Passenger Trains > Chicago Union Station Food

Lots of places to get food in Chicago Union Station, but which places really are locally owned, offer real food and are in any other way unique and worth a visit?

Tell me a good place to get dinner at Chicago Union Station that is at a sit down restaurant? After all, this is what people on train #48 are going to have to do. And on weekends, many of those places close early!

Open the Harvey House!

Let's see if I can remember all the local food places:
1. Gold Coast? Hot Dogs
2. Robinson Ribs
3. Sixty-Five Chinese
4. Nuts On Clark
5. Corner Bakery
6. There is a Cajun place, name of which I cannot recall and I am not sure if it is local or not.

Among the franchise that are non-local:
1. McDonalds (worth a few minutes to look at the railroad items hanging on the walls)
2. Krispy Kreme Donuts (donuts are not made on site)
3. Pizza Hut (replaced the locally owned Connies a few years ago)
4. Burrito Beach

I may have missed one or two others.

Sit-down seating is available but all of the above are typical fast food restaurants.

kevink Wrote:
> 2. Robinson Ribs
> 3. Sixty-Five Chinese

Both of these are really good. The portions at Sixty-Five Chinese are large and the food is yummy. The barbeque pork sandiwch at Robinson Ribs is delicious.

Metro Deli and Cafe in CUS. Cafeteria. Shoot pool with the locals while you dine.

Lou Mitchell's, diner/restaurant. Great breakfast and lunch. Across the street from CUS.

While you are there, be sure to buy a Toasted Almond Bar (Good Humor ice cream)! They are delicious! (You can buy them at the gift shops.)

Lurch_in_ABQ Wrote:
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> Metro Deli and Cafe in CUS. Cafeteria. Shoot pool
> with the locals while you dine.
>
Sometimes you can get a good pastrami sandwich at this place. If you like beer, its available at this place, too. Most (all?) of the other places are on the second floor, this place is on the ground floor.

Dave

RuleG Wrote:
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> Lurch_in_ABQ Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Metro Deli and Cafe in CUS. Cafeteria. Shoot
> pool
> > with the locals while you dine.
> >
> Sometimes you can get a good pastrami sandwich at
> this place. If you like beer, its available at
> this place, too. Most (all?) of the other places
> are on the second floor, this place is on the
> ground floor.
>
> Dave

Kinda ironic that "RuleG" mentions beer. :-)

Lurch Wrote:
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"Lou Mitchell's, diner/restaurant. Great breakfast and lunch. Across the street from CUS."

Lou's is a great idea but it's a little farther that "across the street". It is located at the southeast corner of Jackson and Jefferson. This is a block west of the southwest exit from the Great Hall at Union Station.

If you have a late arriving Western train, many of these places are going to be closed. I had a difficult time trying to find a place to have dinner on a Saturday at around 6:30 p.m. at Chicago Union Station. I had to settle on fast food and scramble to find a chair and table in a general seating area. This was the substitute Amtrak bestowed upon us rather than dinner in the diner on the Capitol Limited. But this is going to now be a regular for passengers on the Lake Shore Limited. Even though the Lake Shore Limited did not leave until 10 p.m. (coupled with the Capitol Limited), the did board the Lake Shore sleeper car passengers and feed them.

For those living in Chicago, or for those trains that arrive on time into Chicago (from the West), they can take a taxi and go to a restaurant on the waterfront or elsewhere in Chicago.

But Amtrak gets out of serving one meal eastbound on the Lake Shore Limited with this schedule change - and I am sure they are not going to alter the rail/accommodation price. If the train runs late, I would imagine they may attempt a dinner service (the second day before arriving into NYC).

About 10 years ago I ended up in CUS connecting from the CZ to the Capitol Ltd and wasn't sure if I was gonna get dinner on the Cap Ltd (I did) but I sauntered into a place in CUS touted as the "hofbrau" and ordered a roast beef sandwich. They guy asked me what kinda bread and being a Californian I said "sourdough" and he looked at me as if I had just landed on the latest planet from Mars and said "what?????"----------Okay TOTO, we are not in Kansas anymore. :-)
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

CarolVoss Wrote:
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> About 10 years ago I ended up in CUS connecting
> from the CZ to the Capitol Ltd and wasn't sure if
> I was gonna get dinner on the Cap Ltd (I did) but
> I sauntered into a place in CUS touted as the
> "hofbrau" and ordered a roast beef sandwich. They
> guy asked me what kinda bread and being a
> Californian I said "sourdough" and he looked at me
> as if I had just landed on the latest planet from
> Mars and said "what?????"----------Okay TOTO, we
> are not in Kansas anymore. :-)
> C.

