Go Midwest
The latest, greatest openings in Chicago’s western ’hoods
JUST 90 minutes from New York, Chicago teems with getaway possibilities. It should rank high on your to-visit list for a weekend trip, with offerings from fancy street food to a rooftop bar with a swimming pool. We’ve rounded up the best of what’s new in several trendy nabes west of the Chicago River. Maybe, just maybe, it shouldn’t be dubbed the Second City anymore.
STAY As expected, Chicago’s 2-month-old Ace hotel is effortlessly cool. Its 159 rooms occupy a concrete-and-glass building that once held a cheesemaker at the northern edge of Fulton Market, the equivalent of New York’s Meatpacking District. It’s also across from Google’s Chicago headquarters, meaning the lobby is full of folks clacking on laptops. Lively restaurant City Mouse buzzes with the after-work crowd and the rooftop bar stays hopping all night long. Guests enjoy the Ace’s dorm room-chic aesthetic, with classic furnishings, muted gray and blue touches, woodsy details and tiled bathrooms (from $199; AceHotel.com/Chicago).
DRINK A 1929 art deco building turned boutique hotel, thanks to Mexico City-based hoteliers Grupo Habita, The
Robey is an indubitably stylish stay in Wicker Park (from $155). But it boasts an added bonus that’s rare in the Windy City: a rooftop bar with a swimming pool. Never mind that the Cabana Club’s al fresco portions are virtually unusable during the biting winters. In warmer climes, pretty young things clutch cocktails, lounge on couches and dip their toes in the chlorinated water to a thumping soundtrack. This is the tallest building in the area, so glorious views abound whether you’re indoors or out ( TheRobey.com). DO The Chicago River boat tours led by docents with encyclopedic memories for the city’s landmarks and quirky history are a longtime can’t-miss. Just look at the domain name the Chicago Architecture Foundation snagged: Architecture.org! Head farther west — to Oak Park, an affluent suburb of Chicago — to fete the Midwest’s main man of design, Frank Lloyd Wright, before his 150th birthday year is up. There, tour his first studio and home ($18 per person), as well as residences Wright designed around the neighborhood in the early part of his career, which reveal his evolution from traditional houses to the flat-roofed Prairie style ($15 per person). Don’t skip the gift shop, which stocks delightful goodies like notecards, trivets and earrings with his geometric designs. It’s almost worth the trip alone ( FLWright.org).
SHOP Jewelry maker Merl Kinzie and ceramicist-with-a-green-thumb Kelly Doodeman both operated trendy shops in the gentrifying Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago’s Lower West Side; they shuttered them and joined forces to create a boutique called The Shu
dio. The hybrid shop and studio (hence the name) flung open its doors this month. Browse handmade baubles as well as clothing, accessories and, yes, plants ( TheShudio.co).
EAT You’ll never go hungry here, with new restaurants and brew- eries debuting ’round the clock. Just west of the river, chef Andrew Zimmerman launched his latest restaurant, Proxi, this summer. (Proxi, owner Emanuel Nony’s second project, is located right next to his award-winning first, 2007-opened Sepia.) Think elevated street food with influences from around the globe; popular dishes include corn tempura with lime, cheese, chile and mayo and garam masala-rubbed lamb ribs with coconut milk and mango-pickle barbecue sauce ( ProxiChicago.com). The author was a guest of the Ace and Choose Chicago.