Grand Lux Cafe: A Place You Must Eat at in Chicago

My pastor used to talk about this place more often than not in his sermons. I always said to myself, "one of these days I'll have to try this place!" Whether he slipped it in or made a direct correlation to a point he was making it seems that he would get excited about this restaurant. I kept this place in my mind for some time. One weekend my wife and I were able to get away for a weekend; kind of a special "no-child" weekend. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago and we had a ball. One of the nights we were out I reminded her about this restaurant and we proceeded to try it.

The restaurant is located on Ontario Street and Michigan Avenue on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. You have to take stairs to get to it, but it's fairly easy to get to otherwise. The glowing red letters of "Grand Lux Café" are appealing even to the passer-by. You won't smell anything from going here but the glance you will get from seeing people eat in the huge windows are enough to make you want to come in. If you dare to walk in, you have to enter from Ontario Street. The door is actually located halfway down the block going west on Ontario. You enter there and then get waited on. If you can't get a seat right away, then you'll get a buzzer thing to indicate when your table is ready. The foyer is a decent size, even for a mass of people to wait, or you can wait outside unless weather doesn't permit it.

The restaurant seems like it should be a fancy restaurant but it's not really. It's not even upscale, but it's nowhere near a greasy spoon either. If I were to give clothing recommendations, I'd say go business casual, but be comfortable. If you're going there for a date, dress up a touch, it won't hurt. They won't frown on blue jeans and gym shoes, but if you could see the ambiance of the place you might feel somewhat underdressed.

Our wait there was perhaps 30 minutes or so, which wasn't bad considering we were told the wait would be longer than that. Honestly my wife and I had just gotten new phones, so we were having fun playing with our new toys we weren't that concerned with the wait-time. Once we got seated, it seemed that they gave us the best seat in the house - in our opinion - right in the big bay windows overlooking the cross-traffic. We had a view of onlookers, a view of Michigan Avenue, and a view of Ontario Street. What a spot! You would have thought they knew we were having a special weekend. After all this, in comes this guy named Brian.

Brian was our server for the evening and he was a great server. He was there but not there, aware but not conspicuous. It was like he had his pulse on our table without being in the way or coming back every two minutes. He gave us time to look over the menu, gave us honest recommendations, and took our orders whenever ready. Good serving 101 - give your customers space, but also be of service when needed.

After Brian came the appetizers. I want to say my wife had the Stacked Chicken Quesadilla - or at least that sounds like something my wife would have eaten. I strongly believe that I had the Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I want to say we had a third one, but I don't remember what it could have been. What I do remember was that they were all VERY GOOD. I could have stacked the appetizers alone and made a meal out of them. After those luscious appetizers we had the nerve to order entrees. My usual fare is steak and potatoes; I'm a guy what can I say. I want to say my wife got a fish entrée, but I don't remember what it was. I do remember that my steak was great. I've tried steak at a lot of places, but this was definitely one of the top five.

By the time we were done with the appetizers and the entrees we didn't have any room for dessert. At the end of it all we came home with doggie bags, full stomachs, and great memories of a place we both have done all but vow to come back to sooner than later. If I were a restaurant critic, I would have to give the place four out of four stars. The ambiance was great, the food was fantastic, the server was excellent, and I couldn't think of anything I would change.

If you've never heard of Grand Lux Café, then I'm sure you've heard of the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, the place with all the slices of cheesecake. This restaurant is supposed to the Cheesecake Factory's sister restaurant. After our experience there, it definitely stands alone. We're both fans of Cheesecake Factory don't get me wrong, but I might give the slight nod to Grand Lux Café over Cheesecake Factory. If I want a good slice of cheesecake, however, I'm all over the Cheesecake Factory. I recommend going to Grand Lux Café either for a date night with that special someone, or with close family and/or friends. Sure, you can go there alone, but it's not the same. It needs to be experienced with people. If you were blessed like we were with great seats, and then imagine the view along with the experience.

Take some time, if necessary bite the bullet of paying for parking downtown, make a night (or day, or weekend) of it, and be sure to eat at Grand Lux Café for lunch or dinner. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.grandluxcafe.com/.