great hotdog? try SUPERDAWG...6363 N. Milwaukee Ave. www.superdawg.com some of the BEST! my wife and i would make the drive a lot and now that i think of it, we're overdue. they have been around forever and are always rated very high in books, reviews and tv. reviews:
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writ...ID=87&RefID=87

pizza.... great places in chicago but also in the burbs. a couple of my favs are giordanos and giordornos...rosatis as well if you get the correct location.

if you're into mexican cuisine i can get you some killer restaurants. there is one in particular that is very good in the west loop which has outstanding latin food but the name escapes me.

Deli sandwiches which are huge and awesome!... PERRY'S DELI....174 N Franklin St, Chicago 60606 Btwn W Randolph & W Lake St
http://chicago.menupages.com/restaur...neid=20&home=Y

the sandwiches are freshly made and HUGE!!! 4" tall huge! get the chocolate shake as well. you will LOVE this place! don't bring your cell phone though...if it goes off or you start talking on it, you will be asked to leave after they call all attention to you. no cellphones allowed. there are many NO CELLPHONE sign and one sign that says "if you're too important that you need to be on your cellphone then you can eat somewhere else." great place....a must eat.

have fun

My girlfriend had a good laugh at this one, she HATES people on there cellphones in public while trying to order, eat, drive or checkout at the supermarket. She said if we ever make it up there to Chicago, we will be eating at that deli!