I had a similar thing happen in Sioux City, Iowa several years ago (although it's not train related). As I was checking in at the front desk of a hotel, I commented that I hadn't see lightning or heard thunder in at least 10 years (there was a big thunderstorm going on outside). When I said that, the hotel clerk and other hotel guests pretty much stopped dead in their tracks and looked at me like, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM!?!?". Once I said San Francisco, it was like a collective sigh of relief from everyone as if to say, "It's okay...he's from California". :-)

I stop by the Metro Deli in CUS whenever I'm in town. You just can't go wrong with their Empire Turkey Dinner. They also have a great assortment of vintage train photo's decorating their walls, and their staff are quite friendly.

Most of the offerings in the food court on the second floor will fend off starvation, but none of them really offer what I would consider a true Chicago dining experience. Most of the restaurants in the West Loop area by CUS close by 5-6 PM, so the pickings are slim for evening passengers. Metro Deli (main floor off the Great Hall) closes the kitchen after PM rush, most of the upstairs food court shuts down around 8:00 PM. MickeyD's does stay open at least until the 10:30 PM Metras depart.

I used to suggest to passengers with a bit of a layover to proceed east on Adams to the outstanding offerings of the Berghoff. Alas, that option is no more.

That said, I DO like the Egg Foo Young at Sixty-Five Chinese: Golden outside, fluffy inside, far better than most. Get it with the fried rice and ask them to go easy on the gravy. Kelly's Cajun Grill is more Chinese than Cajun, but is a good choice if you want a vegetable that is not french fries. And do check out the railroadiana in Metro Deli and McDonalds.

If you have 2-3 hours, get a cab upstairs on Canal St. and go to Greektown (an OK walk in good weather) or river north for a real meal.

NZ

I once was sitting at the same table with three tradesmen who maintain equipment in Chicago Union Station including the stoves and refrigeration in the kitchens.
I mentioned that I was dissatisfied with my Chinese meal becasue they had loaded it up with with tofu instead of some of the chicken meat that was supposed to be in it.
Note: I usually like Chinese food and regularly patronize several different Chinese restaurants near where I live.
The tradesman said there were only three places they patronized: McDonalds, Kelly's Cajun Grille and that Corner Deli. None of the others had kitchens that were clean.

Whoa. I am quite sure that the Berghof has reopened after the daughter heir gave up on the catering idea. It always was a great place and just a short walk from CUS, and we did it many times.

As for Greektown, yes, it is just a short cab ride. We have been there many times and always keep going back to "Greek Islands", for, after trying several others, it it seems to be the best place on the Greek strip. Give them a try. And be sure to order the great Greek white wine that sounds like "pin the tail on the donkey". It is great. We order it all of the time.

Chicago is realy great. It is like a lot of small towns. In Greektown (just west of the loop) prices are unbelieveable for a City. I have paid more in Charles City, Iowa and got less.

Lou Mitchell's is either too popular (line out the door) or closed (hours are too limited).
CUS is not NYP when it comes to food.

I had an excellent lunch at the Berghoff in January - don't know the evening hours, but a portion of the restaurant had reopened in addition to the bar area/quick food called 17/W. Service is fast so you should be able to get out well before 10PM departure time. A LD trip deserves something better than fast food in CUS.

I like the late departure of the Lakeshore. On my next trip I plan to head for a good steak dinner, maybe at Lawry's, around 6 then back for the early boarding around 8. I think we can count on a late arrival in NYC so a snack along the Hudson will be a nice treat too. With heritage diners disappearing and sleeping passengers relegated to a modified amfleet cafe, dining on eastern trains isn't something I'll look forward to.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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"Lou Mitchell's is either too popular (line out the door) or closed (hours are too limited).
CUS is not NYP when it comes to food."

A good point. Lou's is more accessible during off-peak hours.

Almost any restaurant (fast-food or otherwise) in the Loop during lunch on weekdays is going to have lines.