http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/travel/a-100-weekend-in-chicago.html 2014-09-30 23:06:34 A $100 Weekend in Chicago Sample everything from pizza to pancakes, classical music to the blues, during a frugal-friendly weekend in the Windy City. === Even the best-funded traveler can’t conquer Chicago in a weekend, or, for that matter, cover the basics: deep-dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs, skyline views, troves of historic architecture, Millennium Park, Wrigley Field (the second most charming baseball stadium in the country, at least to this Red Sox fan), a fine arts scene, famed Chicago blues and much more. With only $100 in your pocket — make it $75 after spending $25 on a Ventra transit card loaded with a three-day pass — things are even trickier. But that’s the whole idea of a $100 weekend — to show that any great city can entertain even the stingiest traveler for 48 hours. I started out by making some sacrifices. I read through theater listings, but nothing under $25 appealed. The Cubs were in town but the cheapest way into Wrigley, short of a catapult, was nearly $30. (“Dynamic pricing,” they called it.) Chicago also has great and varied Mexican food, thanks to its half-million Mexican-Americans, but that would have to go, too — a tough decision based on time limitations rather than money. Yet, even with a few such compromises, I managed to do just about everything else I wanted to do. (My budget obviously does not including housing or plane fare — see the “If You Go” section below for more details on that and a way to save on the Ventra pass.) Leaving O’Hare around 1:30 p.m. I broke in my Ventra pass by taking the Blue Line to Division, switching to the 9 bus, and walking to With its “GO CUBS” marquis, Blackhawks paraphernalia, neon beer signs and design-unconscious booths and tables, Pequod’s is a deceptively normal-looking sports bar. Not normal-smelling, however: the perfume of pepperoni and bubbling mozzarella reached my nose as I sat at the bar and waited for my individual pie. It was a 30-minute wait, but the deal included one topping and a free soda. Like any good New Yorker, I come preloaded with a built in Daytime on a $100 weekend in Chicago is easy, at least outside of the depths of winter: Walk around. Like in any great city, intriguing neighborhoods, architectural variety and interesting people abound. After dark is trickier. Here’s one solution: Plan your trip the one weekend a year the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (cheapest ticket: $38 with fees) plays free. I opted for the next best thing: accidentally booking my trip for that weekend. So I sat in Millennium Park amid a crowd of thousands to hear Riccardo Muti conduct Tchaikovsky before a Chicago skyline that shifted from cerulean to pinkish-orange to dusky blue to deep black, from the opening strains of “The Tempest” to the frenzied crescendo of Symphony No. 4 in F Minor. I think the experience was best summed up by Alejandra Soto, a college freshman on grass next to me, seeing her first-ever classical concert for a college assignment. “When you’re with the crowd,” she said, “the emotions are so different from watching on YouTube.” The night would end with a trip out to I asked the bartender to recommend a variety, and ended up with just that: a $9 flight consisting of a Bank Note blended Scotch, George Dickel Rye and Old Forester bourbon, in generous pours. Find me a better, boozier deal. I also decided to drop $8 on the meatball and creamy polenta appetizer with parsley pesto and creamy fonduta, which tasted like a Michelin star in a bowl. For the day: $55.73. Remaining: $44.27. I like to get out of the city center on these $100 weekends, and Steven Shalowitz, a podcaster and Chicago native who recently had me on Walk, obviously — 1.3 miles from the only Baha’i Temple in North America and a great initiation (not literally) into a religion with origins in 19th-century Persia. Surrounding gardens set the tone, a welcome center provides displays a short but high-quality video about Baha’i beliefs and history, and the temple itself is perfect for brief meditation as you lean back and gaze to the top of the soaring dome. Something else to gaze at: Walker Bros. apple and cinnamon pancake — a monstrous, deep dish, sticky (no-syrup-needed) creation. My first impression: This is either a joke or a one-plate explanation of America’s obesity epidemic. Second impression: at $10.50, This is a great deal for two. That afternoon, I arrived a couple of minutes late at the Chicago Cultural Center for my free downtown tour from Under the brilliant glass mosaics in the Marquette building lobby, she gave us a quick rundown on Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary. When she finished, a guide with another group droned on. “She gives you more details,” Ms. Bernstein said, “but I’m free.” (Chicago Greeters don’t even accept tips, and you can also set up a more personalized neighborhood tour with them in advance — highly recommended.) After the tour, I hung out in the I assumed I’d sit at the bar and nurse an expensive drink as I listened to second-rate music, but I was quite happy to be wrong. On stage was Jimmy Johnson, an 85 year-old blues pro, with more than six decades on the Chicago scene. He performed two spirited sets to a crowd that filled the place long before the sun set. (“This is like morning to me,” he joked.) And it turns out you can stand near the back bar, fairly close to the stage, and get away with drinking a can of Shiner Bock for $3.50. (You can watch the set I saw for free Time to try the jibarito, a steak sandwich, with fried plantains as bread, allegedly invented in Chicago’s Puerto Rican community. A bus took me to Humboldt Park, where Puerto Rican restaurants pepper West Armitage Avenue. A Puerto Rican friend in Chicago — with a Bronx pedigree, no less — recommended I try the $9 version at La Bruqueña. My sandwich arrived with “everything” — rather greasy plantains cut lengthwise, fried, and slathered in mayo, filled with tender steak, melted cheese, lettuce and tomato. Not untasty, per se, but just too much of a greasy, fatty, heavy mess to be worth the calories and potential digestive distress. Could I condemn a whole dish based on one restaurant? Though I was stuffed, I temporarily suspended my budget to try another version down the street at Papa’s Cache Sabroso. Confirmed: Jibaritos are not for me, even though Papa’s was a bit more appealing — the plantains were more garlicky and crisp — but I’d still rather have the components separately. (My friend insisted that jibaritos For the day: $38. Remaining: $6.27. What to do when you’re nearly broke in Chicago? Start with a $2 coffee and half-price scone at the The conservatory was my favorite. Wandering among domed greenhouses, I was drawn to the golden fuchsia hanging like maroon and gold earrings, as well as plants with even more fanciful names: lobster claw and lollipop and Joseph’s coat. I was tickled to see the scaly-looking leaves of the alligator pilea interspersed with the floppy elephant ears. (You won’t find that sort of interaction at the zoo, but boy were those meerkats cute.) Time to head to the airport, with $2.64 left — and no hot dog eaten. Remedy: stop on the way to the L at a cheaper-end Chicago classic, the rather rundown shack housing Redhot Ranch on Western Avenue. I ordered the classic Chicago style (with relish, onions, mustard and sport peppers – no pickle spear, alas) for $3.75. As I had read, it came with a load of just-fried French fries dumped on top, and wrapped inelegantly in white paper. Another gut bomb. But he who lives by the $100 weekend, dies (or at least suffers slightly) by the $100 weekend. For the day: $7.38 Total: $101.11. Read more